Franz Welser-Möst has pulled out of all future opera engagements at the Salzburg Festival, citing unreasonable scheduling.
He complains that the 2013 plan is not feasible for the singers. The first three of five Così fan tutte performances are spread over five days, leaving just a day's rest between each. He had earlier in the week told an interviewer it's unacceptable to begin one of these at 11 am - "because then the singers would have to get up at three o'clock to prepare."(Probably a good job that it starts at 1pm, not 11am, then. Although most singers can and do manage morning engagements from time to time, but let's not digress).
Welser-Möst's outrage has compelled him to cancel not just the three offending performances, but the whole Mozart-Da Ponte cycle he was supposed to be conducting over over three years from 2013 to 2015.
Oddly, he doesn't mention why he didn't spot the flawed timetabling earlier; it's been public for several weeks, in the unlikely event he wasn't told way beforehand anyway. And while his own Vienna State Opera, like most houses, generally leaves two clear days between shows, they also sometimes schedule performances just a day apart - the very issue he's complaining about.
Coincidentally, Welser-Möst has just started rehearsals in Vienna for Ariadne auf Naxos, the dreadful Salzburg Festival production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf, who's also in charge of the Mozart cycle.
Festival management are apparently out of the country at the moment. So sadly we'll have to wait for Alexander Pereira's no doubt feisty response.
