From
Jutta Czeguhn
In a letter to General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski and Minister of Art Markus Blume, the children’s choir of the Bavarian State Opera supports its choirmaster Stellario Fagone, who was dismissed without notice on March 7th and who was also acting director of the State Opera Choir to date.
The writing is the Süddeutsche Zeitung It does not bear any signatures, but is only signed “Children’s Choir of the Bavarian State Opera” and wants to speak for the entire 80-strong choir. The letter, which the style is more likely to have been written by adults, says, among other things: “Stellario Fagone is our leader, teacher and after all these years has taken on a fatherly role for us”. Every child has “grown individually” through him. The choir was able to achieve top performances through him and thus never brought negative criticism to the house.
The letter speaks of a “familiar and warm atmosphere” even during tough rehearsal phases. “Thanks to him we look forward to working in the opera house every day, which has now become a second home for all of us. We cannot and do not want to imagine this home without Stellario Fagone because we love and appreciate him incredibly.”
The authors describe Fagone’s dismissal, the reasons for which both the State Opera and the choir director are silent, as “injustice”, even if they expressly do not want the letter to be understood as a criticism of the directorship of the opera. The children couldn’t understand “how you can do something like that to a person who has done so much for us and with whom we have experienced so much”. The children’s choir now hopes that Fagone will come back.