Vienna State Opera Director Ioan Holender announced today that he will step down at the end of his term in 2010 and won't seek another term in office.
Among the names being floated around -- uninspiring Franz Welser-Moest, and our own Neil Shicoff -- the obvious choice (for his stature and his more than 35-year-long relationship with Vienna) is our great Maestro Riccardo Muti.
Vienna has chosen him for the 1/1/2000 Millennium New Year's Concert, and in Salzburg, for Mozart's 250 birthday bash, it was him again who conducted the Wiener Philharmoniker in, among other works, a heartbreaking Haffner & an unforgettable Sinfonia Concertante.
See, he'd follow Gustav Mahler and Herbert Von Karajan's footsteps there -- not bad -- and the Austrian government printed a dam POSTAGE STAMP with Muti's face on it! -- & he also has a supernice villa in Salzburg so lodging will cost the Staatsoper much less!
RITE ON!
WHY WAIT UNTIL 2010? MUTI 4 STAATSOPER KAISER! NOW!