Nice in uproar over ‘fascist’ Italian conductor

Nice in uproar over ‘fascist’ Italian conductor

News

norman lebrecht

July 17, 2023

Trades unions and other organisations have protested to the Mayor of Nice over the invitation of an Italian conductor, Beatrice Venezi, to perform at Christmas concerts.

Venezi, 33, is Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Milano Classica. She is the daughter of Gabriele Venezi, co-founder of the neofascist party Forza Nuova, and she is reported to be close to the rightwing Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.

She works as an adviser to the Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano.

More here.

Comments

  • Lothario Hunter says:

    Oh Yes, Yes!!

    Finally the anti-Muti has come!! … Read this article: “My challenge to Muti. We young conductors can conduct too.” (It’s a wetoo of sorts, only different and more musical).

    https://www.lastampa.it/spettacoli/2016/07/29/news/la-mia-sfida-a-muti-anche-noi-giovani-possiamo-dirigere-1.34841792/

    Beatrice posseses and displays a number of “assets”that Muti is deprived of and desperately craves. No, it’s not what you think (at least, not entirely); it’s not related to the second verse of Dante’s poem, whose metaphorical object (“La Selva Oscura”) Muti worships. This time, I am simply referring to assets such as a well functioning brain!

    A nice quote from the article: “I do not fit the stereotype of the conductor-man with white hair and tons of experience: I am a woman, blonde, and still in formation”

    And also: “I am thinking of Karajan, but I also heard that Riccardo Muti declared he has not approached important musical works before a certain age, while today’s young conductor dare to do it. I must say that an “a-priori” renunciation does not seem to be a form of respect; to study deeply is (a form of respect). I have followed the same formation path as Muti, and with all my esteem, I am ready to challenge him”.

    YOU GO GIRL!!!!

    • Alex says:

      Have you ever seen her conduct? she is terrible. And she became famous because she appeared, while pretending to conduct, in an advertisemest for a hair tonic.

  • James Weiss says:

    So do we ban “communist” and “socialist” conductors too? Who would we have left?

  • Herr Forkenspoon says:

    Either she is a good conductor or she isn’t. Leave your politics at home.

    • Micaela Bonetti says:

      I’m afraid she is not.

      Just good looks, scintillating gala dresses, and last but not the least, right family and right connections, medias crazy on her but not for musical reasons.

      Have a look at her Barber’s Adagio, in case you are curious to make yourself an opinion.

  • pepe says:

    Venezi isn’t fascist. Venezi isn’t a conductor. And latter is the problem.

    • J Barcelo says:

      Well, it is only a Christmas concert. How hard can it be to conduct Silent Night, Frosty the Snowman or Sleigh Ride?

    • Tammo Schurr says:

      Apparently the Nice Orchestra disagrees, which is why they have invited her for the 2nd and 3rd time this year. As did the Teatri in Catania, Cagliari and Trieste this year also. Or Opera Holland Park where she received (justifiably so from the performance that I saw) excellent reviews from the London press in 2021.

    • CGDA says:

      She is Fascist, but – yes – not a great conductor.

  • Novagerio says:

    Oh, for crying out loud,
    she’s just a terrible conductor,
    never mind the politics !!

  • Zarathusa says:

    Bea certainly doesn’t look like your typical Mussolini-era fascist but who does today? Politics only becomes problematical when it interferes with the music. Let’s give her a chance to prove herself artistically first…and then we can argue politics after the performance in the cafe over drinks. (Of course, you’re always free to speculate about how she got her conductor’s job in the first place!)

  • Karden says:

    FWIW, “fascist” generally refers to a government where the corporate and state have merged into one, sort of analogous to the totalitarian format of today’s post-Mao China. Bits of this can be seen in the relationship between California’s area of Silicon Valley and Maryland’s/Virginia’s area of Washington DC, visa versa.

    • Bone says:

      In America, “fascist” refers to anyone who isn’t 100% in support of LGBTQ, BLM, and democrats.

      • Sue Sonata Form says:

        It’s the most common and intellectually lazy, argument-free epithet ever used by the Left.

      • Tom Phillips says:

        It refers to the Republican party which sought to overthrow the constitutionally elected government on Jan 6, 2021, seeks to ban books, censor libraries etc. Pretty much the dictionary definition.

  • Anthony Sayer says:

    God preserve of us from the pathetic left.

  • PG Vienna says:

    Today problems are China communists, Putin, Iran, North Korea…where is fascisme in power?

  • Hermann Abendroth says:

    First of all, she is bad conductor.
    The problem is how could she being engaged and what is the real competence of orchestras managers.

  • hobnob says:

    Sorry kids, classical music has gotten too woke for me.

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