Polarizing King Vick left Pesaro's audiences either loving or hating his reread of Rossini's Mosè in Egitto as applause battled with boos at the end of opening night. At one point, the loggione was so stirred-up that a fight ensued and police were called in for control.
Corriere della Sera reported -- "Applause and tensions for Moses-Bin Laden and the Police Came: During the scene with the gas masks, from the loggione came cries of 'for shame'" -- that the singers were generally applauded as well as conductor, Roberto Abbado.
Vick's new staging has also angered others: During the final dress rehearsal, Israeli soprano Hila Baggio (who's at Pesaro to sing in Rossini's Scala di Seta) protested during the first act by leaving the auditorium.
Senator PDL Elio Massimo Palmizio was so enraged with Vick's staging that he accused the British director of "inducing hatred" and even threatening him with a personal interrogation from the Minister of Culture.