Feud Over Foreigners Splits Romanian Opera

Opera and ballet fans in Bucharest are aghast at a conflict that threatens to tear apart the Romanian National Opera and which centres on the company's now departed Danish dancer and artistic director Johan Kobborg.

It all started when Tiberiu Soare, who took over as interim manager after the former manager was indicted of corruption, removed Kobborg as artistic director, accusing the Dane of having run the company as if it was his private business.

 "This ballet company used dance to one person's purposes," Soare said, explaining his decision.

The Romanian Culture Minister attempted to find a solution to the row by replacing Soare with a new interim general manager. However, Kobborg officially quit his artistic director's post on Wednesday.

 "I fear for what the future might bring for the Opera Nationala Bucuresti and for the credibility of Romanian culture and the light in which Romanian culture will be viewed," he wrote in a resignation letter.

Culture Minister Vlad Alexandrescu said he was "very sad about what's happening.

"But I believe we did everything that was institutionally possible. Besides that, it is Kobborg's decision whether he wants to work with the opera's institutions," he said.

That wasn't the end of it, however. Following Kobborg's resignation, the star ballerina Alina Cojocaru, also Kobborg's fiancée, and some other 30 dancers have refused to dance and organized a protest in show of support for Kobborg.

He had managed the company since December 2013, when he assumed the leadership on pledges to raise its reputation by bringing famous ballet productions to the National Opera's stage in Bucharest.

A counter-protest then followed from Romanian employees of the opera who shouted nationalistic...