Opera Chic

Myung-Whun Chung Drops The Bomb on La Scala: "Unacceptable Behavior", "Arrogance"

 

Remember how Myung-Whun Chung cancelled his future engagements with la Scala after twenty years of collaboration with the Milanese theater?

Italian newspaper la Repubblica is reporting today that Chung sent an open letter to the Scala orchestra members thanking them for "the many memorable concerts of these past 20 years and even more for the miracolous understanding that you granted me as a musician and as a human being". The Maestro then in his letter states that "the level of insult, arrogance and totally unacceptable behavior by the head of your Foundation can not and must not be tolerated. It is therefore impossible for me to come back. In this world of politics and greed I will always keep with me the understanding that all of you have always demonstrated toward me".

Myung-Whun Chung's Big Farewell to La Scala

 

Right after Stéphane Lissner took over Teatro alla Scala in 2005 after Riccardo Muti's stormy dismissal, the Milanese opera house mentioned how Muti's loss would be more than compensated by the presence of many great conductors. Rome newspaper La Repubblica reported on October 15, 2005 that the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala would be "Daniele Gatti's, Riccardo Chailly’s, and Myung-Whun Chung’s" orchestra.

Less than four and a half years later, none of the listed names seem to be part of the La Scala team anymore.

Daniele Gatti will conduct Lulu this coming Spring, but after his very unfortunate Don Carlo that opened the 2009 season, his status as frontrunner for Music Director of Teatro alla Scala seems to be very much in peril. And actually, after his Lulu commitment, Gatti's future at La Scala remains, as of now, quite unclear.

Riccado Chailly, after the unlucky Aida in 2006 that was marred by Roberto Alagna's chaotic dismissal conducted a very solid Rigoletto that same season and a very solid Trittico; he seemed another natural candidate for Music Director for La Scala but, again, he does not appear in the future programs of the Milan opera house.

Let’s not forget that Scala still has no Music Director. They have Daniel Barenbom, but only as Maestro Scaligero -- a glorified title for a Principal Guest Conductor. Still, all artistic decisions lie in General Manager Stefan Lissner’s hands.

Myung-Whun Chung’s enjoyed a long-time collaboration with the Milanese opera house going back to his time as beloved Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini's assistant. Maestro Chung conducted very often at La Scala these past few years. Not anymore. 

The Italian press has been reporting that maestro has Chung broken-off all future commitments and relations with the Milanese opera house. He will not conduct there from this point forward. Neither opera nor concerts with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. His concert here in Milan that is scheduled for February 15 with the Filarmonica will instead be conducted by young Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen.

The Italian press is reporting that -- surprising for those who know Maestro Chung -- he's upset for having been overlooked as possible new Music Director of the opera house. La Repubblica also reports that he has been very dissatisfied with the fact that La Scala never hired him to conduct one of their  December 7th Season Openers (Milan’s most prestigious social event of the year). Chung was already on board to conduct in the next few seasons a Simon Boccanegra and a Zauberflote. Not gonna happen! C YA!

Myung-Whun Chung’s CAMI management -- contacted today by Opera Chic via phone -- declined to provide a statement with the Maestro’s reasons for breaking all relationships with La Scala.

Chung & Pogorelich Benefit @ Scala

On Thursday night @ la Scala, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, conducted by the sweetest man in classical music, Myung-Whun Chung, with Ivo Pogorelich, will execute a cool (direct download of .pdf file) Tchaikovsky/Rachmaninov program. It's a benefit for a good cause, the Fondazione Don Gnocchi for the disabled. Therefore, if you're in the area and love music, call (39)024654671 and get your ticket -- the show's almost sold out.

Myung-Whun Chung Conducts a Mean Brahms & is the World's Best Babysitter

There's a story that has always deeply impressed Opera Chic -- unabashed Giulini fan that she is -- and it's about the Italian maestro during his years at the helm of the LA Philharmonic: the orchestra needed to hire a new player and one of the orchestra members recommended a friend of his to Giulini explaining what a gifted musician his friend was; and then Giulini asked him, "Yes, but is he a good person?".

Because for Carlo Maria Giulini music had never been simply a matter of notes written down in a score, it couldn't be; he knew that you have to look into your heart before you even glance down at the score, and that kind of sensibility, that humanism, one can hear in Giulini's timeless recordings.

