Intermezzo

Pereira takes a pay cut

To add to the indignity of having his La Scala contract trimmed from five years to one, Alexander Pereira must now take a pay cut.

The Italian government have approved a salary cap for employees of operatic and orchestral institutions, effective immediately. Nobody will be allowed to earn more than the President of the Supreme Court, currently €240,000. The cap, already in place in Italian theatres, applies to "members of the administration, management and control" and "employees, consultants and collaborators".

Pereira's agreed La Scala salary has been estimated as €460,000, meaning he will now take home roughly half of what he was originally promised. The cut will also hit Maria di Freda, General Manager of La Scala, though less severely - she's currently on €270,000. The Italian press don't mention any other affected individuals, and my own earlier research suggests that few other establishments pay as generously as La Scala. Despite the decree's generalised wording, it's not hard to interpret it as a political device targetting one institution and punishing one individual.

Whether Pereira could legally circumvent the restriction, tax-dodger style, by taking some of the lost pay as, say, 'expenses' remains to be seen. Whether La Scala would want to take part in that sort of arrangement is questionable though.  They may welcome the opportunity to save a bit of money too.

When his contract chop was announced, Pereira came out fighting, determined to prove it should be extended. With only half the original pay in prospect, will he be so willing to stay?

Pereira falls - to his own axe?

The Pereira-La Scala saga yesterday took a step closer to conclusion. The mayor of Milan, president of the La Scala board, announced that Pereira's La Scala contract will be terminated at the end of his first year, in 2015. 

"There is no doubt that Dr. Pereira exceeded his powers. The error is certain,"  mayor Giuliano Pisapia explained in a press conference.

Nobody disagrees with the general tenor of Pisapia's judgement. Objection has come only from those who think Pereira should pack his bags immediately. They include one of the 10-strong board, who otherwise sided with the mayor.  The mayor countered "We have taken the only possible decision. This is no attempt at mediation, but the only way to avoid a catastrophe". 

Pereira will also have to make a commitment not to dispute the decision, and any proposal for expenditure he makes must have the prior consent of the Board. 

The mayor was asked what would happen if Pereira didn't accept the decision. "In that case he will go immediately, there will be a dispute, and we will evaluate what to do, but we would be in serious trouble," admitted Pisapia. "It would be difficult to find another superintendent straight away."  He also indicated Pereira's departure would be closely followed even by that of the recently-appointed music director, Riccardo Chailly, one of the few vociferous supporters of the Salzburg Festival boss.

Sounds like it's all over for Pereira and his dream job - but is it? 

The Italians, said the mayor, were unable to contact Pereira yesterday - but the Salzburger Nachrichten could.

What he told them may surprise you. 

A load of rubbish

The Pereira saga remains without an ending, happy or otherwise, after today's La Scala board meeting postponed a decision on his fate until the end of the week.  

Meanwhile, the shenanigans have handed a PR opportunity to the ultra-right wing and anti-foreigner Lega Nord political party. After dumping outside La Scala a load of rubbish sacks labelled with slogans like "recycling collection for Pereira", the party's leader scaled a ladder and covered the Piazza della Scala street sign with a homemade one reading Piazza Vergogna ("Square of Shame"). 

Will Pereira pay for his presumption?

As the case of Alexander Pereira vs La Scala rumbles on without resolution, it seems increasingly likely the slick salesman will hang on to his plum job in Milan.

Calls for blood continue from certain quarters, notably the Lombardy region's culture minister. But the longer proceedings are drawn out, the harder it becomes to find a satisfactory replacement who can start work in September. With the all-powerful Scala unions opposed to any interim solution, and the blow to La Scala's credibility if Pereira is sacked before he even begins, his position is strengthened by default.

The mayor of Milan, who also heads the La Scala board, has spent the last couple of weeks gathering evidence. He confirmed in a RAI interview that the situation is now clear to him, but declined to go into details. His next step is to report to the full board, which he says will make a final decision on 12 May.

The Italian press have made a few educated guesses on the outcome.  La Repubblica says the mayor will propose that Pereira stays for now, but is placed on probation until the end of the year. Il Giorno suggests that Pereira may be forced to take either a cut in his salary (rumoured to total €450,000) or a reduction in his five year contract. Whatever the result, it seems unlikely Pereira will get away scot-free.

La Scala postpones new season announcement

In the wake of the Pereira scandal, La Scala have postponed the announcement of their 2014-15 season, previously scheduled for 15 May.

Pereira himself has failed to clarify the exact nature of the transactions he has engineered. So at an informal meeting held yesterday the La Scala board decided to contact the Salzburg Festival to get their version of the facts. Presumably this will allow more informed discussion at the formal meeting on 5 May, which is widely expected to pronounce on Pereira's future in Milan.

Pereira's water gets hotter by the day.  As one Italian newspaper puts it, "Few are willing to bet on the confirmation of his appointment as the new superintendent of La Scala from October 1 2014. So much so that names of potential successors have started to circulate".

Pereira changes his tune

Faced with an explosion of protest about the way he appears to have sold Salzburg Festival operas to La Scala, Alexander Pereira has backtracked on some of his earlier statements. Is Milan to pay Salzburg "well over one million euros" (as he himself told the Salzburger Nachrichten), or was it more precisely €1.28m or €1.6m, as different newspaper reports have claimed? And are there six operas, or seven?