Rome Opera blames soprano for being fired from Traviata

The artistic director of Rome Opera, Alessio Vlad, has spoken to the journal Musica about the events that led to the dismissal of Jessica Nuccio as Violetta in the present Traviata production.

In Vlad’s account, the soprano threw a tantrum on being asked politely to sing out for the benefit of students who had been invited to the general rehearsal.

We present Vlad’s version in the original Italian, since the Google translation engine distorts it.

 
UPDATE: Here’s a translation by one of our readers:

Understanding that this dress rehearsal was organized to put at ease Ms. Nuccio who, alone
among the three sopranos, had not sung in this production, these are the facts:
1. The dress rehearsal was not closed but was meant for an audience of students.
2. The singer, Jessica Nuccio, announced before the rehearsal that she would not sing all of it
in full voice, but part of it in a soft voice. To sing in a soft voice in a dress rehearsal means
saving one’s voice by omitting the more tiring parts and adapting some parts of the role, but
assuring the singing line can be a reference for the singers, the chorus and the orchestra and
all the other collaborators. From the beginning of the dress rehearsal, the singer not only did
not sing the vocal line in a soft voice, but she obstinately recited the verses in a talking voice
and therefore was not able to be heard.
3. The artistic director went onto the stage and, without interrupting the rehearsal, asked her
gently (there’s a video) to sing. Jessica Nuccio rudely refused.
4. At that point, the principle cellist of the orchestra, politely and without interrupting the
rehearsal, as he could not hear the star of the opera (all the other singers sang their parts
normally), asked the conductor what was happening. The singer, interrupting the rehearsal on
her own initiative, came to the proscenium and looked at the orchestra in an arrogant and
disrespectful manner. At that point the conductor suspended the rehearsal, having decided
that it was useless to proceed under these conditions.
5. Immediately after the artistic director announced to the singer at the door of her dressing
room that her behavior would be protested and she would be replaced immediately, she lashed
out at him violently by shouting, insulting him and verbally attacking him. Still screaming while
moving away from the artistic director, she asked to see the theatre’s doctor, for an ambulance
and for the police. The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong and the police left the theatre
quickly after having written a report.
6. We should mention that during preceding rehearsals, she received diverse corrections to her
way of singing and her concept (overall setup) of the role. These requests were never followed
by Ms. Nuccio in a satisfactory way and the dress rehearsal remained the last chance to verify
the correct execution of the requests made by the conductor and the artistic director.
7. The audience, composed of students, later with conviction protested to the Superintendent
and the artistic director.
8. Not only did the artistic director make a protest against Ms. Nuccio, but also the
Superintended himself wanted to co-sign the document in order to underline the fact that this
protest was the choice of the whole theatre.
Alessio Vlad concluded affirming that “there are reports on the matter written by the conductor
Pietro Rizzo, the choral director Roberta Gabbiani, the stage musical director Carlo Donadio
and the scene director Giordano Punturo which describe the event in the same way,” as well as
a video that caught the whole scene.
 

Premettendo che questa prova generale era stata organizzata proprio per mettere a suo agio la signora Nuccio, unica dei tre soprani a non avere ancora cantato in questa produzione, questi sono i fatti:

1) La prova generale non era chiusa ma destinata ad un pubblico di studenti.

2) La cantante Jessica Nuccio prima della prova aveva annunciato che non avrebbe cantato tutto in voce, ma in parte accennato. Accennare, soprattutto in una prova generale, significa risparmiarsi, omettendo le parti più faticose e adattando alcune parti del ruolo ma comunque assicurare una linea di canto che possa in ogni caso essere di riferimento ai cantanti, al coro e all’orchestra e tutti i maestri collaboratori. Fin dall’inizio della generale la cantante non solo non ha accennato una linea vocale ma si è limitata ostinatamente a “recitare” i versi parlando e quindi a non risultare “udibile”.

3) Al direttore artistico che, salito sul palcoscenico e senza che la prova si interrompesse, le chiedeva, gentilmente (esiste un video) di cantare Jessica Nuccio opponeva un netto e sgarbato rifiuto.

4) A quel punto il primo violoncello dell’orchestra, garbatamente e sempre senza interrompere la prova, continuando a non sentire la protagonista dell’opera (tutti gli altri cantanti facevano la loro parte normalmente), chiedeva al direttore d’orchestra cosa stesse succedendo; la cantante, interrompendo di sua stessa iniziativa la prova, si avvicinava al proscenio e si rivolgeva all’orchestra in modo arrogante e irrispettoso. A questo punto il Maestro sospendeva la prova, giudicando inutile andare avanti in quelle condizioni.

5) Non appena il direttore artistico, sulla soglia del camerino, annunciava alla signora Nuccio che dopo tali comportamenti sarebbe stata protestata e immediatamente sostituita, ella gli si scagliava contro violentemente, urlando, insultandolo e aggredendolo verbalmente. Allontanatosi il direttore artistico, sempre urlando, chiedeva l’intervento del medico del Teatro, di una autoambulanza e della polizia.
I medici non riscontravano alcun male e la polizia lasciava in breve tempo il Teatro dopo aver redatto un verbale.

6) È bene precisare che durante le prove precedenti alla Nuccio erano state fatte diverse correzioni al suo modo di cantare e alla sua impostazione della parte. Queste richieste non erano mai state eseguite dalla Nuccio in modo soddisfacente e la prova generale era rimasta l’ultima possibilità per verificare la corretta esecuzione delle richieste fatte dal direttore d’orchestra e dal direttore artistico.

7) Il pubblico di studenti, successivamente, con decisione ha protestato con il Sovrintendente e con il Direttore Artistico.

8) La signora Nuccio è stata protestata non solo dal direttore artistico, ma il Sovrintendente stesso ha voluto controfirmare l’atto, per sottolineare come sia stata una scelta di tutto il teatro.

More here.