A new production of "Faust" by Jean-Louis Martinoty opens in Paris in about 48 hours and the conductor, Alain Lombard, has just been replaced by Alain Altinoglu after clashing with Roberto Alagna.
Why? Because (unless you're la Scala) you don't mess with Roberto.
The French-Italian singer told Le Figaro that he feels "depressed" and "in pain": "I never disrespected Lombard, a man whom I hold in high esteem and whose artistic ideas I had accepted".
The problem, apparently, lies in certain cuts to the score that Lombard wanted and Alagna didn't like and the conductor's choic of tempi. There were also questions about Alagna showing up late for rehearsals twice (he blamed traffic, and he now says that the second time he came in late it was only by seven minutes but the conductor had already let everybody else go, not thinking the tenor would show up.
Alagna explains that the conductor's behavior "completely blocked me. I've been singing Faust for 28 years now and he made me feel like a rookie. I had decided to pull out of the production but the opera house convinced me to stray. All this trouble makes me very depressed".