Rome orchestra director sacked 'for saying Santa Claus does not exist'

Giacomo Loprieno reportedly lashed out at the young audience for failing to applaud a performance of 'Frozen'

The theatre's new orchestral director, Marco Dallara, was pictured alongside Father Christmas (Auditorium Parco della Musica/Facebook)

An orchestral director has been sacked after he told an audience filled with children that Santa Claus does not exist.

Giacomo Loprieno lashed out at the young audience for failing to applaud a performance of Frozen at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome on Thursday, the ANSA news agency reported.

The theatre has replaced Mr Loprieno with another conductor, Marco Dallara.

It underlined underlined the severity of the offence with a Facebook post showing the new orchestral director alongside Father Christmas.

Another picture showed Santa Claus in the audience before the show began.

Families paid between 30 and 48 euros for tickets to "Disney in concert: Frozen", which lasted around two hours.

On social media, the sacking has been both applauded for protecting children's fantasies, and derided for punishing someone telling the truth.

Excited children and their parents were able to track Santa's journey around the world in real time using a number of dedicated apps and websites.

The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) updated their site with the latest news on where Father Christmas made his stops.

Norad said it began tracking Santa in 1955 when a child called the Command’s headquarters in Colorado asking to speak to Santa Claus.