Orchestra sends musical message to unwelcome new director

 ROME -- La Fenice opera house was due to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the premier of Wozzek, an opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg, but instead its musicians opted for a free open-air concert in protest at the appointment as musical director of Beatrice Venezi, a glamorous conductor known for her right-wing political views.

 The orchestra performed music by Vivaldi, Mascagni, Verdi and Mameli, the composer of Italy’s national anthem, in the improvised concert in Venice’s Campo Sant’Angelo attended by around a thousand people.

 The musicians say Venezi, 35, does not have the musical ability or experience to run one of Italy’s most important opera houses and the choice was imposed on them from on high for political reasons and without consultation.

 “La Fenice belongs to those who bring it to life. Demanding excellence is not a crime, nor a gesture of discrimination,” said Emiliano Esposito, a spokesman for the orchestra. The musicians’ decision to strike against Venezi was not a personal or political matter, he said, “but the defence of the reputation of a world-class cultural institution.”

 Venezi has been dubbed “the black baton” for her right-wing views and her father, Gabriele Venezi, was a candidate for mayor of Lucca with the neofascist Forza Nuova party. Leading musicians, including the violinist Uto Ughi, have criticised Venezi’s professional record.

 Alberto Mattioli, the music critic of La Stampa, said Venezi had never been in charge of a top-level opera house and had not worked before with the musicians of La Fenice, normally “an unwritten but inviolable rule.”

 Mattioli said he had only seen Venezi in action once and she had seemed a “modest” conductor. “Not an imposter, as she has been depicted in recent weeks, but modest. Her execution was correct but rather anonymous,” he said.

 Venezi’s most prestigious international role has been as principal guest conductor at the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, where standards are said to have declined in recent decades in line with the economic and cultural decline of Argentina.

 Newspapers have pointed out that Venezi’s companion is a wealthy Argentinian businessman and sponsor of the Colon who is also said to be close to Javier Milei, Argentina’s anarcho-capitalist president.

 Gabriele Venezi has publicly defended his daughter, pointing out that she is the author of four books and it is not up to trade unionists to judge the competence of conductors. “They are motivated by the fear that their little caste will lose its privileges,” he said.

 Giammarco Mazzi, a junior minister at the culture ministry, said the musicians showed ingratitude towards a government that had increased support for opera. “The protests reduce the chances of dialogue and the reaction to Venezi is disproportionate, dangerous and aggressive,” he said.

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