The director of La Fenice Opera House in Venice, Fortunato Ortombina, will take the helm of Milan’s storied La Scala, authorities announced Tuesday. The Italian director, 63, succeeds Frenchman Dominique Meyer, 68, who has been in the post since 2020, Milan’s Mayor Giuseppe Sala announced after a meeting of La Scala’s board of directors, where he serves as chairman.

Last year, the hard-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni set an age limit of 70 on opera directors, effectively preventing Meyer from being reappointed. Ortombina has directed the Venice opera house, one of Italy’s leading cultural centres, since 2017.

At La Scala, he served as an artistic director coordinator from 2003-2007. For nearly a year the two men will work side by side, with Ortombina taking up his post in September, and Meyer remaining in his until August 2025.

“We have done everything for the good of La Scala, with dignity and fairness,” the mayor said. La Scala’s music director, Riccardo Chailly, 71, whose current mandate expires in February 2025, has had his duties extended until 2026. Succession plans at the head of La Scala had caused a stir with critics accusing Meloni’s government of purging cultural voices at the head of Italian institutions who clashed with the government’s views. — AFP

Ortombina was proposed as a successor to Meyer after a meeting in March between Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano and Sala, even as La Scala’s orchestra appealed to the board for Meyer’s term to be extended by two years. —AFP