Opera Chic

Next up at La Scala: Pereira with a Pay Cut

Milan's mayor Pisapia announced today at the conclusion of a La Scala board meeting that the next director of Salzburg Festival will be Alexander Pereira, taking over from Stéphane Lissner in 2015 (outbound to Paris Opera in that fall), unanimously elected by the CDA.

Criteria were strict for the cash-strapped Milanese opera house, including an incoming intendant with fund raising experience and one that would cost at least 25% cheaper than Lissner's current salary, about 350k euros.

The 65-year-old Austrian will fit right in with his 25-year-old Brasilian wife Daniela Weisser De Sosa, on her second marriage, who swapped posing for erotic mags for fashion studies in Milan. A match made in heaven.

Scala GM Lissner Denies Paris Move; Early Departure From Milan Remains Likely

Those persistent rumors (see today's Dagospia) about Scala GM Stephane Lissner being on his way to Paris Opera to replace Nicolas Joel in 2015?

Lissner said earlier today in Milan that it's not going to happen.

Lissner's Scala very comfortable contract expires in 2017.

Still, despite today's remarks, the smart money seems to remain on Lissner leaving; by January 2013 the French government will have to announce the name of the new Opéra GM. If it's Lissner, as it seems to be increasingly likely, expect all hell to break loose in Milan.

Shut'Em Down: Scala GM Lissner Attacks Italian Government In Press Conference, Threatens to Shut Down La Scala In Protest

Earlier today in Milan, Scala GM Stéphane Lissner held a press conference where he attacked the Italian government, asked for more operational freedom since the opera house is in the black, and threatened to shut down the theater if his requests won't be taken seriously by Culture Secretary Bondi. 

"The time for discussion is over -- Lissner said -- Now I expect action from the government"

Lissner wants to be able to operate using different rules -- most Italian opera houses are deep in the red -- but he needs action from Bondi: Lissner needs the cabinet to greenlight Scala's separate status by the end of the month, so that by October 31 Scala's new status will officially become law. Otherwise, "the theater will close down: this needs to be clear to everyone".

The reason stated by Lissner is that, otherwise, la Scala would not be able to guarantee high quality.

The fact that as of late he can't get his orchestra, chorus and workers to show up for work (the premiere of Juan Diego Florez's Barbiere, scheduled for July 9, will not happen because of a strike) did not diminish Lissner's determination. 

Scala's Got A Brand New Board; Dudamel, Harding Mentioned As Possible New Music Director

Now that la Scala finally has, as of today, a spanking new board of directors, and that Stéphane Lissner has been confirmed as GM until 2013 -- but he'll stay on until 2015, the year when the Expo2015 rocks Milan -- there's increased chatter about the possible decision to finally name a Music Director. Daniel Barenboim enjoys the glorified status, the cash, the co-productions with Berlin and the largely ceremonial title of "Maestro Scaligero" that his idol Wilhelm Fuertwangler used to have, a glorified title of Guest Conductor that leaves the actual choices and the power safely in Lissner's hands.

Over the years, since 2005, when Lissner took over after the Riccardo Muti era, a sequence of high-profile Italian conductors has been initially mentioned as possible new MD -- Riccardo Chailly, then Daniele Gatti -- and their phantom campaigns have consistently crashed and burned in the famously Machiavellian world of Scala affairs.

And now the mostly all-powerful Lissner, safe until 2015 in his place, might -- it is said -- finally choose a Music Director. A Music Director he'd have to share power with, obviously (keep in mind, as mean Ioan Holender famously mentioned, Lissner can't read music). 

The two names being floated are Gustavo Dudamel's and Daniel Harding's.

More Scala Grudges: Abbado Asks For 90,000 Trees, Muti Snarks Scala GM Lissner

Besides the all-too-present drama of singers pulling out of shows, singers being fired, singers being booed off the stage, singers being kept away from the premises by the police, political backstabbing, conductors fired by the orchestra, frequent strikes, and general feverish unrest, Teatro alla Scala has a historical penchant for generating massive beefs between artists, conductors, managers, etc.

Far from being a recent phenomenon -- Callas snubbed by the then-GM, Tebaldi harassed until she went off to San Carlo and the Met, Freni and even Pavarotti savagely booed by the loggione, frequent guest conductor Herbert Von Karajan eventually snubbed in favor of, all people, Karl Böhm, etc etc -- the situation has gotten worse since Claudio Abbado left as Music Director in 1986 and his successor Riccardo Muti left in 2005, both voted down by the all-powerful orchestra.

The Milan-born Abbado came back in the late 1980s and early 1990s as Music Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker and successor to Herbie Von K., probably the swankiest job in classical music -- always with other orchestras -- but he has never conducted the Scala orchestra again. He hasn't been back since the early 1990s due to a series of problems he had with the administrators back then. Abbado has since turned down every opening, every invitation to come back to his native city.

Riccardo Muti, well, after the early 2005 drama he has become a highly paid freelancer -- Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo -- a guest conductor in New York and future Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, besides his usual summer commitment in Salzburg and the directorship of the Whitsun Festival in Mozart's hometown and the directorship of his youth orchestra, the Cherubini.

Both have apparently been asked by the current General Manager Stephane Lissner, who has never worked with either conductor, to come back to la Scala (the dream scenario, as Scala gossip has it, would apparently have been a Abbado Magic Flute and a Mozart/DaPonte opera with Muti).

The answers?

Abbado, famously an opponent of the current conservative city government of Milan, has just answered that he will come back for free, only if the city government plants 90,000 new trees. (The cost would apparently be around two million euros). The project's feasibility? Kind of up in the air. Which, frankly, seems to be the point of Abbado's request.

Muti, instead, got crankier in an interview with Il Giornale:

"Mr. Lissner says he would like to meet me. But he never called me. No phone calls, no letters. I don't know him. He told a story of an encounter we had in Paris back when I was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, but I met many people, I have no recollection of such an encounter. It must have been a very quick episode. I expected at least to receive a letter, as a courtesy, when he arrived at la Scala, since I had spent so much time in that theater. But not even that."

