Pereira Will Leave Salzburg Early

Alexander Pereira and his current employers at the Salzburg Festival just can’t seem to part ways quickly enough. In June it was announced that he would take over as intendant at La Scala in Fall of 2015, succeeding Stéphane Lissner, who heads off at that time to succeed Nicholas Joel as head of the Paris Opera.

But yesterday La Scala said it had reworked his schedule so Pereira could start by October 2014.

Pereira's two-year tenure at the Austrian festival has been rocky, not least because of a falling out with Franz Welser-Möst that ended with the latter quitting his commitment to conduct the DaPonte operas over a three-year period. He also made just a little bit too much noise about taking the La Scala job, even before it was offered, threatening to leave Salzburg if he wasn’t given the budget increases he demanded. He didn’t get them, and festival officials declined to renew his contract beyond 2016.

That La Scala was available was a stroke of luck; he’s taking a significant pay cut from his current salary.

Music Director Daniel Barenboim is also planning to leave before the new intendant arrives. Pereira says his successor will be Italian and that an announcement will be made before 2014 arrives.
 

Pictured:  Daniel Barenboim