The Italian conductor Daniele Gatti, fired by the Concertgebouw after allegations of misconduct that were later withdrawn, is now officially music director of the Saxon Staatskapelle in Dresden.
He starts in August 2024 on a six-year contract.
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Das Tal der Ahnungslosen…
…liegt in Berlin, München, Leipzig. Auf jeden Fall nicht in Dresden.
Nur der Ahnungslose kann so etwas behaupten.
How could anyone fire someone on the basis of pure allegations?
Because of Me Too.
…and the increasing fascism of the hard Left.
Oh please….just “allegations”? What does this require, a criminal trial? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And these were not isolated allegations.
If you have open ears, it was not a secret that Gatti was known to have “extra-musical interest” in female musicians he had contact with. Ditto Dutoit, and others.
I like Gatti as a conductor – I will NEVER forget the astonishing Brahms 4 I heard him conduct with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with an intensity and ruthlessness that was crushing – and exactly what the music demands even if few conductors seem willing to go there.
But great performances are no excuse for being a pig and mistreating colleagues.
A male having interest in a female, or the other way around. My God, what the world has come to.
You try working with anyone where a serious allegation has been simply made; it’s impossible. That’s why most organisations suspend people immediately, prohibit any contact with both complainants as well as their colleagues until the investigation has been concluded, primarily for fear ‘evidence’ could be tampered with. Only then could the alleged perpetrator return to work. OTT? Certainly sounds it but what else could you do which is equally fair?
This is what the New York Times wrote on August 2, 2018:
“The allegations against Mr. Gatti surfaced on July 26, when The Washington Post reported that two sopranos who had worked with him said that he had tried to push himself onto them.
“One, Alicia Berneche, told the paper that Mr. Gatti offered her a coaching session on her first day on a program for young artists at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1996, when she was 24, but that once in his dressing room she found “his hands on my rear end, and his tongue down my throat.”
“The other, Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet, told The Post that Mr. Gatti had tried something similar with her four years later when she was singing in Wagner’s ‘The Flying Dutchman’ in Bologna, Italy. After she pushed him off, she said, the company never rehired her.
“The Concertgebouw Orchestra said in a statement that “since the publication of the article in The Washington Post, a number of female colleagues of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra reported experiences with Gatti, which are inappropriate considering his position as chief conductor” and added that ‘this has irreparably damaged the relationship of trust between the orchestra and the chief conductor.’”
NYT is not a trustworthy news source these days. May as well quote the Examiner or National Inquirer.
Even worse is WaPo with a Midgette leading the witch hunt!
The NYT quotes the Washington Post….Maybe you should read the article first before you post…..And then,there is always Faux News with Sucker Carlson for more trustworthy news.
Next stop, LA Phil.
Even though it was not a catastrophe like Thielemann’s first time with them, Gatti first conducted LA Phil in 1991 and there has been no further collaboration.
Ok, then Chicago.
Next MD in LA will be a woman.
I had read that Gatti was going to made GMD in Florence. Is that still on? Perhaps the departure of Periera who vehemently opposed MeToo has stopped that?
For what it’s worth, the quasi-Nazi AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt is polling at 29% and 34% in Thüringen? It’s polling at 19% country-wide. That would suggest that about every third person in the region around Dresden is a quasi-Nazi and about one in five in Germany as a whole. If true, one wouldn’t expect too much sympathy for MeToo.
I just heard on the radio that the current ruling coalition has a 75% disapproval rating. I fear troubles are ahead.
Just a small correction: the assumption that since a party got let’s say 33% of votes means that one third of the population identifies itself with that party’s view is obviously wrong, since not all the people who have the right to vote do so (and even in the case 100% of the potential voters did indeed vote, this is not 100% of the population).
A part from this, I share your concerns.
Yes, that’s one possible way of looking at it. One has to decide if in general there is a big gap in the views of those who vote and those who don’t. Given the large number of people who do vote, I think it provides a fairly good sampling of how the general population feels. Still, I hope the polls are wrong.
Another consideration is that the AfD is quite clear about its chauvinistic views which makes it unlikely that people would support it in polls without themselves holding those views, whether they vote or not. It’s also possible that there are a number of people who don’t support the party but still hold to a good part of its platform while voting for mainstream conservatives, especially contempt for socially processive perspectives like feminism and policies concerning immigration. Yet another consideration is that for the first time since the war, the AfD has managed to make fascist views socially acceptable for a large segment of the middle class. Germany hasn’t experienced this before so its difficult to predict what will happen.
Or also possible, you’re a hysterical leftist who calls anything further right than them ‘quasi-nazi’.
That´s what right wingers always say..They are not even man enough to profess to their beliefs…As a jew, i can smell the Nazi poo through the screen.
And yet, regarding the existing institutional and cultural fascism from the left – which is far more pervasive and non-elected – you say nothing at all!!
Mind the credibility gap!!
A quasi Nazi , are you serious ??
Mr Osborne,
Are you insinuating that Dalielle Gatti was appointed music director of the Saxon Staatskapelle in Dresden because of “quasi-nazi” sympaties? Please explain.
My point is plainly obvious. Reactionary regions are generally not supportive of MeToo. Now continue pretending you’re confused.
It happens where I live too. Just recently we had a couple of cases of sons of very influential politicians who are accused of raping two young girls. Of course, the first reaction is that for one reason or another, it must be the girl’s fault.
A great conductor for a great orchestra. Well done!
Oh yes, yes!! Dresden is a love- friendly city!
But why didn’t he apply for the job in Chicago! Chicago has been a Metoo-free zone and playboy friendly metropolis, more love friendly than Dresden, for at least a dozen years!! It could even be Metoo-free …. For Life!!!! :-)))
I can’t find a news report with language that saying the accusations are “withdrawn”.
I can find some reports saying that the orchestra and conductor have “settled” their dispute. That could merely mean that they have both agreed not to pursue it further.
Sounds like the orchestra won.
They fired him.
He stays fired.
They don’t have to compensate him for it beyond a “thanks for the memories” statement.
Uncancelled! I still remember his stunning Mahler 6 With NYP. ’96 was it?
It was on the eve of a tour to the USA at the height of the MeToo “movement”. As far as my info goes it ‘was never full blown s*x but more like touching someone ‘(F)’s cheeck after a good solo and that kind of stuff. Members of orchestra’s of a certain level know each other and of course they love talking about different conductors. Gatti was known to be a typical Italian which means loose hands but nothing earthshattering or threatening. But if he wanted to talk about a certain passage in his hotelroom you could easily shift that to the hotelbar. I still think he was fired like Lady Susan Hussey!