(...)

"Maybe someone told him that I moved to an igloo; but I really think he knows I don't live too far. I'm often in Piacenza, with Orchestra Cherubini... I don't know what he is waiting for. He lost a chance to meet me in Salzburg, where he saw the Otello I conducted there. Salzburg's Jurgen Flimm told me he had asked Lissner to come see me, but Lissner never came"

Abbado is 75. Muti is 67. Lissner is 55. Abbado and Muti are -- if not the two best -- two of the very small roster of the best conductors out there. Lissner is running the most famous opera house in the world, and one of the oldest. But this I want a forest!, bring me flowers and send me fan mail, no I won't, is totally high school, all over again.

Tenor Filianoti To Be Officially Fired by Scala Management Later This Week

New developments in the Filianoti shuffle @ la Scala:

Giuseppe Filianoti, who had been officially "reassigned" to different dates of the "Don Carlo" run at la Scala, not fired, la Scala had said at first, will be officially dismissed later this week, Opera Chic has learned.

Filianoti had been under contract to appear in 7 shows and his replacement Stuart Neill should have fulfilled only the remaining three.

Neill will apparently appear in all six of the remaining shows planned for December. Then after the holiday break, another tenor -- name to be announced, he hasn't been cast yet even if the process of searching for another Don Carlo has already begun days ago -- will appear in the four January shows.

A General Theory of the Latest Scala Drama: Why Management Is Trying To Blame Filianoti For The Boos That Sunk Don Carlo's Opening Night

A few interesting facts re: this Don Carlo drama before bedtime (it's almost dawn here, seriously: too late for champagne, too early for cappuccino, might as well go to bed).

• The freshly-demoted Giuseppe Filianoti was present at Scala tonight, not on stage obviously but in a third-level box (together with other friends/relatives of cast members, among them his replacement Stuart Neill's girlfriend). He left after Act I.
• The boos -- over here, a whistle is never just that, there must be like a whole conspiracy behind it or the Italians just don't have as much fun -- ruined what had been hyped as the first Dec 7th Opening Night conducted by the frequent guest conductor whom most observers consider the front runner to get, eventually, one day in a not so distant future, the coveted job of Music Director of la Scala (as we mentioned earlier, a post previously held, these last 75 years, by Serafin, de Sabata, Toscanini, Giulini, Cantelli, Abbado, Muti).
• Scala GM Lissner came out clearly, right after the show, with unusually undiplomatic words: "The boos? Clearly the payback for the Filianoti situation, in the opera house it is well known". Meaning that it was an organized protest to undermine Gatti "guilty" of having de facto fired Filianoti, even if technically the tenor's still under contract, but his schedule has been reshuffled with Stuart Neill's -- now Filianoti is demoted to second cast (the smart money says he won't appear in any shows with the second cast, leaving open the question, and the additional drama, of who will be hired on such short notice to complete the run as Don Carlo with the second cast).

The conspiracy theory that supposes Filianoti somehow orchestrated an anti-Gatti riot by egging dozens of spectators on, convincing them to boo, etc, is made less easy to believe by the fact that booing and whistling were quite widespread -- not massive but certainly not the work of a few hit men.

It also remains to be seen how would someone like Filianoti, a singer only occasionally present here and not exactly the most powerful man in the Italian opera business, would manage to infiltrate so many accomplices in the theater on a night when tickets are incredibly scarce, monstrously expensive, by and large given out to sponsors and VIPs, and even cast members get just a few tickets -- in some cases just one ticket! -- for friends and family to the Sant'Ambrogio opening night. Again, it's not impossible to fill the stalls with a personal claque, obviously -- not impossible but very complicated on Dec 7th of all nights.

 An alternative hypothesis if you're conspiracy-minded is that a spontaneous movement of spectators moved by Filianoti's plight chose to boo Gatti in unison without having been somehow influenced by the singer or his entourage. Impossible? No. Very Likely? Bah.

If this conspiracy theory were true it would obviously leave the management and Gatti off the hook, erasing the painful fact that la Scala, in the post-Muti era, has had four Dec 7th opening nights -- Idomeneo/Bondy/Harding in '05, Aida/Zeffirelli/Chailly in '06, Tristan Und Isolde/Chereau/Barenboim in '07 and Don Carlo/Braunschweig/Gatti -- and this Don Carlo is by far the one that got booed the most -- even the Zeffirelli Aida, the one with Alagna (before he fled on the second night he regularly performed on Dec 7), didn't get as many catcalls, except for Alagna. Only Gatti, very likely the future Music Director -- if and when GM Lissner decides to give up some of his considerable power by sharing command of the place -- got such a bad reaction. Again, Opera Chic herself liked his work. But she can see why people would honestly find his conducting too uneven -- those speed changes -- and his vision of the score too unorthodox (the last two conductors who led Don Carlo here were Abbado in the 1970s and Muti in the 1990s, and both gave a much more even and conservative reading of the score).

Gatti -- whom Opera Chic personally liked and applauded heartily, as you can read in the post below -- is not the only one who got booed tonight, but on curtain call a nice chunk of the cast got hit by whistles and boos, too (not Zajick, OK); director Braunschweig and his team got a pretty good share of whipping, too.

Now the question is, did tne director -- whom Filianoti praised in his post-demotion interviews with two newspapers -- get booed also as "payback" by Filianoti loyalists?  By Gatti enemies? Really? The costume design lady, too? Sets? What about the seriously underperforming Grande Inquisitore, were the boos he had to endure at curtain call an act of payback to hit Gatti and sink the prima?

It's Opera Chic's right as an American to find all this drama here both entertaining and appalling. 

Maybe the Scala management is right, maybe this all happened because Gatti was a marked man, and people wanted to damage his profile and reputation to undermine him.

