Following the programming by the City of Nice of conductor Beatrice Venezi at the head of the Philharmonic Orchestra, and the incident that occurred at the Nice Opera during the New Year’s Concert under her direction, we We would like to react publicly to these events, as well as to the fragmentary, outrageous and unworthy chronicle which has been made by certain media.
As artists, living our music through the prism of sharing and universalism, we are firmly opposed to the invitation of a conductor who displays neofascist values and a member of the far-right government of Georgia Meloni. We are part of the plural opposition which began in July with a press release, as soon as the Nice Opera season was published. We refuse to allow the artistic competence of musicians to serve as a guarantee for the supposed talent of a conductor who uses her notoriety to contribute to the trivialization and
demonization of far-right ideas in Europe.
We cannot hear, without reacting, that art must be separated from politics, even though Ms. Venezi occupies a position, as an artist, in the Italian Ministry of Culture; that she displays, as an artist, her support for the values of those nostalgic for Mussolini; and that she appears, as an artist, in our city of Nice, on propaganda posters of a Reconquest municipal councilor.
We are outraged by the indecent media treatment carried out by certain columnists, following the expression of activists during the concert which took place this January 1 at the Nice Opera. We were able to witness, on the TV sets of national channels, discussions between “experts”, all of the same opinion, who do not hesitate to vomit their hatred on any discordant voice without even having knowledge of the subject they are talking about. According to them, there would be a “more respectful way” to express his opposition to fascism.
Did they take the trouble to find out, these lesson givers, about the holding of a press conference at the initiative of citizen associations, political parties and unions, organized on December 21 in front of the Nice Opera , which a number of Opera artists attended? Were they informed that the organizers of this conference had contacted the Mayor of the city and the Director of the Opera months before? Or are they possessed by their only daily obsession: trying to discredit any demonstration opposing the control of their unique thought over almost the entire media landscape?
On those offended on TV sets at the last hour by a cry uttered in a theater, a question: have they ever entered an opera? Do they have the slightest knowledge of the history of this art? An art of expression if ever there was one, so often applauded, heckled, subject to controversy, and whose ceilings have resonated and still resonate with numerous cries, in our city again in Nice a few weeks ago during Bohemian by Puccini, without anyone having thought of calling the police or threatening a journalist who had come to do his work, as happened during the New Year’s Concert for a disorder of much lesser magnitude. We take this opportunity to urge BFMTV to verify its information: the Nice New Year concert has never been canceled.
The far-right’s recovery of this event, proof, if any were needed, of the political significance of the invitation extended to Ms. Venezi by the Nice Opera, is matched only by the alleged ridicule support of its local representatives for the “Opéra staff”, about whom they never worry when these agents demand improvements in their working conditions.
No, we cannot say that the opera staff were taken hostage by anti-fascist activists. The term hostage-taking could rather apply to the contractual obligation of having to perform on stage under the baton of such a person.
Why, when the Mayor of Nice posed as a bulwark against the far right during his last electoral campaigns, does he admit that a person promoting these nauseating ideas is invited to direct in his opera, a cultural showcase of the City ? Why does he admit that the Director General of the Nice Opera is considering a new program of Ms. Venezi next season, making this house a regular reception establishment for the muse of neofascist movements?
No, art cannot serve as a license for hatred and exclusion. We, professional artists and musicians from the Alpes-Maritimes, are capable, much more than certain media which sing of the “elegance” of Mme Venezi, a feminine virtue awarded by a patriarchal society, of evaluating the level of one or another conductor. Making Ms. Venezi a great talent unfairly attacked is as grotesque as presenting her as “not yielding to any thought”, while she herself claims conservative ideology as well as a sexualized image of women. Thus, that the Direction of the Opera presents the choice of its programming as progressive, because it would be a woman, and artistic, because its quality would be undeniable, does not fool the majority of musicians of French orchestras who have had the opportunity to work with her, but also with many chefs, men and women. Her technical and expressive shortcomings, far from the reputation that her political supporters want to give her, will never make Beatrice Venezi a talent of international stature.
We call on all our fellow artists to denounce, as much as possible, far-right ideas that circulate under the fallacious pretext of freedom of expression.
Through our actions and our decisions, we will each bear a little of this responsibility, if it is one day too late; but the responsibility of men and women capable of making collective decisions will be all the stronger, and will mark memories.
2024-01-12 08:40:37
#Years #concert #Nice #LHumanité
