Grigolo? He’s not banned in Vienna

Grigolo? He’s not banned in Vienna

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norman lebrecht

October 24, 2019

The Italian tenor was sent home from a Japan tour by the Covent Garden company and has been banned by the Met.

But he has since appeared on home turf at La Scala and he’s now playing Werther at the Vienna State Opera.

#Metoo becomes more fragmented week by week.

photo: Michael Pöhn

 

Comments

  • John Rook says:

    #Metoo becomes more fragmented week by week.

    As it should. I’m no fan of this type of alleged behaviour but am heartily sick of trial by Twitter.

  • Nik says:

    “he’s now rehearsing Werther at the Vienna State Opera”
    The run has already started, first performance was on Tuesday. I’ve received a first-hand account indicating that he was not on good form at all.

    • Metoo says:

      Of course he wasn’t on form. The role of Werther is far to heavy for his voice. Vocally, he has no business singing it regardless of his guilt or innocence in the groping incident

  • Yes Addison says:

    He hasn’t been banned by the Met. He’s been “suspend(ed} with immediate effect from all future performances at the Met, pending the outcome of the ROH investigation.” At least, that is Met management’s wording in the item you ran here on September 26. If the ROH’s investigation of whatever he did to the dancer and related matters is still ongoing, then there hasn’t been anything more recent.

    • Nik says:

      You have to wonder how long it could possibly take to ‘investigate’ a thing like that, and why.
      This incident is alleged to have happened on stage, in full view of dozens of people. It should take at most a couple of days to interview those people and find out what they did or didn’t see.
      What is there to be gained from drawing it out for months on end?

      • double-sharp says:

        They have to doff the cap to the finger-pointing flock, don’t they?

        This ‘investigation’ needed a maximum of 90 minutes, and then tell these busybodies to cluck off.

        • Yes Addison says:

          If you’ve already decided that there can only be one sensible outcome, the “busybodies” being told that their complaint had no merit, why is your position that there should be a 90-minute investigation? Why not a nine-minute investigation? Why not no investigation at all?

      • Yes Addison says:

        I’m assuming they’re now looking at his behavior as a visiting artist and his relationship with the chorus, dancers, and support personnel. The incident onstage may just have laid bare some existing tensions. That’s what the Telegraph’s report of shouting between VG and members of the chorus suggests to me, anyway. There have been some comments about his reputation in the business even here on Slipped Disc, under prior items on the topic.

  • Mike Schachter says:

    A lot of the fragmentation seems to geographical ie depending on which side of the Atlantic you are.

    • Saxon Broken says:

      Not really. Vienna can’t just fire him if he has a contract with them. Whatever he did (or, if he is to be believed, didn’t do) at the ROH can not be a reason to dismiss him in Vienna. The Viennese would have to show his behaviour breached his contract in Vienna to dismiss him. If he has any sense, he will understand he has to be squeeky-clean from now on.

  • Karl says:

    I wonder if the top singers will begin to avoid the US and Britain to keep from being falsely accused.

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      I wonder if you wonder?

    • Vienna calling says:

      Instead of avoiding the US and Britain they could also consider avoiding groping and stalking.

      • Karl says:

        Did you read my entire sentence? You can avoid groping and stalking but still be FALSELY accused. The system here is encouraging false accusations. That has to change. False accusers should be the ones who get banned.

        • Z says:

          You can, just like the case of Joseph Colaneri. But did you see how that turn out? Many people supported him, pointing out that the accuser had made many unfounded allegations in the past, and there was no further reporting nor investigation on the matter. If you are a real gentleman, time will prove everything.

          On the other hand, many women waited decades before they become public, because as discussed in many interviews, the women reported to the management, but the managers would not care about harassment at all back in the 80s and 90s.

          “The system here is encouraging false accusations.” is a blatant lie. How biased can you be?

  • New social movements seldom occur from the top down. The Vienna State Opera will be the last to change, but there is foment below in the German-speaking world, portents of change. The sentencing of Siegfried Mauser to prison for felony sexual assault is an example. The backlash against the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and the Festschrift to be published about Mauser is another example.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    I expect the ‘politburo’ is behind all this banning, naming and shaming. And, of course, a localized incarnation of this same organization provides the apparatuses and ideology behind this revenge and enforced conformity. The Left has this command and control in its DNA: it merely reverts to type. The regressive Left is a terrifying force.

    Report it all to the ‘central office’ and then let colleagues and friends ‘dob’ on the perpetrators.

  • Cyril says:

    “#Metoo becomes more fragmented week by week.”

    In Europe, maybe. In the U.S. it’s doing just fine.

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