Musicians march through Venice after La Fenice names music director with ties to Meloni

By Canadian Press on November 10, 2025.

VENICE, Italy (AP) — The storied Venetian opera house La Fenice is locked in an escalating dispute with its workers over the appointment of a young and telegenic music director with ties to Premier Giorgia Meloni but none with the musicians with whom she has been hired to construct the theater’s musical future.

On Monday, musicians, singers and backstage hands marched through Venice with workers from other Italian opera houses, including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Verona’s Arena and Turin’s Regio Teatro. They were joined by season-ticket holders, music students and Venetians worried about the future of artistic independence at La Fenice — and across Italy.

What began as a labor protest over a lack of transparency in the Sept. 22 appointment of 35-year-old Beatrice Venezi has evolved into a wider protest reflecting concerns that Meloni’s far-right-led government intends to exert artistic control over all of Italy’s 14 opera houses.

In the month and a half since La Fenice announced Venezi’s appointment, effective next October, striking workers forced the cancellation of an opera premiere and unions have called for the resignation of La Fenice’s general manager, Nicola Colabianchi, who made the appointment.

“The scandal we’ve uncovered here in Venice shows that, unfortunately, once again, politics wants to meddle heavily in culture, with appointments that have no artistic or qualitative justification, but are purely political,″ said Marco Trentin, a union organizer and cellist in the La Fenice orchestra.

Colabianchi, who joined the theater in March, has defended his choice of Venezi, saying her youthful energy will attract a new audience to the theater where Giuseppe Verdi premiered “Rigoletto’’ and “La Traviata’’ more than 170 years ago.

“She’s young and dynamic, she’s already written several books and she’s conducted many orchestras. She’s a person who attracts a great deal of media attention. So all of this will only bring attention to the theater and the theater’s future,″ Colabianchi said in an interview. “We can’t think the theater can survive with 80-year-old season ticket holders.’’

During the 2 1/2 hour protest that snaked through the city’s alleyways and paused in squares, speakers said Venezi doesn’t have the requisite experience for a theater of La Fenice’s profile, where famed conductors Arturo Toscanini, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti have lifted their batons. Critics also said the choice was influenced by Venezi’s ties to Meloni and her far-right Brothers of Italy party.

Many cited concerns that the Venezi appointment was an opening volley ahead of a new theater code being discussed by the government that they fear will threaten theaters’ artistic independence.

“The draft raises considerable concerns, as it moves toward a centralization of appointments and artistic choices, increasing the risk that these may become the prerogative of national party politics,” said Giulia Pancheri, a violinist with Milan’s I Pomeriggi Musicali orchestra. “We are facing a delicate and decisive period for the future of classical music in Italy.”

Venezi has not publicly commented on the La Fenice dispute, and canceled a public appearance after the dispute erupted.

She is the daughter of a prominent member of Forza Nuova, another hard-right party, and has identified with the right’s conservative values. However, she told the daily La Stampa in 2023 that she was “offended when they call me a little fascist.”

La Fenice’s unions say they are not contesting Venezi’s youth, gender or political leanings, but the lack of consultations with the musicians whom she must lead. They note that Colabianchi had pledged an open process just days before Venezi’s appointment was announced.

The musical director “gives the theater its musical imprint,” said Paolo Bertoldo, a percussionist in La Fenice’s orchestra and a union representative.

“When you choose a person for this role, you normally choose someone who can construct a role with the artistic crew,” he said. “If you soccer coach doesn’t work well with the players, the team won’t have results.”

La Fenice’s unions have asked Colabianchi to revoke Venezi’s appointment, and relaunch the selection process, allowing the musicians time to work with and become familiar with any candidates, Venezi included. They also demanded Colabianchi’s resignation.

Colabianchi, for his part, has apologized for hiring Venezi without more consultations, but he remains firm in his choice.

“I chose Beatrice Venezi because I had invited her, while I was the general manager in Cagliari, for three separate operas, and she was a huge success,” Colabianchi said, adding she has a broad repertoire of more than 50 operas. “She is young, and we need to promote the young; she is a woman, and we need to promote women.”

He said there was no question of his resigning and that he would bring Venezi to the theater as soon as the protests against her appointment cease. Her first appointment to conduct with the full orchestra would be in July, for a concert in St. Mark’s Square, though others could be added earlier, Colabianchi said.

“There is lots of time to get to know each other, to verify. You can’t create polemics against someone without knowing them, just because of what you hear,’’ Colabianchi said.

But the protesters, who finished their march waving union flags triumphantly on the steps of La Fenice, show no sign of backing down. They called on Colabianchi to sit down with them “to find a shared solution,” and have more protests planned, including at the Nov. 20 season premiere.

“We are not willing to give in,” Trentin said.

Colleen Barry, The Associated Press

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