Muti's flight

They persist in claiming that being a musician is a job; I'm sorry, but a job is also made of these things.

So let's say it clearly: being a musician is not a trade

I will attract someone's wrath, but since when has being a musician been a job? I mean, it might be a romantic idea, but the usual person blowing up is a classic

thallo wrote:

I totally disagree with Tiger and Dino

Me too!

In total disagreement with me means:

>I believed that a Theater lived thanks to those who practice art; evidently I was wrong !!

Evidently theater is made by stagehands, administrators, secretaries, managers

>This is a NATIONAL DISGRACE

Evidently we should be proud of it

> it will see us as always, all surprised and pissed off for a week and then everyone will only look out for themselves as always ... I would say instead to stop being solidary only on the WEB! (I have read certain messages on Facebook)
Evidently it is enough to sing your own praises and play for yourself on Facebook and Forums

> This is a very serious act for all of us musicians
You are right here, towards all workers. Excuse the "lapsus"

> I hope that even the union in its multiple forms and acronyms is ashamed
Evidently they must be proud of it, perhaps Mendelssohn was right

Dino wrote:

I find it significant that in an Opera House, all the artistic masses are laid off, while on the contrary, the stagehands, administrators, secretaries, managers.... basically the ruin of the Theaters (many of whom were put into permanent roles by the Superintendent or the Artistic Director in charge!!) remain firmly in their positions.

I believed that a Theater lived thanks to those who practice art; evidently I was wrong!!

Yes. It is true that a theater lives thanks to those who practice art but, consequently, it dies because those who make - or more accurately should make - art, in this case, forget what their absolutely primary duty is. A duty towards those who love and want to enjoy that art, and they can only do so by relying on serious and motivated professionals and not "players" who, for every whim, call into question the possibility of being able to enjoy that performance, which, moreover, is regularly paid for by the listeners.

Dino wrote:

This is a NATIONAL DISGRACE

The true national disgrace is seeing that the possibility of listening to music is entrusted to these people.

Dino wrote:

I hope that even the union, in its multiple forms and acronyms, is ashamed for having brought the state of music and musicians to this point!!

This is the only point on which I agree with you and which, however, seems to me to be in clear contradiction with what you stated before.

The union - from which I come - has very grave responsibilities regarding the state of music in Italy. And... not just music!"}

http://www.francescomerlo.it/2014/10/03/lopera-di-roma-dopo-la-fuga-di-muti-il-licenziamento-per-rappresaglia-e-piu-odioso-dellorchestra/

Rome Opera after Muti's flight: RETALIATORY DISMISSAL IS MORE HATEFUL THAN THE ORCHESTRA

Tiger wrote:

http://www.francescomerlo.it/2014/10/03/lopera-di-roma-dopo-la-fuga-di-muti-il-licenziamento-per-rappresaglia-e-piu-odioso-dellorchestra/

L’Opera di Roma dopo la fuga di Muti IL LICENZIAMENTO PER RAPPRESAGLIA E’ PIU’ ODIOSO DELL’ORCHESTRA

Here, yes, it seems like a great solution to Merlo and those who think like him: let's give the Soviets back to them... But only to them, please!

Yes, but to me the problem seems more of a cultural-social nature. The last time I went to the auditorium to hear the Rome orchestra, the average age was 80 years old. I think that sooner or later these people will die, some might already be dead (excuse my practicality) and work takes the market into account... If there is no demand, supply falls and one is forced to lay off staff or use external contractors, but the thing doesn't change; it's just a way to hide the reality of a market that no longer exists.

Let's face facts and tell ourselves the truth: nowadays young people (and not only them) are wimps who can't wait for Saturday to come so they can go get high in a disco, and I don't need to say that I have been in both theaters and discos and therefore know the numbers... The circle of those who follow classical music is tightening more and more, and this implies that the market is plummeting. The Rome orchestra is just one of many orchestras that has closed or is closing its doors, so for me, obsessing so much over the motivations and various political and administrative ruses seems like a topic of little importance. If people had always filled the theater, everything would flow regularly. Then the crisis played its part; evidently they realized that subscriptions for the concert season did not sell, and it doesn't take much to do the additions and subtractions to see where one can go... Clearly nowhere, and that is how we have ended up. We live in a context where passions are no longer at the forefront, but money. Money decides everything, but certain cultural goods should be protected not only economically but especially culturally, through education in schools. A person's life, it has been scientifically demonstrated, is influenced primarily by environmental factors; protecting the field of classical music at an educational level could make a difference, but unfortunately, the weekly hour of music in schools is seen as recess. More importance should be given to the contribution that the study of music makes to the Human Being, especially if this being still needs to be formed and directed toward a purpose in their life.

