Recently you could experience the conductor Daniele Gatti with the Munich Philharmonic. He seemed completely different from how he was remembered, appeared relaxed, conveyed trust to the orchestra, encouraged it to play without constantly interfering. He appeared as a relaxed minimalist who feels, breathes and understands the music together with the musicians. They were enthusiastic afterwards, some of them saw him as a possible successor to Valery Gergiev, their ousted chief conductor, who fell victim to his ostentatious loyalty to Putin.
However, the Munich are currently looking for a bride and are easy to inspire, have already identified more urgent candidates. If there is any truth to the cravings for Gatti, they will have to be shelved anyway: On Tuesday, the Staatskapelle Dresden announced that it had chosen Gatti as its future chief conductor and asked Barbara Klepsch, the Saxon State Minister for Culture and Tourism (in Saxony is that one) to enter into negotiations with him about the chief post.
Christian Thielemann currently holds this position until 2024. Klepsch stated last year that she did not want to extend his contract. The aim is to modernize the activities of the Staatskapelle and thus also the Dresden Semperoper, where the chapel is primarily active. Thielemann was born in 1959, Gatti in 1961. That doesn’t yet seem like a radical offensive for the future, especially since Gatti has so far hardly attracted attention through investigations away from the mainstream.
Gatti has known the Staatskapelle since 2000, he repeatedly returned to Dresden for concerts and also conducted the orchestra in 2021 at the 2021 Easter Festival (then conducted by Thielemann) in Salzburg. The orchestra board certifies that Gatti has a “sensitive feeling for the special sound of the Staatskapelle”. The orchestra is particularly proud of this sound, at least since Richard Wagner praised it for it.
In 2018, Gatti was fired in Amsterdam on allegations of sexual harassment
Daniele Gatti was born in Milan, studied orchestral conducting and composition at the local conservatory and made his debut at La Scala in Milan in the 1987/88 season – his international breakthrough with a Rossini opera. This was followed by performances at the Met, Vienna and London, where he became Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1996. Other leadership positions followed. From 2009 to 2012 he was chief conductor at the Zurich Opera House. In 2016 he was appointed chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam as successor to Mariss Jansons, but was dismissed without notice two years later after a report by the Washington Post was accused of sexually harassing two female musicians. It was not the last allegation. Gatti denied this, a year later the dispute was considered officially settled.
This did not harm his career. And if recent impressions are not deceptive, then Gatti, who used to be notorious for loud volumes and a rather down-to-earth approach to music, has developed into an orchestra animator that is as subtle as it is stubborn.