Venice’s La Fenice opera house said it is ending a planned collaboration with incoming music director Beatrice Venezi, a decision announced after months of public protests by musicians at the famed theater. The cancellation follows pressure from inside the opera house and amid wider scrutiny of Venezi’s ties to Italy’s political leadership.
In a statement released Sunday, La Fenice said general manager Nicola Colabianchi canceled the planned work with Venezi. The theater said Colabianchi cited what La Fenice described as Venezi’s “repeated and serious public statements that were offensive and harmful” to the theater and to its orchestra. La Fenice also said the decision was tied to public remarks Venezi made during the controversy surrounding her selection.
La Fenice said the remarks included an interview with the Argentine daily La Nación in which Venezi accused the theater of nepotism, saying that “positions were handed from father to son.” La Fenice’s statement did not indicate that the theater accepted those claims, but said the comments were offensive and harmful and prompted the cancellation of future collaboration.
The incoming role had been scheduled to begin this coming October. The theater’s selection of Venezi had put her in line to take over as music director, a plan that had already generated significant unrest among members of La Fenice’s orchestra and broader workforce, including backstage staff.
Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said he hoped the decision would “clear misunderstandings, tensions and manipulations” that had surrounded Venezi’s selection. Giuli’s comment reflected the attention the dispute attracted beyond the theater itself, with Venezi described by the Associated Press as having ties to Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.
La Fenice’s unions said they welcomed the change and called it “a necessary act of respect.” The unions also said the theater’s professionalism had been “subject to serious, unfounded public statements damaging to the dignity of labor,” arguing that the public messaging around Venezi’s appointment had affected work conditions and the reputation of the workforce.
Musicians, singers, and backstage workers had opposed Venezi’s appointment, according to La Fenice-related reporting. They cited a lack of transparency in the selection process and a lack of the experience they said was necessary to lead the theater, and their protests escalated over time to include a strike that forced the cancellation of a performance.
The dispute also included a march through Venice joined by workers from other opera houses, as protesters said they were concerned about political interference in artistic decisions. On Sunday night, according to video circulated by Italian media, the audience and orchestra applauded during a performance after learning of the cancellation of Venezi’s appointment.
Colabianchi appointed Venezi on Sept. 22 and initially defended the move, saying her youth and dynamism would help attract younger audiences to the theater. Giuli had also supported the hiring, the Associated Press reported.
Venezi, 36, had been appointed as an adviser to Italy’s culture minister after Meloni came to power in 2022. She was previously principal conductor of the Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti Young and guest conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana, and has conducted internationally, including in Armenia, Uruguay and Argentina.