Mortier fired from Madrid opera after row over replacement

Joan Matabosch is the new artistic director of Madrid’s opera house, Teatro Real. The man who until this week had headed the Liceo in Barcelona will replace Gerard Mortier immediately, even though the latter’s contract did not end until 2016. The reputed Belgian director has been undergoing cancer treatment in Germany and would have been unable to return to Madrid until November; also, he has been at odds with government officials and trustees over who should succeed him. While Mortier provided a list of six international candidates, the government insisted on a Spaniard.

The new appointment had been planned for Monday, but was postponed at the eleventh hour due to discrepancies between the trustees of Teatro Real and Culture Minister José Ignacio Wert. Matabosch was always the first choice for trustee chair Gregorio Marañón and the state secretary for culture, José María Lassalle. But Wert tried to impose Pedro Halffter, currently the artistic director of Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville.

In any case, everyone wanted to replace Mortier, who joined Teatro Real in 2010, with a Spanish director. In an exclusive interview with EL PAÍS, the Belgian director and administrator said that he would walk out early if the government found a replacement he did not like.

“If the government imposes someone I am not happy with, I will not wait until 2016. I’m leaving. I am not planning on working for a while with a person who does not coincide with the project that’s being developed at Teatro Real,” he said. The Spanish government has moved faster and decided to remove him from the post before that happens.