A decision by storied Venetian opera house La Fenice to sack their incoming music director before she took up the post has sparked a debate about nepotism in Italy.
The appointment of Beatrice Venezi (36), a personal friend of prime minister Giorgia Meloni, had been mired in controversy from the outset amid accusations that she was appointed due to her political connections.
The musicians of the orchestra had rebelled after the appointment was announced last year, complaining to management that Venezi, a pianist and conductor who has performed internationally and was previously the principal conductor for a Naples orchestra, had a resumé “not remotely comparable to that of the great conductors who have previously held the role of music director”.
A group of 140 season ticket holders wrote an open letter in support of the musicians, threatening not to renew their tickets unless her appointment was revoked.
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The opera house management had defended Venezi and stood by their decision. That changed when she gave an interview in recent days to an Argentinian newspaper in which she accused the musicians of the orchestra of themselves being appointed due to nepotism.
“This is an orchestra where positions are practically passed down from father to son. I don’t come from a family of musicians, I’m a woman, 36 years old, the first female conductor of La Fenice, and I want to bring about change,” Venezi told La Nación.
“That’s the main issue. They’re afraid of change, of renewal. It’s easier to stick with the same old ways. But that’s how a theatre dies.”
Venezi told the interviewer that unlike others she had no “godfathers”, meaning powerful patrons of her career.
Footage filmed within the opera house showed members of the audience rising to their feet to applaud after the decision to revoke Venezi’s appointment was made public, joined by orchestra musicians who clapped and waved bows in the air.
Announcing the decision, the opera house superintendent Nicola Colabianchi said it was due to “serious and repeated public statements” by Venezi that are “offensive and detrimental” to the opera house and its orchestra and incompatible with its principles.
Venezi said she had learned of the decision when it was reported by the media, and would make an “appropriate response” in due time.
Performances by Venezi, who is the daughter of a former leader of the neo-fascist Forza Nuova party, have been protested by anti-fascist groups in recent years.
A statement from the ministry of culture, where Venezi holds a position as adviser on music, said the decision of the opera house to sever ties was entirely independent but was “fully shared” by the ministry.
The Italian press reported that the Meloni government was taking the position of “chi sbaglia paga”, or “who errs, pays”.
In her interview with La Nación, Venezi had said she had no interest in politics and had known Meloni prior to the latter’s political career.
“I’m a fan of strong women, powerful, competent women. She is all of that. I’ve known her since before her political career. She’s an extremely competent and powerful woman in terms of leadership and willpower. I was happy when she won the election in a patriarchal country,” Venezi had said.
“The fact that she’s a woman, young, and blonde ... because you know there are so many cliches surrounding women. I thought it was a great moment of change for the country.”
Venezi’s appointment to her current role as guest director of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires was made “at the request” of the Italian embassy in Argentina, La Nación reported, where far-right president Javier Milei counts Meloni among his international allies.