Maybe, his reading of the score was just too unpalatable for many (on this point OC disagrees) and the singing was substandard for such a big night (here OC agrees) and the staging really was just too drab and didn't really make any dramatic sense.

This analysis -- for full disclosure, as you can read in these last two days posts on this blog -- comes from someone who's really not a partisan here, from someone who would not have hired Filianoti in the first place, who thinks Filianoti has been treated very shabbily and in a manner unbecoming a world class opera house, from someone who generally likes Gatti and liked his work with the orchestra (not with the singers) tonight, and who thinks Braunschweig's work as director of Don Carlo was just dry, unfocused, and essentially forgettable.

Lots more on this Don Carlo with lots of pictures, reviews, conspiracy theories, and the usual in depth Opera Chic coverage tomorrow.

'night

All Is Forgiven: La Scala's Lissner Invites Vienna's Holender To La Prima In Milan

This past February, Scala GM Stéphane Lissner had slammed in the Italian press the Vienna Staatsoper (Munich, too) "where they don't rehearse as much and this has recently been the cause of substandard shows".

Not to be upstaged in this childish pointless foodfight, instead of letting it slide, Ioan Holender -- Vienna's Staatsoper director -- shot back with all the ammo he could find:

"This (attack) is unprecedented between opera houses: it is very embarrassing to engage in a dispute with someone who cannot read music but I understand Lissner needs to distract the Italian press from what is happening -- or better yet, not happening -- at la Scala".

"To cancel a new production (ed: the Andrea Chenier Opera Chic wrote extensively about) because the director and almost all of the cast have vanished is quite unusual and unbelievable for a opera house. With such attacks against my work Lissner disqualified himself, since he knows that I have been leading for 16 years the glorious Vienna opera with more than 60 operas in repertoire and more than 300 shows every season. Monsieur Lissner's envy is understandable when one sees that these days on the Vienna podium we have Christian Thielemann, Seji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti and Zubin Mehta, who are among the world's greatest conductors. They are not at la Scala where, unfortunately, there is only Lissner: this is sad".

Nine months of frozen silence between the two managers followed; but now, in a honorable attempt to patch things up, Lissner has invited Holender to la Scala for the Dec. 7 prima of Don Carlo.

If unruly unions sink the show (Opera Chic wouldn't bet on it, even last year's Tristan was similarly threatened and the wildly overpriced  show -- that makes la Scala about 2 million euros in a single night -- regularly went on), Herr Holender will have the chance to go shopping in the Quadrilatero and sample himself some tasty seasonal Milanese cuisine (cassoeula a special favorite of the pork-eating gourmets here).

Lissner Not Going Anywhere, To Remain At La Scala At Least Until 2013 (Make It 2015 For Expo)

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)

Ioan Holender Nukes La Scala: Attacks "Envy" Of Scala GM Stephane Lissner "Who Cannot Read Music": We Have The Great Conductors And La Scala Doesn't. Vienna vs La Scala Kung Fu Fightin'

It's unusual to see such public vitriol at such high levels, even in the famously snarky world of opera.

A few days ago Scala GM Stéphane Lissner had snarked, in the press, Vienna and Munich, "where they don't rehearse as much and this has recently been the cause of substandard shows", in Italian "spettacoli di basso livello", literally translated as "low-level shows".  "A Vienna ho visto un Don Giovanni di assoluta routine. Per il signor Holender non è mai troppo tardi per imparare", Lissner told Italian paper La Stampa: "In Vienna I saw a substandard Don Giovanni. For Mr. Holender is never too late to learn".

Yesterday Ioan Holender, Vienna's Staatsoper director has shot back with surprising vitriol, as reported in today's papers.

"This (attack) is unprecedented between opera houses: it is very embarrassing to engage in a dispute with someone who cannot read music but I understand Lissner needs to distract the Italian press from what is happening -- or better yet, not happening -- at la Scala".

"To cancel a new production (ed: the Andrea Chenier Opera Chic wrote extensively about) because the director and almost all of the cast have vanished is quite unusual and unbelievable for a opera house. With such attacks against my work Lissner disqualified himself, since he knows that I have been leading for 16 years the glorious Vienna opera with more than 60 operas in repertoire and more than 300 shows every season. Monsieur Lissner's envy is understandable when one sees that these days on the Vienna podium we have Christian Thielemann, Seji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti and Zubin Mehta, who are among the world's greatest conductors. They are not at la Scala where, unfortunately, there is only Lissner: this is sad".

If we were Brits, we'd totally say: Blimey Guv'nor!

My Big Fat Candide Review

The three big papers in Italy (Corriere, La Stampa, and La Repubblica) all reported a t0tally excited reception (10 minutes of applause –- but we’ll get to that later) for Robert Carsen's direction --> appropriation --> adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's Candide from the Wednesday, June 20 la prima at Teatro alla Scala. Don’t get us wrong. We liked many things about it: the witty tributes to cultural icons and shared historical legacy, the dying flicker of optimism and increasing commodification of American culture since the death of JFK, and the rise of the tacky and misguided nouveau riche. (yawnz0rs)

But by the end of the night, the audience is pushed into the role of a bemused parent battling the sudden onset of puberty of a confused and rebellious teenager. Carsen inelegantly slams his dogma and paints his social-commentary-couched-in-irreverent opinions in such broad strokes, that a few times OC found herself rolling her eyes to his modern citations ('does the audience like me yet?! I wont stop referencing our shared cultural history until I am liked.')

But Carsen’s production was equally brilliant compared to even the most tenuous parts: a brief allusion to Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, complete with a saxophone-wielding cross-dressing Jack Lemmon as Maximilian, uttering the famous (ed: Joe E. Brown's in the original movie) line, "well, nobody's perfect". While I lolled, not one of the Italians near me uttered a single sound. And of course, Glitter and Be Gay was set to the iconic Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, as Cunegonde is transformed into Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. What we also respected from Carsen was the elegant handling of the inherent anti-war message, which was thankfully not foisted heavily into the structure of Carsen's moral edits, and rather delievered with wit and grace.

