La Scala intendant Stéphane Lissner defends his decision to ban long-serving Corriere della Sera music critic Paolo Isotta from Milan's opera house through a weak sauce letter to the editor published in today's paper.
Lissner dissected Corriere della Sera director Ferruccio De Bortoli's editorial published in yesterday's paper, which was written to defend its music critic Isotta from the baffling La Scala banishment. He adhered that La Scala has taken "a distance" (/lol/semantics/lol/) from Isotta not because he criticises the theater but because he's betrayed the "krinein greco" code (the Greek root for critic i.e. "to evaluate") in which critics weigh logic and ethics into their trade, "to think, to reflect and to mediate understanding between the work of art and the public."
Lissner continues that Isotta went against the ethics of music criticism by wielding personal campaigns and that he used his articles not as moments of reflection but as instruments and weapons of power -- exactly why La Scala firmly will no loner support persona-non-grata Isotta. La Scala will keep its door open to the rest of Corriere della Sera's journalists, which may turn into a bulletpoint of contention, story definitely to be continued. Taps TomTom >> Point Of Interest >> POI in city >> Dramz = Navigate to Teatro alla Scala.