La Fenice Theater in Venice, one of Italy\u2019s most storied opera houses, has ended its relationship with Beatrice Venezi, the conductor who was set to take over as music director next season, after a monthslong conflict between her and the opera house\u2019s orchestra.<\/p>\n
Venezi\u2019s appointment to the prestigious post in September became a flashpoint in Italy and the classical music world. Some critics suggested that she had gotten the job because she was politically aligned with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and La Fenice workers threatened to strike<\/a>. Supporters said Venezi was facing sexism and a politicized backlash.<\/p>\n Last week, Venezi criticized the Orchestra of La Fenice in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Naci\u00f3n<\/a>. \u201cThis is an orchestra in which the posts are practically passed from fathers to sons,\u201d she said in the interview. \u201cI\u2019m not from a family of musicians. I\u2019m a woman, 36 years old, the first female director of La Fenice.\u201d<\/p>\n On Sunday, La Fenice said in statement that it had \u201cdecided to cancel all future collaborations\u201d with Venezi, citing her \u201crepeated and serious public statements, which were offensive and damaging to the artistic and professional reputation of the foundation and its orchestra.\u201d<\/p>\n Venezi said in a statement on Monday that since her appointment was announced last year, she had been \u201csubjected almost daily to personal insults and denigration in the media,\u201d adding, \u201cIn Italy, unfortunately, being young is a handicap, and being a woman an aggravating factor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am a self-made woman from the provinces, without protectors or patronage,\u201d she added. \u201cIn America, that would be considered a merit \u2014 though, regrettably, not in Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n Venezi is the principal guest conductor at the Teatro Col\u00f3n opera house in Buenos Aires and has led ensembles around the world, but she has rarely led an orchestra of La Fenice\u2019s caliber \u2014 let alone an entire opera house.<\/p>\n Before her appointment, many musicians at La Fenice were unfamiliar with her conducting. Those who had worked with her were skeptical of her ability.<\/p>\n Clarice Curradi, a violinist who played under her in the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestra of Tuscany, said, \u201cWhen I read the news about Beatrice Venezi, I truly thought it was a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n Unusually for such appointments, Venezi had conducted the Orchestra of La Fenice just once before her appointment, in a short 2020 performance of Samuel Barber\u2019s \u201cAdagio for Strings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn that occasion, she proved to be a young and willing conductor,\u201d said Marco Trentin, a cellist and union representative, \u201cbut with still a long \u2014 very long \u2014 way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Venezi\u2019s ties to Meloni, a right-wing leader, include being appointed as a government adviser for music in 2022. And her father held a regional leadership role with Forza Nuova, a far-right party. But several musicians at La Fenice said in recent months that their opposition to her appointment was based on musical concerns, not politics.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are on the podium, you have to work on the music,\u201d Eugenio Sacchetti, a violinist with the Orchestra of La Fenice, said in an interview in February. \u201cNobody cares about how you vote.\u201d<\/p>\n The orchestra was unified in its opposition to her. In October, the ensemble went on strike for a performance of the opera \u201cWozzeck,\u201d which was then canceled<\/a>. At a New Year\u2019s concert, musicians put on yellow protest pins, which other orchestras in Italy then wore in solidarity.<\/p>\n Venezi fired back at the musicians. Of the pins, she told a reporter<\/a>, \u201cI would have made them more stylized, possibly with Swarovski to make them more elegant.\u201d<\/p>\n