La Fenice Theater in Venice, one of Italy’s 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’s orchestra.
Venezi’s 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. Supporters said Venezi was facing sexism and a politicized backlash.
Last week, Venezi criticized the Orchestra of La Fenice in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nación. “This is an orchestra in which the posts are practically passed from fathers to sons,” she said in the interview. “I’m not from a family of musicians. I’m a woman, 36 years old, the first female director of La Fenice.”
On Sunday, La Fenice said in statement that it had “decided to cancel all future collaborations” with Venezi, citing her “repeated and serious public statements, which were offensive and damaging to the artistic and professional reputation of the foundation and its orchestra.”
Venezi said in a statement on Monday that since her appointment was announced last year, she had been “subjected almost daily to personal insults and denigration in the media,” adding, “In Italy, unfortunately, being young is a handicap, and being a woman an aggravating factor.”
“I am a self-made woman from the provinces, without protectors or patronage,” she added. “In America, that would be considered a merit — though, regrettably, not in Italy.”
Venezi is the principal guest conductor at the Teatro Colón opera house in Buenos Aires and has led ensembles around the world, but she has rarely led an orchestra of La Fenice’s caliber — let alone an entire opera house.
Before her appointment, many musicians at La Fenice were unfamiliar with her conducting. Those who had worked with her were skeptical of her ability.
Clarice Curradi, a violinist who played under her in the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestra of Tuscany, said, “When I read the news about Beatrice Venezi, I truly thought it was a joke.”
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’s “Adagio for Strings.”
“On that occasion, she proved to be a young and willing conductor,” said Marco Trentin, a cellist and union representative, “but with still a long — very long — way to go.”
Venezi’s 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.
“When you are on the podium, you have to work on the music,” Eugenio Sacchetti, a violinist with the Orchestra of La Fenice, said in an interview in February. “Nobody cares about how you vote.”
The orchestra was unified in its opposition to her. In October, the ensemble went on strike for a performance of the opera “Wozzeck,” which was then canceled. At a New Year’s concert, musicians put on yellow protest pins, which other orchestras in Italy then wore in solidarity.
Venezi fired back at the musicians. Of the pins, she told a reporter, “I would have made them more stylized, possibly with Swarovski to make them more elegant.”
Even as the news of La Fenice’s split with Venezi came to light, politics continued to filter into the dispute. After Corriere della Sera, one of Italy’s most widely read newspapers, published an article suggesting that Meloni had signed off on the decision to fire the conductor, the prime minister’s office issued a denial on Monday and called the accusations “groundless.”
“The prime minister was not involved in any way on the issue and therefore could not have given any ‘green light,’ as claimed,” the statement said.
The culture ministry also weighed in, saying that the government “could not have exercised, and generally does not intend to exercise, any influence” over such decisions.
As the conflict was building in recent months, some musicians speculated that Venezi would ultimately not take the post. “You cannot conduct in this situation,” said Sacchetti, the violinist, “because you need the trust of the orchestra.”
Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting.
