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OPERA

Vienna Opera music director quits

Franz Welser-Möst, the general musical director of the Vienna State Opera, one of the most prestigious positions in classical music worldwide, announced his resignation on Friday with immediate effect.

Vienna Opera music director quits
Conductor Franz Welser-Möst. Photo: APA (Archiv/Neubauer)

Welser-Möst, 54, whose glittering career has included conducting the world-famous Vienna New Year's Concert last year, cited "long-held conceptual differences in artistic matters" for his decision.

The Austrian's immediate departure leaves the opera house's French head Dominique Meyer without a conductor for a string of planned performances in the 2014-2015 season including two opera premieres.

Welser-Möst trained as a violinist before a car accident turned him to conducting, working with orchestras around the world including in London, Berlin, Zurich, Philadelphia and New York.

Last year he pulled out of conducting a three-year cycle of Mozart operas at the Salzburg Festival, saying that a start-time of one performance at 11:00 am meant the singers would have to wake up at 3:00 am "to be ready".

According to specialist music blog Slipped Disc, Möst had significant musical differences with the head, Meyer.  "There are differences over the artistic direction which did not occur overnight. Dominique Meyer, as director, is the number one. He is a very decent human being with different opinions on artistic matters. That is his standpoint. But then I must accept the consequences", he said.

He went on to say "It is to do with singers and conductors, to do with the whole area that involves the artistic direction of the house… Believe me: This is a very painful decision for me. Especially after this singularly happy Rosenkavalier at Salzburg, it wont be easy for me to give up working with this orchestra [the Vienna Philharmonic – ed.]".

Meyer responded with his own statement, saying "I greatly admire Franz Welser-Möst as an artist and conductor.  My concern and my first task is to find as quickly as possible an adequate replacement for the performances he should be conducting at the Vienna State Opera in the 2014/2015 season: at least 34 performances, including two premieres, Rigoletto and Elektra."

According to music expert Norman Lebrecht of Slipped Disc, "There had been, we hear, a dispute over a forthcoming production of Josephslegende, a Richard Strauss ballet, a work for which the conductor has strong feelings. The choreographer and ballet company felt differently. Tensions simmered."

"But this was not the reason for the sudden breach.  A meeting was held yesterday in which the music director expressed his views for the company’s medium-term future. They diverged markedly from those of the administration. It was decided that both sides would go home and sleep on the matter.

First thing this morning, Franz came in and submitted his resignation to Meyer with immediate effect. Like Mahler, like Karajan, like Abbado, he will not set foot in the Vienna Opera again. An era is over. Too soon."

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OPERA

A Masked Ball: Madrid opera forced to cancel show after protest over social distancing

Spain's main opera house, the Teatro Real in Madrid, defended itself Monday after it had to cancel a performance when a small group of spectators loudly protested against being seated too close to each other amid a spike in Covid-19 infections.

A Masked Ball: Madrid opera forced to cancel show after protest over social distancing
View of the Teatro Real in Madrid. Photo: Claudia Schillinger/ Flickr

The performance of Giuseppe Verdi's “A Masked Ball” on Sunday night was called off after a “minority” of spectators repeatedly jeered and clapped despite being offered the chance to be relocated or get a refund for the value of their tickets, the theatre said in a statement.

Videos shared on social media by several spectators who were at the performance showed full rows in the upper sections where seats are cheaper, while in the pricier floor section many empty seats could be seen.

Clapping and calls of “suspension!” could be heard even after the actors tried to begin their performance.

The Teatro Real had “respected the health norms” put in place by the regional government of Madrid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and “even reinforced them”, the chairman of the body which manages the theatre, Gregorio Marañon, told a news conference on Monday.

Attendance at the performance had been reduced to just 51.5 percent of the total, well below the  limit of 75 percent set by the regional government, he added.

The regional government does not require there to be an empty seat between spectators, but it does require there to be a distance of 1.5 metres (five feet) between people, or if this is not possible, that they wear face masks, which is mandatory at the theatre, Marañon said.

The Teatro Real, which celebrated its bicentenary in 2018, is studying “what measures we can take for those spectators who… clearly felt in an uncomfortable situation,” he added.

The incident comes as the regional government of Madrid has imposed a partial lockdown in several densely-populated, low income areas mainly in the south of the Spanish capital where virus infections are surging, sparking a debate about inequality and triggering protests in these neighbourhoods over the weekend before the new measures took effect on Monday.

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