Exactly, and if we found ourselves talking about music in general, I could understand.

But this situation is a SPECIFIC situation that everyone is using as an excuse to talk about something else, or general issues:

1) the Teatro di Roma has a gigantic budget deficit;

2) Muti left because of the orchestra, and with him, a series of sponsors left;

3) the board of directors decided to lay off the orchestra and the choir with the aim of outsourcing their performances.

Those who fill their mouths with clichés like 'being a musician doesn't mean working' should take it up with the ORCHESTRA, which didn't care about Muti and continued to demand strict adherence to contractual clauses even in times of crisis. They didn't ask for "art," they didn't ask for more rehearsal hours with the Conductor, they asked for allowances. I have worked in "outsourced" choirs for years, and when people talk to me about orchestras like that—as if they were wonderful places where people fight for their rights—it makes me want to laugh a little and vomit a little. Orchestral musicians act no differently than any other professional category in the world. They protect what they already have, asking, if possible, for more. It's not art, it's work.

And let's reason economically, then. If the Theater doesn't change the contracts, it closes. Should we let it close?

This is a question I will repeat several times to force you into an answer: the Theater does not have the money to continue paying IN THAT WAY (that is, with those contracts) the entire choir and the entire orchestra. What do we do, let it close?

There are no legislative loopholes, since the law was made a year ago and PROVIDES for liquidation if the deficit cannot be closed. What do we do, should we close this blessed Opera di Roma?

But something strange happened: "only" orchestral musicians and choir members were laid off. Why? Obviously because for the next ten years the Theater will survive only on stagehands, obviously, to produce silent shows (...), without music, and no one will notice....

In my opinion, no. In my opinion, it's because only the orchestral musicians have 27 weekly working hours, 10 minutes of mandatory break every rehearsal hour, a long series of artistic permits to supplement their salary with solo engagements etc etc.

Despite this, however, something tells me that the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma will not be able to do a season without an orchestra and without a choir. It's strange to reach this conclusion, isn't it?

Now, since those who played in the Orchestra of the Opera and those who sang in the Choir of the Opera already live in Rome, and since they will most likely have been guaranteed a right of first refusal for re-employment, I consider it very probable that they themselves will continue to play and sing there. But with different contracts.

In your opinion, is this an ARTISTIC problem? Or is it a CONTRACTUAL problem? Oh my, perhaps the name of the company on the payslip affects the intonation of the horn notes, who knows, I should go re-read a few books on the subject...

But, how disgusting, they laid off the orchestra; they could have laid off the street cleaners of the municipality of Rome to pay for the 27 weekly working hours of the second bassoon, rather than changing the contract for the second bassoon...

What do you want, I too would prefer a world without electricians and shop assistants, full of out-of-tune and idle orchestral musicians.

What can I say? Well done, Claudio!

Simone, the problem you state is absolutely correct - as Claudio has already said - but it is a different problem. Namely, it is the problem of problems. The problem that concerns the entire musical-theatrical system, Italian - but not only Italian - in particular.

And it is true that I used to reason the same way about thirty years ago - or thereabouts - when, as a young man - among the few - I frequented theaters crowded with sixty/eighty-year-olds and said to myself: in twenty years these theaters will be empty. Now, it hasn't turned out exactly like that; perhaps they are a bit emptier than back then but... not as empty as one could have imagined then.

