More notable than his statement about his own future, however, was Gelmetti's pronouncement about the future of his job: he publicly urged the Rome house's management — and, by extension, the local and national governments — to hire Riccardo Muti as his successor. Both ADN Kronos and ANSA quoted an interview with Gelmetti that appeared in the newspaper Il Messaggero on July 13. "I have this one ambition, this one hope," said Gelmetti (as translated by ANSA), "that I can leave the fruit of all this collective hard work in the best possible hands, those of Riccardo Muti."
Widely considered one of the foremost conductors in the world today, Muti was music director at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan from 1985 to 2005, when he quit after an extensively reported series of battles with the house's general manager, Carlo Fontana, and rumored discontent among La Scala staff and musicians. (The affair cost Fontana his own job shortly afterwards.)
Asked last week about the possibility of his taking the Rome post, Muti gave a pointed non-response. "I cannot answer questions about something I know nothing about," ANSA quoted him as saying, "Nobody has said anything or proposed anything." According to the news agency's July 18 report, the conductor acknowledged that he had been informed about Gelmetti's statement and that he is a friend of Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome. Yet he went on to say, "But that doesn't mean anything. I'm also a friend of [Venice mayor] Massimo Cacciari, who I'm sure would be happy to have me in his city."
