La Fenice Theatre: all collaborations with Venezi cancelled

Turin, 26 April (LaPresse) – ‘The Fondazione Teatro La Fenice, through its director Nicola Colabianchi, announces that it has decided to cancel all future collaborations with Maestro Beatrice Venezi’. This is stated in a press release from the Foundation, which explains that ‘the decision was reached following the maestro’s repeated and serious public statements, which were offensive and damaging to the artistic and professional standing of the Fondazione Teatro La Fenice and its Orchestra. These statements, with which we do not agree in terms of their substance and the judgements expressed, are incompatible with the Foundation’s principles and with the protection and respect due to the orchestra’s musicians’. The Fondazione Teatro La Fenice ‘reiterates its commitment to promoting a professional environment based on mutual respect, constructive collaboration and artistic excellence’, the statement reads. The Foundation’s decision comes just days after controversy erupted over an interview given by Venezi to the Argentine newspaper ‘La Nacion’, in which she claimed that positions in the Venetian orchestra were handed down ‘from father to son’. The conductor was due to take up her post on 1 October.