The stage, as you all have seen/read by now, is set inside a giant television from the 1950s with rounded rectangle frames, reminiscent of a giant vintage metal lunchbox. The opening credits are certainly brilliant enough, all in English in whimsical font, as well as the appealing nostalgic pastiche of stock footage, all taken from idealized, pastel, and frothy clips of happy American 1950s families -- panning the camera over white picket fences and brand new ranch homes, spliced with footage of the JFK wedding, a NASA space launch, etc...all saturated in a warm orange glow of nostalgia. However, Voltaire giving the audience the middle finger to signify the opening of Act I is a little too, well, *rolls eyes*.

But in the age of MTV and lightning-fast edits, OC found the overall production riddled with a bad case of ADHD *omg brb something shiny*! It was impossible to focus on the overture with the media presentation buzzing and flashing behind (there was also a similar presentation after the first intermission). The problem with this entire production is that Bernstein’s music and creation takes complete backstage to Carsen's self-laudatory, egotistical omg shared inheritance omg direction. He's like Orson Welles on crack. Carsen uses Lenny’s Candide as a vehicle to perpetuate his convictions and his own brand of heavy-handed social commentary, and to present his own, updated version of Voltaire’s novel. The music was a mere afterthought, a batch of stringed notes for the background of Carsen's direction. This was all in great contrast to the 2004 Candide OC saw in NYC, a love-fest hommage to Bernstein...where at one point in scene, an album of Lenny's West Side Story was used as a prop in tribute to the great maestro, the audience bursting out in applause.

The La Scala orchestra was completely incapable of getting down that fundamental, unique ,brash Lenny sound. They washed it entirely in their patented La Scala Italianate (duh) treatment -- although very beautiful and evocative in its own right -- but not even close. But then again, no one was really listening to the music rite? so who cares!

The final word on the cut scenes? As the legend goes *cue grandpappy voice*, it all began back in December 2006 when Stéphane Lissner took his adolescent son (note: OC isn’t a parent, but I prolly wouldn’t recommend this opera for 13-year-olds) to the December 26th Paris production at the Théâtre du Châtelet, and decided that Carsen's vision of Candide was "not in line with the artistic production of La Scala". Many meetings behind closed doors in January 2007 between Lissner and Carsen were held, where eventually they agreed upon a “Milan-Safe” version, cutting roughly 15-minutes of staging from the Paris version, including two songs of Dr. Pangloss (but hinted-at in the newspaper for reasons wanting to conserve Lamert Wilson’s voice. um okay yaaaah).

Now, thanks to video captures of the January 2007 Arte' channel broadcast of the uncensored and uncut Paris production, those who can’t get to the theater can revel in Carsen’s controversial vision (Again, Opera Chic has been forbidden by la Scala's lawyers to publish la Scala promotional material that is freely distributed to the media, and shots from inside the theater.) Here were most of the edits:

In the famous scene with Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, and Putin floating drunkenly among split oil tanks (at la prima, two of those tanks had a ‘wardrobe malfunction’, and remained distractedly and ominously on stage ten minutes through the Las Vegas scene) Putin thankfully doesn't vomit (making instead very audible hiccups), and Berlusconi is dressed in longer briefs (instead of a little Speedo seen in Paris). The neckties of the five world leaders have been left in the dressing room, but that was explained for the reasons of new, improved masks that didn’t need the neckties to conceal the creases in the material.

No molesting, pAEdophile priests or priest/church jokes…specifically the line, "Farebbero comodo alla nostra confraternita" (but instead Dr. Pangloss grossly molests Paquette through a few scenes.) Also cut was the entire scene of the cardinals arriving in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lots of cracks at the Mormons, however remained, upon Candide’s arrival in Salt Lake City, UT. Not many Mormons in Italia!

Dr. Pangloss/Voltaire/Martin, played by the excellent Lambert Wilson, narrates in Italian language (instead of English) marring the production with an ersatz and disjointed feel (Lissner had said that such long stretches of English would bore and lose the interest of the general audience). Even the last few lines in the ending scene uttered by Candide and Voltaire are spoken in Italian.

Appearing in scene, although reportedly once agreed to be cut by Carsen, was Kim Criswell’s Old Lady, who said she was the daughter of a Polish pope ("Sono figlia di un papa polacco") because I remember being like, 'oh great, here comes the Pole joke.

But can we just address the screaming headlines that state the Candide la prima received bountiful applause? Well, yes, technically there was roughly 10 minutes of applause. People liked it, yes. But whoever coordinated the curtain calls split-up the massive, massive chorus into much smaller sets of about 15 members, each line of chorus singers taking an isolated, separate bow. Technically and literally, because the chorus (ed: and the mimes and the dancers) was split into small bodies among such a large group, it took a very long time. When the principals finally came together with Carsen, Axelrod, et al, after the entire chorus had taken their like, 8 minutes of curtain calls, there was only *one* ovation for them. The curtain went down once, and was raised one additional instance for a final, second ovation. THIS CASE HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY CLOSED.

Now to make this monster post even more GINORMOUS, here are some more screenshots from the December 2006 Paris production, broadcast last January by Arté on satellite, not from La Scala's production:

Above: Dr. Pangloss's history lesson

Above: The chorus and the earthquake

Above: auto-da-fé with hanging of Candide and Pangloss. Oh yeah: And the KKK.

Above: Cunegonde's Glitter and Be Gay

Above: Escape from Hawaii to the Titantic

Above: Bush drunk on a raft

Above: Blair drunk on a raft

Above: More rafts

Above: Las Vegas and The Old Lady

Above: cul8r

Funding Cuts + A Slap From Riccardo Muti; La Scala's Bad Week

We're not sayin' there's a connection between these two events, mind you. We report.

1 - La Scala's legal counsel requires Opera Chic to change her logo and to remove a bunch of pictures taken inside the theatre from her blog. She bravely caves in.

