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Festival organizers have fired conductor Alberto Veronesi after he broadcast a controversial performance of “La Boheme” conducted with a blindfold.
He wanted to protest against the staging of the French director Christophe Gayral, who did not set the Puccini opera in the 1830s, but in France in 1968. Veronesi described the production with the opera protagonist Mimi in a mini skirt and protest marches in Paris as “Communist” and as a provocation to the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The conductor is considered a sympathizer of Meloni’s right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy).
“right to dissent”
After Saturday night’s performance, the festival decided to part ways with Veronesi and signed Manlio Benzi as a stand-in. Veronesi replied that he would conduct the next performances as planned and threatened legal action if he was prevented from doing so: “I will appear in tails and a mask. If they don’t let me conduct, I’ll sue for damages.” He dismissed the allegations made against him “wrong and ideological” return.
Veronesi received support from Italian Secretary of State for Culture Vittorio Sgarbi: “The right to dissent is guaranteed by the Italian Constitution.”
Source: Nachrichten
