Just in: Daniele Gatti gets a job
NewsThe Italian conductor, ousted from Amsterdam in circumstances that have since been legally blurred, has been named music director of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in succession to Zubin Mehta.
He starts work immeditely, sharing duties with Mehta over the next couple of seasons.
Gatti, who will be 60 this year, recently ended a short stint as chief at Rome Opera.
The Maggio also invited Plácido Domingo und James Levine for concerts in 2021. The article below states that the current conductor Zubin Mehta und Managing Director Alexander Pereira justified this as a “rescue action for the supposedly unjust public insult to the artists.” (…Rettungsaktion für die vermeintlich zu Unrecht öffentlich verunglimpften Künstler.)
And now Gatti too.
It would appear the Mehta and Pereira are on an anti-MeToo campaign.
According to wiki, Pereira is in a relationship with the 39 years younger Brazilian Daniela Weisser, though he is still married to his wife Estelle. For Pereira, it seems to be a man’s world.
He also founded and leads a program at the University of Zurich to train future arts managers where I am sure he gives them the social values we would expect of our future leaders.
https://www.ardaudiothek.de/treffpunkt-klassik/pl-cido-domingo-und-james-levine-im-konzert-ist-die-metoo-debatte-schon-wieder-verpufft/81226558
I’d guess they probably only are anti-MeToo when it affects their friends, and don’t care otherwise.
Putting Levine in the same sentence as Domingo is like linking Woody Allen with Roman Polanski.
Some nuance would be nice.
Me-too is a scandal and the backlash is coming quick !
Sorry but you can’t put Levine and Domingo in the same basket as Gatti.
He forcibly kissed a girl 30 years ago? Big deal wow! He should totally never be allowed to work anywhere again, let that absolute disgrace of a man die homeless am I right.
Meanwhile William, let’s hear what you did in your twenties, while drunk at parties….you gonna get cancelled hard boy!!
When Pereira was the Managing Director of La Scala, he arranged for a 15 million Euro donation from Saudi Arabia, which included putting the Saudi Cultural Minister on the La Scala Board. Such associations, of course, are another example of Pereira’s regard for the rights and dignity of women.
https://www.diepresse.com/5589742/die-scala-und-die-saudis-pereira-unter-beschuss
Everybody in the world has been accepting Saudi money. They are shareholder of many companies you buy products from. If you have a car, you certainly buy their oil so ?
unless it is an electric car…
The Concertgebouw handing of this is a case study in what NOT to do: fire someone with no clear articulated reasons, apologies by the person for no clear articulated reasons, settlement by both parties for no clear articulated reason.
Every thing was and is murky.
Result is damaged reputation for both, they both wind up as untouchables, because no one really understands what happened.
Who wants to hire a conductor who acknowledged a personal issue, but what was it?
Who wants to work for an organization that fired its music director, for for what?
Conductors jump at the chance to work with the Concertgebouw. They have no problem at all in that regard.
They are unable to find a Music Director for 4 years now
There is a completely new management team at the Concertgebouworkest now, none of whom has any connection with the Gatti affair and who most likely would have handled the whole thing better. Jan Raes was clearly a bit too quick on the trigger, due, no doubt, to the general panicky climate of the time.
Exactly the Concertgebouworkerst parted in bad relationship with Haitink then Chailly. Jansons told them he prefers the Bavarian Radio , then they fired Gatti without any legal reason and now they cannot find a music director.
He’s a great opera conductor cut from the same cloth as Levine when it comes to Parsifal.
Conducted the best single Verdi Requiem I have heard (and that’s alot) – without score too.
Quite a step down.
Actually, it is a musical festival with only about 4 operas a year. Fabio Luisi resigned as music director in 2019.
You should know better; BTW, I live in Florence and I’m not a regular opera goer but in this COVID year I’ve been there more than four times. You can check their website, you will be surprised.
Few, very few here lamented Luisi departure, he’s a very pedestrian conductor, often noisy and unimaginative: if these news will be confirmed, I’m more than happy, Gatti is the best available option at the moment.
All great conductors end with an “i”.
Wilhelmi Furtwängleri!
Lenni
Excellent conductor. I wish people could separate the ouvre and artist from the person.