Musicians will be picketing the Florida Grand Opera performance of La Traviata on November 15, 2008 to protest the fact that the orchestra of the past seven years has been replaced in its entirety.  
The recent replacement of the entire  orchestra was made with the promise of higher quality.  However, the change of orchestral contractor and the wholesale dismissal of the orchestral team were executed at great cost. The FGO has acknowledged that they have no control over the personnel of the orchestra, which will vary from performance to performance and will include student musicians.

Florida Grand Opera is the only major opera company in the top fifteen metropolitan areas of the United States that does not hire their orchestra directly.