It is a partial consolation if you will, but it gives hope that all is not lost. While remaining firm on the fact that art remains and will remain a niche for at least the next hundred years, one can and must try to reverse the trend that leads to the thinning out of art music listeners. How to do it is entirely to be decided and invented. For now, I limit myself to saying that surely two things must happen: art music cannot think of surviving by relying solely on the availability of the state - or whoever that may be - and those who decide - out of passion, especially that - to live making music, must be aware of carrying out... a mission.

http://www.iltempo.it/cultura-spettacoli/2014/10/05/alemanno-ve-la-racconto-io-la-vera-storia-di-questa-operazione-1.1322396

Read what the superintendent says!

http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2014-05-20/muti-tokyo-rilanciare-teatri-lirici-senza-favoritismi-trionfo-nabucco-opera-roma-185138.shtml?uuid=ABWMBqJB

Opera reset, here is the new plan: a season with more orchestras ready

http://www.socialgamespro.com/archives/1650/opera-azzerata-piano-pronta-stagione-orchestre

danielescarpetti wrote:

For now, I will limit myself to saying that two things must certainly happen: art music cannot think of surviving by relying solely on the availability of the state - or whoever is in charge - and those who decide - out of passion, especially for that - to live making music, must be aware of carrying out ... a mission.

Ok, but if you don't eat, you die... In the last article posted, it is reported: "4 million euros of debt, paychecks confirmed until Christmas, then musicians will be able to choose whether to belong to an association or a cooperative to settle 3.4 million euros in the balance sheet and close almost at break-even with 4-year renewable contracts".

What security is offered to musicians? I agree when you appeal to the argument that being a musician implies carrying out a mission supported by passion; passion is fine, but one cannot live on passion alone. Furthermore, in this way, a wrong message is also sent to those who are deciding which path to take. Honestly, if I found myself choosing between a conservatory and a degree course in economics and commerce, given the latest developments (at best, I get a place in a cooperative, with a 4-year fixed-term contract), I would choose the second one with my eyes closed, passion or no passion; what do I give my son to eat? Where do I make him sleep? Can I guarantee him a roof for 4 years and then who knows, maybe a beautiful round arch under a bridge?

When I talk about working in tranquility, I am talking about this, especially in an emotional work environment where nerves should be steady.

The perfect parallel is possible in the university. I have a very dear friend, graduated in electronic engineering with specialization, master's, and a PhD. Hired as a researcher on a fixed-term contract with the possibility of year-by-year renewal... He earns a pittance; besides doing research activities, he is also forced to hold courses as an assistant to a tenured professor. This year he managed to scrape together a position as a lecturer in 3 different degree courses, but he always lives with a question mark, wondering if he will still be there next year... To me it is absurd; I strongly doubt that serious research activities can be carried out under such conditions and I do not believe the fault for all this lies with him. He is a well-prepared and willing young man, hard-working, throws himself into all the interesting projects, lives inside the university... Often he calls me after 8 in the evening telling me that he has just left the university gates from 8 in the morning (11 hours of work with only one hour of break). Do we want to blame him? The fault lies with the system; come on, let's tell ourselves the truth, it's fine to say mea culpa, but then, even at the risk of being rhetorical, the fault lies with the system that governs us, which wants a people of ignoramuses because they are easier to mock. The more ignorant you are, the more malleable and controllable you are; it is all part of a design and I could cite hundreds of situations that confirm this hypothesis of mine, below only a few:

- The football system that pays players millions of euros (What on earth have they invented?)

- Not investing in research, the only source of hope for a better future for all humanity (a topic on which Margherita Hack clashed several times)

- Not investing in alternative energy sources (because they cost too little, thus one cannot profit from them, and they would be harmful to the lobbies and to the state that profits also from taxes on energy expenditure). They held another referendum on nuclear power a few years ago; a topic on which Italians had already expressed themselves, just to eat a few more billion euros from it to have energy that would cost more than current energy: I am not saying this, but Carlo Rubbia.

- Investing in television, media, and trash programs (which make people stupid by cramming false or not entirely true news into their heads, decentralizing or downplaying the importance of much more serious problems).

- Closing theaters

- Modifying laws regarding teaching and education in schools (which worked well before the Gelmini decree, even if with some flaws).

- Downgrading any work that is part of the artistic circle that made our country great. (An example is presenting the RAI national symphony orchestra once a year for the Christmas concert, the last time even conducted by Giovanni Allevi!!!).

Must I continue? Here everything works in reverse because the target to follow has shifted. It is no longer humanity at the center of the thoughts of those who should govern, but the market. Everything is done to maximize revenue. If tomorrow we invented an object that doesn't work, serves no purpose, but definitely sells like crazy, this would be taxed. Just look at the increase in duties on digital memory, coincidentally just when a boom is predicted"}

smartphone sales. Some taxes are simply ridiculous. Should I pay you a fee on a storage medium depending on its capacity? But why? They are transistors, I have already paid for them, why should I pay according to their number?

