After the rumours and denials of recent days, Aurélie Filippetti, the French Minister of Culture, has confirmed that Stéphane Lissner will take over from Nicolas Joel when the latter leaves the helm of the Paris Opera in 2015.
Lissner's very lucrative contract as Sovrintendente of Milan's Teatro alla Scala was due to expire in 2017. However recently his programming has been upsetting many of Milan's season ticket holders who are fed up with paying a fortune for a fixed seat in the house to assist minimalist productions with mini-skirts and trench-coats. A protest group had recently been formed.
However Lissner did manage to reign in the extravagant spending of the Riccardo Muti years, and put the balance sheet in order. This is precisely what will be needed in Paris after the recent cuts. In fact it was those cuts which caused Joel's resignation.
So what of La Scala? May the battle commence!
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
