Musicians march through Venice after La Fenice names music director with ties to Meloni

VENICE, Italy (AP) — The storied Venetian opera house La Fenice is locked in an escalating dispute with its workers over the appointment of a young and telegenic music director with ties to Premier Giorgia Meloni but none with the musicians with whom she has been hired to construct the theater’s musical future.

On Monday, musicians, singers and backstage hands marched through Venice with workers from other Italian opera houses, including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Verona’s Arena and Turin’s Regio Teatro. They were joined by season-ticket holders, music students and Venetians worried about the future of artistic independence at La Fenice — and across Italy.

What began as a labor protest over a lack of transparency in the Sept. 22 appointment of 35-year-old Beatrice Venezi has evolved into a wider protest reflecting concerns that Meloni's far-right-led government intends to exert artistic control over all of Italy's 14 opera houses.

In the month and a half since La Fenice announced Venezi’s appointment, effective next October, striking workers forced the cancellation of an opera premiere and unions have called for the resignation of La Fenice's general manager, Nicola Colabianchi, who made the appointment.

“The scandal we’ve uncovered here in Venice shows that, unfortunately, once again, politics wants to meddle heavily in culture, with appointments that have no artistic ... justification, but are purely political,″ said Marco Trentin, a union organizer and cellist in the La Venice orchestra.

Colabianchi, who joined the theater in March, has defended his choice of Venezi, saying her youthful energy will attract a new audience to the theater where Giuseppe Verdi premiered “Rigoletto’’ and “La Traviata’’ more than 170 years ago.

“She’s young and dynamic, she’s already written several books and she’s conducted many orchestras. She’s a person who attracts a great deal of media attention,″ Colabianchi said in an interview. “We can’t think the theater can survive with 80-year-old season ticket holders.’’

During the 2½-hour protest that snaked through the city's alleyways and paused in squares, speakers said Venezi doesn’t have the requisite experience for a theater of La Fenice’s profile, where famed conductors Arturo Toscanini, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti have lifted their batons. Critics also said the choice was influenced by Venezi’s ties to Meloni and her far-right Brothers of Italy party.

Many cited concerns that the Venezi appointment was an opening volley ahead of a new theater code being discussed by the government that they fear will threaten theaters' artistic independence.

“The draft raises considerable concerns, as it moves toward a centralization of appointments and artistic choices, increasing the risk that these may become the prerogative of national party politics,'' said Giulia Pancheri, a violinist with Milan's I Pomeriggi Musicali orchestra. “We are facing a delicate and decisive period for the future of classical music in Italy.''

Venezi has not publicly commented on the La Fenice dispute, and canceled a public appearance after it erupted.

She is the daughter of a prominent member of Forza Nuova, another hard-right party, and has identified with the right’s conservative values. However, she told the daily La Stampa in 2023 that she was “offended when they call me a little fascist.”

After her appointment, Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli called Venezi “a thoroughly deserving choice.” Meloni has praised Venezi on several occasions and she was named counselor for music shortly after Meloni came to power in 2022.

La Fenice’s unions say they are not contesting Venezi’s youth, gender or political leanings, but the lack of consultations with the musicians whom she must lead. They note that Colabianchi had pledged an open process just days before Venezi’s appointment was announced.

The musical director “gives the theater its musical imprint,” said Paolo Bertoldo, a percussionist in La Fenice’s orchestra and a union representative.

“When you choose a person for this role, you normally choose someone who can construct a role with the artistic crew," he said. "If you soccer coach doesn’t work well with the players, the team won’t have results.”

La Fenice’s unions have asked Colabianchi to revoke Venezi’s appointment, and relaunch the selection process, allowing the musicians time to work with and become familiar with any candidates, Venezi included.

Colabianchi, for his part, has apologized for hiring Venezi without more consultations, but he remains firm in his choice.

“I chose Beatrice Venezi because I had invited her, while I was the general manager in Cagliari, for three separate operas, and she was a huge success,” Colabianchi said, adding she has a broad repertoire of more than 50 operas. “She is young, and we need to promote the young; she is a woman, and we need to promote women.”

He said there was no question of his resigning and that he would bring Venezi to the theater as soon as the protests against her appointment cease. Her first appointment to conduct with the full orchestra would be in July, for a concert in St. Mark’s Square, though others could be added earlier, Colabianchi said.