Or the fuel excise duties... An endless list of state rights including "the war in Abyssinia of 1935!!!!!", the Vajont dam disaster of 1963 still costs us one cent of a euro per liter. In 2013, between gasoline and diesel, 2,960,000,000 l (2 billion 960 million liters) were consumed and consumption has actually plummeted year after year, so the estimate strongly favors the counter-hypothesis. One cent per liter implies about 30 million euros for the Vajont dam in 2013 alone. Even considering an average of 15 million euros, half, (considering currency exchanges and the lower number of cars in '63) to date we would have paid almost a billion euros. We have been paying this excise duty since '63, but how many F***ing dams have we rebuilt? I am only saying that Milan's EXPO cost 1 billion 700 million euros, of which 500 million were allocated to the purchase and expatriation of the land. One billion 200 million euros were allocated to construction, but for Milan's EXPO so many cubic meters of reinforced concrete were used that it would equal 30 Vajont dams.

Forgive me if I went a little off-topic, but it was only to demonstrate with some numbers that here what matters is only the market; no one cares about the individual or the category if they are not in the market, and even if important for humanity, if they don't make up significant numbers, it's not worth investing; thus they close theaters, museums, and everything related to art or more generally to culture, in favor of football, motorcycle racing, Formula 1, and all those other activities that generate money traffic.

LucianoP wrote:

Opera reset, here is the new plan: a season with more orchestras is ready

http://www.socialgamespro.com/archives/1650/opera-azzerata-piano-pronta-stagione-orchestre

But how can one claim "opera reset, season ready with more orchestras"??? The article says something completely different!! Seriously, it will end up like the discussions on contemporary music. I won't talk about it anymore because you have become obsessed with the international conspiracy against culture.

Great, believe what you want and peace. My "qualified" opinion—since, until proven otherwise, I am the only one in the forum working in opera houses—has been given.

Simone, granted that I could agree with you on everything - and I mean everything - but, let me say, you are discovering heated water [reinventing the wheel].

What do I mean? That the market dominating all of us with all its injustices has always been this way; are we or are we not a capitalist society? The only attempt in history made to overcome capitalism has sadly and deservedly set. And... so what? Why be surprised now if the market and capitalism - with all its attachments, connections, and disconnections - dominate. Why marvel?

I agree with you Simone but I know well now, that today there is no alternative to this system. This is if we admit it! And even if we don't.

My son is 11 years old, he goes to clarinet and piano school and learns to play the trumpet by himself and plays in a band. He wants to attend music high school and the conservatory. Last night he asked me how much he could earn being a musician and a composer, in particular.

What should I have answered him, in your opinion or yours?

That he will starve and that it is better if he gets all these wacky ideas out of his head? This coming from a good father worried about his future.

No, I answered him that one certainly does not become rich by making music, but it is... the right path if this is what he desires!

Hot water can be so for me and for you, and more generally for those who have information autonomy. The problem is that the majority of Italians don't even know how to turn on a computer; this is a country of old people who only trust what they hear on television (which is controlled by politics) or what they read in newspapers (which are notoriously right-wing or left-wing). In your opinion, how many of them have done the math, roughly, regarding all the money spent on gasoline excise taxes? (just to use an example that has already been used). As you say, we are a capitalist society and, in a capitalist society, you don't make a difference individually because you wouldn't get anywhere. You would be like a fly trying to move a cat, but 60 million flies all pushing together to move a cat will surely succeed. The point is that everything starts with information, and if the majority of people listen to information that is controlled and filtered from above, nothing ever changes here. I also agree with Claudio when he says that you cannot blame all the fault on the institutions, but the anti-culture conspiracy exists; it is clearly visible in any cultural context, and to not see it, one must be blindfolded... If it weren't there, there would be transparency instead of a cover-up. If it weren't there, in television broadcasts of political debates, there wouldn't be the figure of the politician who throws out figures; there would be someone who actually calculated those figures. If we were talking about energy, there would be Carlo Rubbia instead of Pier Ferdinando Casini, who can barely tie his own shoelaces in the morning when he gets dressed. But politicians go there, and although they are totally ignorant on certain subjects, they possess the art of knowing how to persuade with words, and obviously they persuade people to choose not what is best for the country, but what is best for the market and for the maneuvers on which one can profit the most. Cutting funds for culture means making their game even easier.