It does not therefore surprise that Myung-Whun Chung was not only Giulini's student and assistant but was considered by the maestro like a son; because he is a good musician and a good man.

A few months ago, Myung-Whun Chung and l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (where he's been the Music Director since y2k) went to Benin as Unicef Ambassadors to participate in health, education, and child protection programs.

Film was shot and presented on Radio France's website, and frankly, all the panels and symposia in the world don't even rawk as hard as Myung-Whun Chung dancing with a tiny little baby! Chung 4 PREZ!!! (Or, you know, for Scala Music Director!)

Tonight, Chung and his Philharmonic play a Unicef benefit concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet with Natalie Dessay, Laurent Naouri and Stéphane Degout.

Below is one of the two videos, which OC embedded for lots of baby-holding footage. If the embed doesn't work, or you want to view part 1, here are the links: video #1  video #2

Myung Whun Chung au Bénin avec l'Unicef

Filarmonica della Scala Goes To China

As MiTo takes over several locations in Milan and Turin, Filarmonica della Scala leaves for China, South Korea and Japan. Here are the dates of their tour:

Sept. 4 Tokyo, Suntory Hall
Sept. 5 Hyogo, Hyogo Hall
Sept. 6 Tokyo, Suntory Hall
Sept. 9 Seongnam, Arts Center
Sept. 10 Seoul, Arts Center
Sept. 12 Shanghai, Oriental Arts Center
Sept. 13 Beijing, National Performing Arts Center

The Orchestra will be led by maestro Myung-Whun Chung.

Cedolins Wins; All Is Well With Perahia

Half-asleep in her South Beach Corbusier chaise longue, Opera Chic hears happy news from her hardcore Scala-going, Conservatorio-going Milanese friends.

On Friday night, despite the not-so-good buzz coming from her very first rehearsal, la signora Fiorenza Cedolins has gotten a b0ttload of applause for her Cio Cio San. Huge ovations for Maestro Chung, too, our favorite mullet-wearing Zen maestro.

NYC's own Maestro Murray Perahia has, as we expected, rawked tha house at Conservatorio Verdi in Milan. He appeared in fine, fine form with a perfectly healthy hand! Yay! Expect pictures, and a little audio snippet, later -- thanks to one of Opera Chic's spies: now we have some serious brunch and shopping commitments! First things (ie, Miami Beach) first. 

Fiorenza Cedolins & Madame Kabaivanska's Ghost

As la Scala prepares for la prima, on friday's night, of maestro Chung's Madama Butterfly, Opera Chic  -- from her American exile -- is listening to her favorite Cio Cio San ev4r111!, Madame Kabaivanska. So give it up for the Bulgarian divina, working some magic here on YouTube. And in bocca al lupo to Fiorenza Cedolins!

 

La Scala Files: Handicapping The Future

 

Among Milanese opera fans, the most popular game that does not involve drinking à la Quarters  is "Who Would You Choose As Musical Director When In A Couple Years It Will Be Impossible To Keep Pretending That Barenboim's Part Time Job As Maestro Scaligero Is Enough For Such A Big Opera House" (long name, I know, funny Italians -- in the original language it's even longer).

Opera Chic has been subjected to it several unhappy times -- unhappy because it usually ends with bitter arguments, sneering comments, fist-fights, the occasional stabbing in the neck with a broken CD jewel case. And even now that she's temporarily back in the USA, OC hears the question a lot from friends: Who will replace Muti? The orchestra, after all, cannot remain without a Music Director forever.

Well, actually, part of the problem (of General Manager Stephane Lissner's problem) is that the orchestra (many professori, at least, if not all of them...it's far from a unanimous crowd, except when they fire a Music Director, as Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti know too well) like the present situation *a lot*: Daniel Barenboim flies-in every once in a while (3-4 times a year, not exactly the same as Muti's notorious military drills), dazzles everybody with his charm, as well as his almost scary genius and his super-stimulating ideas, leads them in super-charged performances that bring the house down, then races back to Malpensa Airport, never to be seen again for months. OC also hears that the famously snappy (during rehearsals, at least) Barenboim very cannily keeps his powders dry whenever he conducts here, never scolding, always suggesting, and heaping lots of praise; no wonder he's crazy-popular with the orchestra: he behaves like their dandy uncle who lives abroad & pops-in for Christmas with an armful of gifts -- or cigars, in Barenboim's case).