A few days later,

2 - Milan's Mayor cuts the city's funding to La Scala; and Riccardo Muti, as a guest of the MiTo Festival (really cool roster: Ian Bostridge, Yuri Temirkanov,  Riccardo Chailly, Fabio Luisi, Gianandrea Noseda, Hèlène Grimaud, Kent Nagano, George Pehlivanian, Maxim Vengerov, Charles Dutoit and many others, full program in .pdf here) will conduct in nearby Turin the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in September but has refused to conduct at la Scala, letting it be known -- thru art critic and Culture Secretary of Milan's city govt Vittorio Sgarbi quoted in today's Repubblica, story not online -- that "he'll be back when Donna Elvira does not appear on la Scala's stage riding a moped" (last year's Don Giovanni, directed by Peter Mussbach, famously featured a scene where Donna Elvira joyrides on a vintage Lambretta moped: we'd show you the photo but then we'd hear from la Scala's lawyers again, no thx bi, we'll wait until Berlin's Staatsoper makes those images available to all bloggers, not only to the bloggers they like).   

Milan mayor Letizia Moratti explained that la Scala "receives 6.3 million euros a year and another 1 to 3 million euros from the central government in Rome". Some of those city funds will be instead given to other smaller theatres and orchestras. Not to la Scala. "We have 33 institutions that receive a total sum of 300,000 euros; Pomeriggi Musicali receives 250,000 euros, Orchestra Verdi 300,000. The lack of balance is self evident".

What does it mean?

It means: All that government cash? Some of it ain't coming next year!

Since the possibility of downsizing the already-bloated personnel of la Scala (four times as large as the Metropolitan Opera's, according to Italian newspaper Il Foglio) is not going to happen (ditto for the upper echelon of the opera house reducing their own salaries), OC fears that the already expensive Scala tickets will. Just. Cost. More.

vvvvvvv HUGE ARTICLE UPDATE vvvvvvvv

Here's the round-up from the Italian news:

Il Giornale Below:

Il Giornale Below:

Corierre della Sera Below:

La Repubblica Below:

Barenboim's Hissy Fit, Part II

Big update!! Okay, so we know that there was a bit of mystery last night surrounding the Daniel Barenboim recital at Teatro alla Scala, as he shunned the adoring Milan audience by hastily leaving the theater without a single encore.

We just didn't understand: we showed Barenboim much love and respect last night and the audience (Maurizio Pollini among the crowd) applauded him heartily. We called for encores, and even gave him standing ovations (well, the platea seats are too expensive to raise one's a$$ off of them, people there never give standing ovations) but he still refused.   

Word has it that it was indeed the 2nd row camera sniper that had Barenboim's panties in a twist (btw, it seemed to OC last night that the photo detractor was in the first row, but apparently not)...

Opera Chic has learned that Barenboim was visibly pissed during the intermission, even after he scolded the detractor during his first curtain call (in front of the entire auditorium) by charging towards the camera-wielder and wagging his finger angrily.

La Scala General Manager Stéphane Lissner was brought in for damage-control, and asked a reluctant, still-pissed-off Barenboim to make the audience happy and play again, just once. But Barenboim was all like, awwww hells naw. And he decided to punish the entire hall (Maurizio Pollini included) for one guy's lack of discretion.

Even more jarring about his abduction is that a lovely reader from Bologna had written OC with a full report of Barenboim's Bologna recital just two days prior, where he treated the fans to a *full hour* of bis:

“The public started screaming non-stop, and we then had an hour of encores, Evgeny Kissin style. Mostly Frédéric Chopin, including a Polonaise that brought the house down!!!” [thanks for the review, again, Big D!]

Now, Opera Chic is on the record in this blog and in IRL as saying that Barenboim is a wonderful artist, a committed musician, a man of peace, and a generous intellectual.

He's also an ex-child prodigy...and OC knows he's still a prodigy; she just thought he wasn't a child anymore. *snaps*

(photo from daniel barenboim)

Stéphane Lissner: It's All About The Benjis, Yo

La Scala announced today their financial data for the year 2006, and are happy to report a big fat plus: last year under new General manager Stéphane Lissner la Scala has turned in a heartening + 1.47 million euros profit.

Private sponsors and box office receipts constitute the 57.2% of the budget (42.8% is painfully shelled out by the Government).

Box office receipts (ah, those insanely expensive tkts) and corporate sponsorships have made la Scala a sweet 48.4 million euros (it was just 39.4 in 2005).

In simpler words:

"AAAAA++++ would do $ again!"

Lissner to Ferri: Hit Me Baby One More Time!

Scala General Manager and open collar shirt hater Stéphane "Jacket Required, Kinda" Lissner has asked the off-teh-charts awesome Alessandra Ferri, who danced the other night for the last time at la Scala (bringing the house insanely down as if Italy had won again the soccer World Cup), to come back, please come back one last time.

So, when her commitments abroad will have been satisfied, the 43-going-on-10 phenomenon may come back for a huge gala/star-studded event: frankly, the only proper way to say thank you to a true a legend for her career.

Stephane Lissner's Masterplan

 

OK; Stéphane Lissner has announced his plan for the future: his 5-year plan to, in his words, "turn La Scala into, again, the Number One opera house in the world" (The code is transparent. Translation: Muti dragged the theatre down, here's how I'll fix things").

2007-2008
Next season, La Scala will stage 12 operas (9 new productions, among them Prokofiev's The Gambler conducted by Barenboim (OMG YES!), Tosca conducted by Barenboim and directed by Jean Luc Bondy, L’elisir d’amore with Villazon-Neterbko). Pierre Boulez will inaugurate next year's Symphony season. La Prima of 12/7/2007 will be, as already announced, Barenboim's Tristan.

2008-2009
La Prima of 12-7-2008: Don Carlo, conducted by Daniele Gatti, Stéphane Braunschweig director.

Verdi & Wagner turn 200
Lissner is really putting a lot of care into the planning of 2013 because it's the Verdi/Wagner bicentennial. In 2013, Verdi's Trilogia Popolare will happen.

