Orchestral Din

And "Sleeping Beauty" no less. Who'd have thought it would be so - noisy?:

To stick within the law, some musicians will have to wear ear plugs and some will have to be replaced at the interval, costing Australian Ballet up to $100,000 extra for the production. WorkCover told the orchestra's managers, Opera Australia, the musicians could not be subjected to noise greater than 85 decibels averaged over a working day, which it believes Sleeping Beauty will exceed.

Opera Australia has agreed to shorten the length of time some musicians spend in the pit and hire casuals - at an average cost of $140 a shift - to fill the 750 extra spots it now needs to cover.

Australian Ballet has to foot the bill, but the upheaval has also given Opera Australia a headache. Finding replacement musicians two weeks before Sleeping Beauty opens on December 2 is proving difficult. Vernon Winley, Opera Australia's human resources director and executive in charge of the AOBO, said Opera Australia would have to look at bringing musicians in from other states. "We're having to look very hard," he said.

... Musicians complain of damage to their hearing, and at least three have refused to play in Sleeping Beauty.

Those that remain are worried the quality of the music will suffer and are considering writing a disclaimer for the audience.

"It's going to be really awful," said Will Farmer, a trombonist. "Nobody knows, for example, how it's going to sound when the whole brass section have got their ear plugs [in].