It is also true that sooner or later, reality will interfere with the orchestra's wishes, and Lissner will have to appoint a Music Director -- guest conductors and music directors and experiments playing for young young young baby-faced sweet exciting newcomer conductors like Harding and Dudamel only help up to a point. To keep the "La Scala sound" -- a beautiful, precise opera sound, with the Italian repertorio as king, but with the indispensable ability to shift to Wagner, Strauss, and the great symphonic masters -- you'll eventually need another Abbado, another Muti, is the general consesus here (well, Milan, actually...whatevs).

The sad fact is that Maestro Scaligero Barenboim, the natural, perfect candidate (unique background, huge charisma, interest in new music, unimpeachable taste, fantastic experience and ability in the German repertorio) just won't take a full time job as Music Director of La Scala, this is clear. At least for the foreseeable future.

Consider that to replace Muti after his always stormy but often awesome reign you need a rare mix of great talent, a huge international high profile, big brassy brass ballz and at least a tiny bit of those peeple $kill$ that Muti so proudly lacked. You don't really want to hire sonmeone who'll soon lock horns with the orchestra and the press, since the orchestra yields awesome veto power (as I said above, in early 2005 they effectively fired Muti the way they kicked poor Abbado out in 1986) and the press can really make a Music Director's life miserable (it didn't happen with Muti, ok ok, he enjoyed fawning reviews and lots of ink-stained love from the papers, but it doesn't mean the press will accept just anybody -- especially anybody with a lower profile and lower standing that Muti had in the mid-80s.)

Let us now try to handicap the race for the future leader of our beloved opera house, then:

~o~ DANIELE GATTI (aka THE LOGGIONISTI IDOL) ~o~

 

Many loggionisti love Daniele Gatti with a burning, throbbing, moist passion. heh. His experience at Covent Garden with the RPO and at Santa Cecilia really gives him an excellent edge, and his Lohengrin, as OC reported, brought the house down so hard that there was instant talk of Gatti as the man for the job of Music Director

• OC's opinion: he's really really good, he'd make an excellent MD, he'd bring some seriously needed fresh air. But, who knows, he's from Milan, and studied in Milan and now seems ready and, to boot, he's probably the frontrunner... And we all know what often happens to frontrunners and to those who look so perfect for a job...

• The buzz: he did all the homework, he's got the credentials, the audience really likes him. But some see him as not being either old enough or exciting enough to get the job -- we often hear that he'd be perfect if only he were even more experienced (read: older) or more exciting. Mark my words: if you cannot have someone as awesome as Muti (that'd be Barenboim), exciting is what you need.

~o~ ROBERTO ABBADO (aka THE UNDERRATED ONE) ~o~

 

Not all Milanese music fans root for Gatti: many are happy to endorse & support Roberto Abbado, Claudio's nephew, an elegant, sophisticated international maestro who knows La Scala well and who, last year, conducted a crystal-clear Lucia di Lammermoor -- seldom being on the verge of a nervous breakdown has sounded -- or looked -- more fabulous, largely thanks to Abbado.

• OC's opinion: he's waaay underrated by most but, frankly, better than the otherwise excellent Gatti. He's just subtler, more elegant -- sometimes reminds OC of Thomas Schippers, another underrated conductor.

• The buzz: "But his uncle Claudio did this", "But his uncle did that", "He's not his uncle". If he doesn't get the job for this reason, some people seriously need to grow the hell up, OC thinks.

~o~ RICCARDO CHAILLY (aka THE PERENNIAL CANDIDATE) ~o~

 

Riccardo Chailly still has many fans (even if they're not as vocal), despite a too-muscular Rigoletto last year and a correct, but uninspiring, Aida last December. Alagna ruined his standing -- when he pulled out of Aida and then tried to get back in when he got scared of the consequences, we heard from Lissner, from Zeffirelli, even from the half-naked (bless his shiny butt) Roberto Bollé. Chailly waited for two months before speaking up. It looked like Lissner was running the show 100% and Chailly's low profile was seen as either a sign of weakness, or of being kept out of the loop. Even the biggest Muti haters acknowledge that Muti would not have taken the hit of the Alagna tantrum silently, leaving to Lissner the role of the only enforcer in the house. Say what you want about Muti (that's what they do here, anyway) but when the orchestra went suddendly on strike right before a performance in the mid-90s, he barged ahead and turned Traviata into a piano recital (himself at the piano), and went ahead with the singers and the show went on (as the proverb says).