Monteverdi Trilogy
Orfeo in September 2009, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in 2010, and L’incoronazione di Poppea in 2011, conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini (ed: zzzzzzzzzzzzzz), directed by Bob Wilson (yay!). The idea is to cast big names (still unknown together with young students from Accademia della Scala). Cool, but had Muti decided for the same Monteverdi orgy, he'd have been stoned by the same h8rz who know will all be like, yay Monteverdi.

Japan Tour
In 2009, La Scala goes to Japan: Gatti's Don Carlo, and Aida conducted by Barenboim.

La Scala's Ring
The first integral Ring since Furtwaengler's in 1950, (Ben Heppner has already been cast) will be conducted by Daniel Barenboim, director Klaus-Michael Grüber, sets by Anselm Kiefer. Two operas in 2010, Rheingold in June, Die Walküre as La Prima on 12/7/2010. Then, in 2012: Sigfried in January, Götterdämmerung for la Prima in 12/7/2012.

Other Planz
Lissner sez he's trying to talk Simon Rattle into coming here to conduct an opera, and, heh, he's supposedly trying to woo back Claudio Abbado (who of course hasn't come back to La Scala since the orchestra fired him in 1986, just like they did 19 years later to Riccardo Muti and in the 1950s to poor Victor de Sabata). Abbado conducting again at la Scala is about as likely as George W. Bush converting to Islam and joining NARAL, but we'll see. A nice little cloud of vaporware is always de rigueur, n'est pas?

Lissner: Candide Is On, But With Pants

Today's la Repubblica certifies that Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi, George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin and Jacques chirac will indeed appear in Robert Carsen's staging of Candide at la Scala next June 20 as originally planned.

But no more underwear: the heads of state will wear pants.

This, and other changes to the original staging, will be fine-tuned by Carsen and his co-director, Scala General Manager Stéphane Lissner as soon as Carsen comes back from Japan where Maestro Ozawa is conducting Carsen's staging of Tannhauser.

(pictured above, Lissner and Carsen hard at work on their Candide rewrites)

Muti in Tel Aviv Slams Scala Dress Code: "Do They Also Worry About The Underwear?"

As everyone who has watched The Three Days of the Condor knows, you recognize the best killers in the business by their Zen-like calm: the great genius that is Max Von Sidow plays a hit man with such cool grace that you almost end up liking the guy – OK, he massacres an office full of CIA analysts and misses the lucky hunkiness that was the early-1970s Robert Redford by the proverbial hair, but you really like Von Sidow’s professional, cool demeanor. He pulls off a massacre without breaking a sweat -- or even raising an eyebrow.

And then you think, he’d make a hell of a conductor.

See, because when – just a few hours ago – Maestro Riccardo Muti spoke to the journalists present at the Tel Aviv press conference for his Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra concert he took care of explaining – really, a class act – that Thursday night’s performance will be in honor of Arturo Toscanini, the first conductor -- in 1936 -- of the then-newborn Orchestra. Muti took pride in the fact that he considers himself "a disciple of Toscanini", and then, after he was done with the questions about the concert, just then, somebody asked him about la Scala's dress code fiasco.

And just like Von Sidow, Muti took out his victims (ie, la Scala and GM Lissner) quietly, almost smiling. In a whisper.      

«We often worry about pointless things instead of taking care of the important ones. We need young people to feel comfortable in the oldest music institutions, not to worry about ties and socks"

And then, ninja-style, the coup de grace.

«Do they also worry about the underwear?».

«Spesso ci si preoccupa di cose inutili, piuttosto che delle cose serie. Abbiamo bisogno di fare sentire i giovani a proprio agio nei luoghi più antichi della musica, non di preoccuparci di cravatte e calzini».

«Si interessano anche alla biancheria intima?»

GAME! SET! MATCH! OMGLOL

His Italian-language direct quote follows:

Stèphane Lissner to Robert Carsen: 'Dude, La Scala No Habla El English, capisc?'

Quadrilingual Bang & Olufsen fan (Opera Chic prefers vintage McIntosh, thank you very much) Robert Carsen speaks about his controversial Candide censored torpedoed by Scala General Manager and all-out tough guy Stéphane "Jacket Required, Or Maybe Not" Lissner:

The scene involving Bush and the other semi-clad statesmen floating on an oil slick, Carsen says, was never mentioned in his conversations with Lissner. ``Stephane had this concern for the Scala audience,'' he says. ``There's so much in English that they would just tune out.'' Carsen plans to adjust the show for Milan; exactly how will be hammered out later.

Memo to future Scala directors of politically very sensitive material: whatever you do, translate all the dialogue from English into Italian, and be careful how you translate "Berlusconi Suxxx0r!", in Italian it's "Viva Berlusconi!". Then delete the politcally sensitive material, because in Italian it sounds even worse. Then pocket your massive fee. And you'll all be alrighty.

Pleez Hammer Lissner don't hurt'em! (in the photo below, Carsen and Lissner hard at work rewriting Candide in a Scala-safe version)

PS Opera Chic truly loved Carsen's staging of Dialogues Des Carmélites and his Kát'a Kabanová. But the d00d likes Craigie Aitchison, and he loses points in OC's scorecard. wtf?

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)

Dress Code @ La Scala: The Final Episode, Part ROFL

(Nota Bene to Opera Chic's radio-loving readers: if you want to read about Opera Chic on the radio -- she took part yesterday in a live panel on teh beeb (BBC) with the juicy awesomeness that is Norman Lebrecht -- scroll down here).

   

You know, first La Scala writes on the tickets that gentlemen should always wear a jacket and a tie (We quote: "Formal dress is required at premiere performances. Gentlemen are requested to wear a jacket and tie at all other performances.").

