(Milan) The outgoing director of La Scala in Milan, the Frenchman Dominique Meyer, 68, who had unsuccessfully requested a renewal of his mandate, assured Tuesday that he was leaving his post with complete “serenity”, without “bitterness”.
“A minister decided to retire me from La Scala, but life goes on,” he told the press on the sidelines of the presentation of the new 2024/2025 season.
He was thus referring to the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, who had set the age limit for lyric theater directors at 70, thus effectively preventing a reappointment of Mr. Meyer who will reach this age in August 2025.
The nationalist government of Giorgia Meloni had hardly hidden its desire to see an Italian take charge of La Scala, after three foreign directors.
Following tight negotiations between Rome and the opera’s administrators, the board of directors of La Scala named as successor the current director of the Fenice in Venice, Fortunato Ortombina, 64 years old.
“I will announce soon where I will go. I will happily leave to help another institution,” said Mr. Meyer, who took charge of La Scala in 2020, after directing the Vienna Opera for ten years.
For one year, however, the two men should rub shoulders: Mr. Ortombina will take up his functions from September 2024 and Mr. Meyer will be able to keep them until August 2025.
Will cohabitation be difficult? “There will be no problem, he has been a friend for 30 years and I am very happy that it is him,” said Mr. Meyer, interviewed by AFP.
As for the extension until August 2025 of his mandate which normally expires in February, he indicated that he had not yet made his decision.
He declared himself “very happy” with his record at the head of the Milanese theater: “I spent four wonderful years with very great shows, a full house, finances more than in order and a good general atmosphere” .
“I have a sense of duty accomplished and I will leave a modernized Scala behind,” he added.
The prestigious stage will open its season on December 7 with The force of destiny (The force of destiny), one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most complex operas, notably starring the Russian diva Anna Netrebko, a regular at La Scala’s “Prima”.
Another notable choice, the return after 48 years of absence from opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, masterfully performed by Maria Callas at La Scala in the 1950s.
Also highly anticipated, the world premiere of the opera The Name of the Roseinspired by the famous novel by Umberto Eco and composed by Francesco Filidei, which will take place in April 2025, followed immediately by a performance in French at the Paris Opera.