Regarding what you said to your son, it is what my father said to me and probably what I would say to my son, but I believe that certain freedoms depend on a person's social status. I won't delve into the merits of your situation because I don't allow myself to do so, so I will speak for myself... In my case, I could do it because I have something and I could afford to make a similar reasoning, but for someone who has nothing and lives through real sacrifices (look at families forced to live on 700 euros a month), such a statement could be risky. Wealth aside, I believe it would be appropriate to protect a child against hunger, and if I were part of the disadvantaged group, I would alert my son to possible risks by saying: "It is right that you follow your passions, but in this case, the situation is this, and as a parent, I am not able to tell you if in such a context you will have a peaceful future". Obviously, these are all my opinions on what I would do, and apart from extreme situations, I tell you that I would have done the same being a son of the same thought process.

Simone, I am referring to the first part of your speech obviously: what you write leads to a lack of responsibility among the masses and to a unique responsibility of those who govern us, those who have governed, and, probably, those who will govern us.

And on this point specifically, I do not agree.

It is too convenient to think that all the blame is theirs.

We have been living, with all its limits if you will, in a democracy for 59 years now. We are no longer illiterate as we were in the post-war period. We may not be a particularly cultured people, but we are not even a mass of simpletons.

What has happened to us, what is happening and will happen to us is also our responsibility - or merit for those who consider it such - and no one - and I mean no one - can wash their hands of it.

I agree, I didn't want to absolve the people of responsibility, partly because I am the first to realize it, and I realized it when on several occasions, when going down to the streets for protests, there were always only a handful of people... (But if Roma loses, someone might die!) It is also true, however, that the police in these contexts should be on the side of the people and not of politics. In the end, we are the ones paying their salaries. Finally, during a sit-in regarding the Gelmini decree, 4 imbeciles started shaking a Carabinieri van and it seemed designed specifically to make us all get beaten up. Luckily, I had been in high school for a few years with the track and field representative team, so I slipped away before a baton could hit me too... I think that 4 people sowing panic can be picked up and arrested instead of bloodily beating a peaceful student procession blindly. In any case, I can't get it out of my head that those 4 were sent there by someone to do what they did with the aim of inciting a brawl and making it appear on the 8 PM edition of TG1 that they are the good guys and the students are the bad guys.

Coming to the discussion about illiteracy, it's true, but perhaps the current state of affairs is even more dangerous. There are people from the older generation (from 45 to 65 years old) who are a majority compared to the rest of the population. For them, there is no benefit in changing things because they have jobs with old contracts, they receive decidedly good salaries while doing little to nothing, and as for retirees, well, there's really nothing to discuss there... Why change things if the money comes in at the end of the month? And here, nothing ever changes, it's always the same faces; and thus the youth unemployment rate is around 48% (says the television). However, it doesn't say that in the remaining 52% of occupied positions, at least half are with fixed-term contracts renewable year by year, and for me, this is not employment, or at least I wouldn't consider it employment in this percentage. With a fixed-term contract, you cannot start a family because you cannot access a mortgage; you are a precarious contract worker with starvation wages that too often do not exceed 700 euros per month, therefore I consider it a deceptive way to calculate percentages because on these lines we are not talking about work but exploitation; with salaries like these, you aren't working to live, but to survive. This country needs to be modernized; the world moves with new technologies and the gentlemen occupying the most sought-after jobs—those who choose the right path to follow in corporate marketing and production—don't even know how to turn this technology on. We lag behind all other states also because of this problem. Take a look at some videos of Apple or Google (the first and second companies in the world, respectively!) and see the average age for yourselves. To be competitive, innovation is needed, and to create innovation, you need those who master new technologies. Italy, from this point of view, is last in the world; we no longer invent anything new and competitive on the global market because in the era of the keyboard and the mouse, they are still trying to create something with a screwdriver and a hammer, but where are we going like this? The problem is that everyone (65-year-olds included) is too attached to keeping their ass glued to their chair despite being aware and conscious that they are infinitely unproductive. A pinch of common sense is needed even from these people. I hope I have clarified my point of view.

Yes, you made it clear I would say, and when you write like this, I agree with you.

I like this fighting spirit of yours and I also like your sanguine character. The important thing is that you always know how to direct everything toward the right target. And, many times, believe me, it is not that easy!