More-or-less-unintended consequences: people are all like wtf? (especially the chronically under-dressed). Giorgio Armani is all like w00t and sez "buy my stuff youll look sassy and they'll nev4r kick you out". Nobel Prize Dario Fo p00ps on "elitist" La Scala. People start looking for their tuxedos from the 1970s, turquoise lapels and all, afraid that Lissner's Iron Fist will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to make fashion faux-pas.

Eventually Scala General Manager Stéphane Lissner, busy hacking all controversial scenes off of Robert Carsen's staging of Candide, finds the time to actually check out the back of his theatre's tickets.

mmmkay.

And then (if you believe the pro-Lissner camp) he gets kinda pissed, apparently, BECAUSE THE WORDING APPROVED FOR OFFICIAL SCALA DOCUMENTS (like the Programma 2006/2007 that Opera Chic has rite here) WAS, AND IS, QUITE A BIT DIFFERENT. If you belong to the anti-Lissner camp, well, he simply backpeddled.

o rly?

Yes rly. Because La Scala's official documents, in the "Regolamento di Sala", state literally that:

"E' gradito l'abito scuro per le prime rappresentazioni e sempre la giacca e la cravatta per i Signori. Si raccomanda comunque per tutte le rappresentazioni un abbigliamento consono al decoro del Teatro".

In English (and the italics are Opera Chic's): "A dark suit is appropriate; and, as always, a jacket and tie for the gentlemen. Anyway, we recommend for all the shows to wear clothing that is appropriately matched to the theatre's decorum".

To boil it down, wording such as "required" and "requested" do not belong to official La Scala policy -- they just appear on the back of tickets.

That's why Lissner finally spaketh. Officially Lissner stated (in a letter to daily La Repubblica, which cannot be found online) the following:

"...non ho mai emanato alcuna norma nuova né tanto meno restrittiva in materia d' abbigliamento... i «consigli» rivolti al pubblico, che genericamente riguardano un invito a indossare giacca e cravatta e a adottare un «abbigliamento consono al decoro del teatro» per le donne, esistono da sempre alla Scala... Non esistono dunque norme restrittive, se non quelle del buon gusto e del rispetto della storia del Teatro, per l' accesso alla Scala, che proprio su mia iniziativa ha lanciato quest' anno un Progetto Giovani che tende a un democratico allargamento del pubblico".

In English:

"I've never ordered a new, restrictive dress code... the 'advice' to the audience is generic, and aims toward jacket and tie for the gentlemen and appropriate dress for the ladies, have always existed at La Scala... Hence there are no restrictive regulations, with the exception of the respect for good taste and the history of the theatre, to access La Scala. On my initiative La Scala has launched this year a 'Project Youth' to further enlarge and democratize the audience".

So who wrote the, "Formal dress is required at premiere performances. Gentlemen are requested to wear a jacket and tie at all other performances" bit, in pretty clear and harsh wording? Opera Chic has a suspect: Roberto Alagna. He probably hax0red into La Scala's computers and printed that stuff on the back of the tickets. Why? Because those who booed him, he noticed, weren't wearing a tie. 

^^^UPDATE^^^

The last words re: how to dress for an opera show rightly belong to Giuseppe Filianoti (in the linked article's larger photo, he is dressed for an audition to a Starsky & Hutch Broadway musical): "You look normally!".

You cannot say it any better than that.

Dario Fo vs. Stéphane Lissner: No Jacket Required

As Opera Chic reported on January 16, the latest step in Scala General Manager Stéphane Lissner SuperFlyTNT hardline against, well, everybody and everything, is his decision to enforce a dress code at la Scala for the gentlemen.

Today's Repubblica carries a story about the dress code where Milanese Nobel Laureate and Opera Fan, the awesome, naturally elegant Dario Fo, expresses his deep disappointment: "This is a bad omen: the man makes the clothes, not the other way around. I think La Scala's management would rather have the same type of people in the audience, all lookalikes, all the better if they belong to the upper class. It's discrimination".

GM Lissner's Iron Fist, Part LXXVII

Opera Chic won't deny her slightly horrified reaction whenever she sees some tragically underdressed person in the audience at La Scala: the occasional denim jacket + denim pants ensemble, the senseless T-shirt, even -- Opera Chic swears -- the lady in a track suit make her fashion conscious skin crawl (il loggione has different rules, unless it's la prima of Dec 7: those who go there  are too busy analyzing every single detail of the performance in order to savage The Damned and -- much less often -- wildly cheer The Saved to care about what they wear... really, the Loggione always has different rules, even when fashion is concerned, and a certain shabbiness is kind of de rigueur).

But Opera Chic is also very wary of the flashy hordes of VIPs and various TV personalities who often show up only to show off: plunging decolletages that would make Jenna Jameson blush, ripped jeans, gentlemen in a white tuxedo (why?) for the sixth replica of a minor opera that make them look like the barman at Ridotto dei Palchi, but not nearly as cool.

Milanese style is all about understatement: elegance here is about not being flashy, mixing a healthy dose of older, well-worn clothes with that new beautiful thing that comes straight from the 10 Corso Como sale. And gentlemen in a nice dark suit with a nice tie and black shoes cannot go wrong: their stylish, unassuming presence at the theatre makes Opera Chic very happy.

But La Scala GM Stéphane Lissner, an elegant, even fastidious dresser who always sports nicely tailored suits, probably even more appalled than Opera Chic by untucked loud shirts and the hoodies that we see more and more often in the audience, has decided to enforce a dress code: even the tickets now carry the warning "Formal dress is required at premiere performances. Gentlemen are requested to wear a jacket and tie at all other performances."

Apparently, those who don't follow the new code will be admitted in the theatre but they will be asked to remember the dress code next time they attend (even if Opera Chic happily dreamt of people forcibly removed from the premises for crimes against fashion). Then Last Sunday Corriere della Sera ran an entire page about this new decision: and the following day opera fan Giorgio Armani has written a small op-ed in the paper, supporting Lissner's decision.

