Daniel Barenboim is to become music director of La Scala from 1 December, it was announced today. His contract, which runs to 31 December 2016, will see him at La Scala for about 15 weeks per year, and includes opera, concerts and tours.
Barenboim has been the de facto boss at La Scala since 2006, when he agreed a five year working relationship with the opera house to run alongside his other job as general music director of Berlin's Staatsoper. That agreement, which came without a title, involved him conducting at least two opera productions each season for La Scala, directing concerts and performing as a soloist, as well as sharing productions between the Staatsoper and La Scala. It doesn't appear as if the new agreement will involve a significant increase in that current workload.
La Scala have been without a formally-titled music director since Riccardo Muti's controversial departure in 2005.
