Bad news bears for those (most of them in the Scala orchestra) who hoped -- against hope, because he really wasn't going anywhere -- that Stéphane Lissner, GM of la Scala, would leave his job next year.
La Scala today announced that it has extended to 2013 (but everybody knows he'll stay on to 2015 when Milan hosts the Expo) his contract with the General Manager appointed in 2005 after the mutiny that brought to an end Riccardo Muti's 19-year-long reign as Music Director. Lissner's contract was due to expire in November 2009, and he was being courted by other European opera houses (Teatro Real in Madrid among them).
Whether or not unions will allow Lissner -- and the rest of the audience -- to enjoy the season opener on December 7, a new Stéphane Braunschweig production of Don Carlo conducted by Daniele Gatti, remains an open question.
(In the photo above, a tense confrontation during one of the many unions/management meetings at la Scala re: the new benefit package)