La Scala Taps Stéphane Lissner

Stéphane Lissner, general director of Aix-en-Provence Festival since 1998, has been tapped by La Scala to be its next general manager and artistic director. A statement was released earlier today by Milan’s Mayor Gabriele Albertini, who heads the famed house’s board of directors.

Lissner, 52, succeeds Mauro Meli in the general manager position. Meli was installed two months ago, succeeding Carlo Fontana, who was dismissed in an apparent power struggle with Riccardo Muti, the house’s former music director. Fontana’s dismissal sparked an already disruptive atmosphere among union and orchestra members, who maintained that Muti’s absolute power was damaging to La Scala’s well being. Strikes ensued and performances were cancelled.

Lissner, who has major damage control work ahead of him, begins in Milan in May. How this appointment affects his new job as music director of the annual Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) from 2005 until 2007, is unclear at this time. That event runs from May 7 to June 19.

Prior to Aix, Lissner headed the Châtelet Theater in Paris. Currently he is also co-director, with Sir Peter Brook, of the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, in Paris.