Giorgio confesses that in the 1970s, to follow the fashion, he ditched his tuxedo and dark suits and went to la Scala wearing white turtlenecks and velvet jackets: "I felt very much out of place". But, Armani advises, "style is not anymore about stiff, old fashioned English suits that once were considered the pinnacle of elegance. Nowadays elegance means soft, streamlined designs that make a man feel  confortable even where wearing a suit. Because an excess of sprezzatura, at la Scala, is definitely a missed note".

BREAKING CANDIDE/CARSEN/LA SCALA NEWS: NOW WITH MORE FRANCE

Opera Chic has been privileged to receive some juicy news concerning the evolving Candide fuss between Teatro alla Scala GM Stéphane Lissner and Director Robert Carsen.

As Opera Chic reported a few days ago, Lissner was quoted saying that Carsen had proposed to him meeting this January to, "evaluate the opera together via DVD, scene for scene, " to decide which cuts will be implemented before Candide sees the light of day in Milan.

Well, Opera Chic has learned that the sup4r hawt, GM-on-Director meeting will be on Monday, January 15th, 2007. Yes, the tête-à-tête will be on America's Martin Luther King Day (and 25 Tevet, 5767 representing all the Frumsters in da house).

Another tidbit: Le Monde writes today (Stéphane Lissner reprogramme "Candide" à la Scala de Milan) that Lissner had already spoken to Jean-Luc Choplin, GM of Paris's Théâtre du Châtelet about his concerns with the staging (where Lissner was in attendance on December 26, 2006 with his son).

Choplin is quoted by Le Monde saying that on December 28, 2006, he received a fax from Stéphane Lissner, asking him for a meeting on January 8, 2007. But Lissner had cancelled Candide without further contacting Choplin, snubbing his French colleague. Choplin states his confusion of Lissner's actions, especially the diss, because they had worked together since the inception.

I think someone might have drugged Lissner's panettone gastronomico during his Natale lunch, because he's just been wacky lately...

More l8r!

Lissner officially explains the reinstatement of Carsen's Candide at La Scala, as Opera Chic anticipated

From today's Corriere della Sera, an article discussing Candide: as Opera Chic wrote last night, Stéphane Lissner’s earlier statement that cancelled Director Robert Carsen’s production of Bernstein’s Candide at La Scala is no longer valid -- Canadian director Robert Carsen has agreed to make changes that will allow the opera (that premiered in Paris earlier this month) to be staged here.

Lissner (General Manager of Teatro alla Scala) had made his decision to axe the opera from the 2006-07 rotation at Teatro alla Scala two days ago, which Opera Chic had reported here.

In today's interview, Lissner defends his earlier decision to cut Candide, and points out that what works in Paris and London doesn't necessarily work in Milan, and that Carsen's Paris Candide just wasn't in line with his artistic vision of what is suitable for Teatro alla Scala. Why?

According to Lissner -- that of course, cannot really admit to having caved into political pressure (the staging makes fun of ex Italia PM Berlusconi, among other politicians, and while Berlusconi is not PM anymore, his party is still all-powerful in Milan) -- the production was initially axed because Carsen took liberties with the libretto that weren’t approved for La Scala.

Read on:

Lissner: “Candide” alla Scala se sarà revisionato da Carsen (Lissner: Candid will be at La Scala if it is revised by Carsen)

Il regista si è ditto disponibile all’operazione (The director said he was available to prepare [changes] to the operation)

L’allestimento di Parigi non è adatto a Milano (The staging in Paris is not adaptable to Milan)

The translation follows:

"Turned down the very first instance by Lissner, Candide could in certain reality, come back to La Scala. From New York came this announcement from the General Manager, after having spoken to Carsen via telephone. Carsen had always been loved by the Milanese audience, especially for his prior productions at La Scala of Dialogues des Carmélites and Kát'a Kabanová (the latter Opera Chic saw on March 22 this past year at La Scala, and thoroughly enjoyed it [despite Gardiner's pedestrian conducting]) (see image below), and told Lissner he is willing to assist Teatro alla Scala by substantially modifying the opera."

"Lissner said of Carsen, 'He proposed to me that we should meet together in January, and evaluate the opera together via DVD, scene for scene. I am a man of discussion, and a man of the theater. I decided to accept the offer. I know how much this opera is anticipated to appear at La Scala, and how disappointed everyone would be at its cancellation.'"

"The job ahead, however, is hefty and not easy, Lissner admits. He thinks back to the night of Santo Stefano (December 26, 2006), when he was with his 13-year-old son at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, in order to attend the popular opera, in which all of Paris was talking about, and an opera that was applauded by the public."

"Lissner said specifically of that night, 'I can confess, that to me, the opera was entertaining/enjoyable; but when it was over, my son whispered to me incredulously, ‘Dad, but is this show is coming to La Scala?’"

"'I tried to keep down a final giggle, and said to him, 'No, this opera won't come [to La Scala].'"

[The question is proposed to Lissner:] "But why then won’t Candide come to La Scala?"

[Lissner responds:] "Because it doesn't fit into my line of what is good for La Scala. At this point it comes down to an agreement between tradition and modernity. And I didn't make this decision because of the famous scene with the heads of state in their underwear. Simply, I made it for a load of other reasons; more specifically is that Carsen had made changes to the libretto. He added allusions and some situations in a style that just do not conform with those of La Scala."

[The question is proposed to Lissner:] "A good example of this may be the harsh jokes towards the church or the pedophile priests?"

[Lissner responds:] "I don't want to get into the details. I knew that people were saying that we must not censor things, and other such nonsense, but it’s not really like that at all. Candide is known to be a subversive work, and Carsen is truly an individual who is able to capitalize on that spirit. I knew this well [when he was hired for the job]. But whatever works at London and Paris for Carsen, is not necessarily successful at La Scala. I want to open La Scala to new ideas, to a diverse public, but without giving the impression of instigating controversy and provocation."

"Carsen said that he was disappointed and surprised at the decision, but is able to modify his opera."

I can't wait for the January tête-a-tête behind closed doors! Opera Chic promises to report all the details!