Breaking: Munich fires its chorus director
OperaBavarian State Opera has confirmed that the Italian Stellario Fagone was dismissed on March 7.
No comment has been made on either side.
Fagone has been acting as chorus director for the past four years while successive managements dithered over the position.
Lawyers are now involved.
Here‘s all that is known so far.
UPDATE: Protests by the chldren’s choir
According to BR Klassik, the children want Fagone to return:
“The ranks of the children’s choir are obviously very upset about Fagone’s resignation. BR-KLASSIK has two letters that went to Vladimir Jurowski and Art Minister Markus Blume on Tuesday. In it, the choir members and their parents demand the reinstatement of Fagone as director of the children’s choir. Over the years, he has taken on a “paternal role” in relation to the choir. The “family and warm atmosphere” that prevailed even “during hard work phases” is also emphasized. As a result, the opera has become a “second home” for young people. “We cannot and do not want to imagine this home without Stellario Fagone because we love and appreciate him immensely,” the statement continued. And then: “We children very much hope that Mr. Fagone will come back and that everything will be as it was before, so that we can continue to perform with passion and joy on the stage.” It is also emphasized that one does not want to position oneself against the directorship of Serge Dorny, but expressly only pro Fagone.” [Googlish]
Source:
https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/news-kritik/bayerische-staatsoper-entlaesst-chorleiter-stellario-fagone-kinderchor-protestiert-100.html
Does winning an Oper! Award mean that your dismissal is imminent?
The chorus sounded pretty awful in Peter Grimes last season (nowhere near the standard you would expect from a major opera house like the Bavarian State Opera), so I’m not surprised he was sacked. A number of reviewers also commented on the poor quality of the choral singing.
And just where are those bad reviews ?
Having seen several performances I beg to differ.
“Herheim worked precisely for this with the choir of the Bavarian State Opera, which as a mass
is not only constantly organized geometrically, but in the many highly complicated ones
Ensemble passages developed fabulous singing power (rehearsal: Stellario
fagono)”
https://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/kultur/buehne/peter-grimes-im-nationaltheater-zu-
schoen-um-wahr-zu-sein-art-798319
Stellario Fagone commands the entire choral operatic repertoire at the BSO, is a first class pianist and chorus master.
He is also a regular guest with the Bavarian Radio Choir for major choral concerts together with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra especially when conducted by Riccardo Muti who requested his services as rehearsal painist.
A new victim of Dorny’s legendary managerial talent ?