Young maestro quits Paris Carmen
mainLionel Bringuier has pulled out of next month’s Carmen ‘for personal reasons’, whatever that might mean.
The young Frenchman’s withdrawal has left the Opéra scrambling for last-minute replacements.
According to ForumOpera, Bertrand de Billy will conduct on March 10, 19, 22 and 25 plus April 11 and 14. Giacomo Sagripanti will cover March 13, 16, 28, 31 and April 2, 5 and 8. Mark Elder takes over the run in June and July.
A young french conductor leaving a french orchestra known as difficult : bizarre, bizarre non ?
This guy is a flop. That was clean a long time ago. Was about time… Incredible that managers of such important institutions like Paris Opera or Tonhalle Zúrich trusted him important projects or positions. Says a lot about the level of the propone who take decisiones in this “industry”.
Don’t you think calling a 30-year-old conductor “a flop” a bit excessive?
He’s a talented, intelligent young conductor who I fear was pushed too far too fast.
This Carmen happens to be another of that LUNATIC Calixto Bieto’s productions
Bieto is capable of driving any conductor or cast to distraction which he has done on numerous occasions.His Carmen is particularly offensive, probably even more so to a French conductor. Bringuier is a consummate gentleman and would never reveal any animosity toward Beito, he’d just quietly excuse himself, as he’s done here.
I’m just speculating about Bieto, but I know from 1st hand experience that Bringuier’s Carmen is superb. He conducts it beautifully. He also has very high artistic standards which tend toward the elegant and understated, and I can see how he might have been offended by ridiculous un-French antics of Bieto’s over-the-top staging.
This is a speculation. Bertrand de Billy is supposed to replace Bringuier, and 3 years ago, he didn’t hesitate to make public opposition to a stage director in Vienna (Lohengrin 2014) and decided to quit Vienna Opera because of misunderstanding with Dominique Meyer.
I suppose that De Billy (and he is french) would not have accepted to conduct this Carmen if the stage director Calixto Bieito was unfair with the conductor.
I’ve been in that production twice and, as Bieito’s stuff goes, it’s not too bad at all – although I must say subsequently seeing it from outside didn’t convince me it had much to offer.
And if it had more to do with his relationship with the orchestra musicians ?…
“Personal reasons” = He’s fired
Mr Bringuier is a young and talented conductor but inexperienced in the opera field.
This production was his first and he was not prepared enough, one week before the premiere there was a lot of problems between the pit and the stage and he didn’t realise it.
Paris Opera managers had decided to stop the experience and secure the shows with skilled maestros, that’s the explanation.
You mean : it’s not for “personal reasons ” ? Why not saying the truth?protecting the management? Musicians ? Lionel Bringuier had already conducted Carmen before ..he knows the piece very well !