Pappano - ROH plus

[LHC]

I would imagine Pappano has his feet firmly under the table for The Ring. I can't see him handing over the complete cycles to someone else. Don't forget that these are all people with big egos and highly competitive in general. Pappano seems fairly normal but it would be asking a lot for him to basically do all the hard work for somebody else, and I can't see the new incumbent taking it over on those terms either.

It's because Wagner isn't really the daily diet for most opera houses that it takes on more importance, I think. Whenever someone new arrives it usually isn't so they can conduct the standard rep but because it gives them the authority to do what they've always wanted, and wouldn't get the opportunity elsewhere.

Yannick Nezet Seguin took over at the Met in 2018 (admittedly in slightly odd circumstances) and has yet to conduct its current dire Ring production. He may take the opportunity to do so when the new Richard Jones Ring transfers there from ENO, presumably some time after 2025, after it has completed its first full run at ENO.

Talking of the Met, I think MDs like Levine who keep all the plum jobs for themselves, and do their best to discourage other prestigious conductors from appearing at their Opera House are thankfully a thing of the past now.

[bluestateprommer]

Nice article from today's online NYT on Pappano, interviewed by David Allen, on the brink of AP's long-delayed return to the Met for Meistersinger:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/arts/music/conductor-antonio-pappano-met-opera.html