• OC's opinion: Chailly's got a massive international experience and the right profile. Excellent conductor, he'd be an excellent choice. Aida damaged him, though.

• The buzz: he has a good relationship with Lissner, the orchestra doesn't mind him. But the question remains: why didn't they offer him the job last year, then, and went looking for Barenboim's weird special-guest-with-privileges role?

~o~ MYUNG-WHUN CHUNG (aka THINK DIFFERENT) ~o~

 

Giulini nostalgics madly endorse Giulini's former student and Zen maestro Myung-Whun Chung

• OC's opinion: he's cool, really cool, a thinker and a sweet man who'd never alienate the orchestra. OC loves his ethereal sound. The pros: he's a Giulini clone, and you couldn't clone a greater maestro. The cons: his greatest asset is also an albatross around his neck. He's no Giulini; nobody is, nor will ever be.

• The buzz: he's BEYOND a dark horse, BUT he'd be the first non-European Musical Director in an opera house where visitors from Asia have an ever-growing presence in the audience, and an increasing financial weight, and has a very good American profile. He'd be a very exciting choice, and -- as we said above -- if you cannot have someone as awesome as Muti (that'd be Barenboim), exciting is what you need.

Opera Chic's final recommendation?

All four candidates should be put into an iron cage (inspired by Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome) and duke it out with fisticuffs!

FOUR MEN ENTER. ONE MAN LEAVES.

Q(o_oQ) Q(o_oQ) Q(o_oQ) Q(o_oQ)

This Just In: Viva Chung. Cedolins, not so much.

This just in from La Scala rehearsals for the upcoming Madama Butterfly: Opera Chic hears that maestro Myung-Whun Chung's conducting seems to be heart-breakingly beautiful, leaving many professori d'orchestra and the famously jaded rehearsal hanger-ons from La Scala's staff completely spell-bound. As former assistant of our beloved Carlo Maria Giulini in Los Angeles and frequent guest conductor at La Scala, the soft-spoken Chung is well-liked by the orchestra (in the photo above, the maestro is wearing the official badge of our GIULINI4EVAR fan club).

Not nearly as convincing, at least in these early rehearsals, is Cio Cio San (a fact that in Madama Butterfly could create quite a few problems, especially with the loggionisti all too eager to hurl a few verbal spitballs against a soprano who, OMG, dares to sing Tebaldi's and Kabaivanska's and Freni's role: things could get ugly). Things, for poor Fiorenza Cedolins -- a.k.a Bocelli's Tosca -- could get ugly. Let's hope they don't, because Opera Chic won't be in Milan to report.

 

Everybody seems to like Venezuelan Aquiles Machado as Pinkerton -- vocally, he seems to be quite right for the role. Of course, Opera Chic hears, the stout, round-faced young man seems to lack a certain, um, physical grace, but Karajan himself, after all, cast, "Big Luciano" Pavarotti in the same role with pretty cool results. Lucky for Machado, it's only great awesome female singers who get fired for their size, and it was poor, great Violeta Urmana who (last December) got a lot of grief from her Aida director who imagined a svelte Aida in his feverish dreams.

So the Machado gentleman's job is safe -- he can enjoy the great ossobuco and cassoeula and pork chops that are so deliciously seasonal this time of the year in Milan, without fear of ending like Voigt. Or having to go to the gym every night after dinner (there's a very cute one right behind La Scala anyway).   

Anyway, here's Giulini on Chung, from 1994:

"A conductor produces a sound without physical contact. Mr. Chung had a capability to produce this and have contact, musical and human, with the orchestra. I believed in him. He is a great talent, a deep musician and a marvelous human being."

You can't say it any better than that, can you.

^^^update^^^

The excellent GTL Torn T, Liceu blogger with a name as cool as a rapper's, has more on Cedolins; his blog is already a favorite here at OC's headquarters, even if our horribly rusty high school Spanish is clearly in need of a masterclass, or twenty.