\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to gauge whether the drama currently playing out behind the scenes at the San Carlo Opera House in Naples will end as \u201copera seria\u201d (serious) or an \u201copera buffa\u201d (comedy).<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s oldest opera house currently has two respected figures, each of whom believes he is its rightful general director after a convoluted dispute that critics say has cast the theater, and Italy, in an unflattering light.<\/p>\n
It has all the elements of high drama \u2014 conflict, tension, perhaps even vendetta \u2014 and is playing out like a farce, or, in the words of some Italian news outlets, \u201cun pasticcio\u201d: a mess.<\/p>\n
A quick plot synopsis:<\/p>\n
Act I. In May, Italy\u2019s government passed a law<\/a> that said general directors of the country\u2019s 13 state-run opera theaters could not serve beyond their 70th birthday. That immediately terminated the contract of St\u00e9phane Lissner, who had turned 70 in January, midway through his term as the general director of the San Carlo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He was the only general director immediately affected by the law, and there was open speculation in the news media that the law, which was passed as an urgent measure, had been drafted to specifically single him out.<\/p>\n The French-born Lissner, who ran La Scala in Milan for a decade<\/a> and the Paris Opera for six years<\/a>, warned the board of the theater that he would challenge his termination.<\/p>\n Act II. In August, the theater hired Carlo Fuortes, 64, as a replacement, not long after he resigned<\/a> as the chief executive of Italy\u2019s national broadcaster, RAI.<\/p>\n Fuortes is an experienced manager who was praised for turning around the Rome Opera during a stint there as general director from 2013 to 2021. Italian news outlets widely reported that the hard-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wanted to replace Fuortes in the broadcast position with its own nominee. It was said that the San Carlo was meant to be a consolation prize for Fuortes, who began there on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Act III. On Sept. 12, a labor court reinstated Lissner, after his lawyers challenged the grounds for his dismissal. The culture ministry told the theater board to reinstate him, which it did on Monday evening, according to his lawyer. (The board declined repeated requests for comment.) Lissner is expected to return to Naples from Paris, where he has been since June, as soon as this week. But the board has also announced it would file appeal the court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n What happens in Act IV remains to be seen. A review panel within the same labor court will now examine the decision to reinstate Lissner, who is again legally the theater\u2019s general director. His lawyer, Pietro Fioruzzi, pointed out the \u201cirony\u201d that his client had been reinstated by the same theater board that was appealing that decision.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened is certainly not worthy of the history of Naples and the history of the San Carlo,\u201d said Riccardo Realfonzo, an economics professor who sits on the board.<\/p>\n Realfonzo had contested several management decisions at the theater, including some hirings and Lissner\u2019s remuneration, which Realfonzo said was too high. He has also refused to sign off on the theater\u2019s last two budgets, because they were not balanced, he said.<\/p>\n As a representative of a regional government that funds the theater, he was concerned about the potential financial fallout in the event that the theater had to end up paying both general directors, or paying off one of them. He protested by not attending meetings.<\/p>\n