But the protesters, who finished their march waving union flags triumphantly on the steps of La Fenice, show no sign of backing down. They said if “a shared solution” is not found, they have more protests planned, including at the Nov. 20 season premiere.

“We are not willing to give in,'' Trentin said.

Workers and orchestra members of Venice’s La Fenice theater, joined by other performing arts professionals, march through the city demanding the resignation of superintendent Nicola Colabianchi and artistic director Beatrice Venezi, in Venice, Italy, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)

Workers and orchestra members of Venice’s La Fenice opera house, joined by other performing arts professionals, march through the city demanding the resignation of superintendent Nicola Colabianchi and artistic director Beatrice Venezi, in Venice, Italy, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)

Workers and orchestra members of Venice’s La Fenice opera house, joined by other performing arts professionals, march through the city demanding the resignation of superintendent Nicola Colabianchi and artistic director Beatrice Venezi, in Venice, Italy, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)

Venice's La Fenice Opera House Superintendent Nicola Colabianchi poses in his office in Venice, Italy, during an interview with The Associated Press, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Colleen Barry)

FILE - Beatrice Venezi poses for photographers on the red carpet for the film 'The Smashing Machine' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP, File)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Search teams on Wednesday recovered the cockpit voice and flight data recorders from the jet that crashed and killed Libya’s military chief and other senior officers, while efforts to retrieve the victims' remains were still underway, Turkey's interior minister said.

The private jet carrying Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other officers and three crew members crashed in Turkey on Tuesday after taking off from the capital, Ankara, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.

The high-level Libyan delegation was on its way back to Tripoli after holding defense talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told journalists at site of the crash that wreckage was scattered across an area covering three square kilometers (about 1.2 square miles), complicating recovery efforts. Authorities from the Turkish forensic medicine authority were working to recover and identify the remains, he said.

A 22-person delegation — including five family members — arrived from Libya early on Wednesday to assist in the investigation, he said.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the deaths on Tuesday, describing the incident on Facebook as a “tragic accident” and a “great loss” for Libya.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone call with Dbeibah during which conveyed his condolences and expressed his sorrow over the deaths, his office said.

Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, U.N.-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like Libya’s other institutions.

The four other officers who died in the crash were Gen. Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, the head of Libya’s ground forces, Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the military manufacturing authority, Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, advisor to the chief of staff, and Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff’s office.

The identities of the three crew members were not immediately released.

Turkish officials said the Falcon 50 type business jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga airport at 8:30 p.m. and that contact was lost some 40 minutes later. The plane notified air traffic control of an electrical fault and requested an emergency landing. The aircraft was redirected back to Esenboga, where preparations for its landing began.

The plane, however, disappeared from the radar while descending for the emergency landing, the Turkish presidential communications office said.

The Libyan government declared a three-day period of national mourning. Flags would be flown half-mast at all state institutions, according to the government’s announcement on Facebook.

The wreckage was found near the village of Kesikkavak, in Haymana, a district some 70 kilometers (about 45 miles) south of Ankara.

At the crash site, search and recovery teams intensified their operations on Wednesday after a night of heavy rain and fog, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Gendarmerie police sealed off the area while the Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, set up a mobile coordination center. Specialized vehicles, such as tracked ambulances, were deployed because of the muddy terrain.

Turkey has assigned four prosecutors to lead the investigation and Yerlikaya said the Turkish search and recovery teams numbered 408 personnel.

While in Ankara, al-Haddad had met with Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler and other officials.

Libya plunged into chaos after the country’s 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country split, with rival administrations in the east and west, backed by an array of rogue militias and foreign governments.

Turkey has been allied with Libya’s government in the west, but has recently taken steps to improve ties with the eastern-based government as well.

Tuesday’s visit by the Libyan delegation came a day after Turkey’s parliament approved to extend the mandate of Turkish troops serving in Libya for two years. Turkey deployed troops following a 2019 security and military cooperation agreement that was reached between Ankara and the Tripoli-based government.

Abuelgasim reported from Cairo. Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed.

Turkish rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)

Turkish rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)

Turkish soldiers and rescue teams search for the remains of a private jet carrying Libya's military chief and four others that crashed after taking off from Ankara, killing everyone on board, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Efekan Akyuz)

FILE - Libya's army chief of staff Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad poses for a photo in Tripoli, Libya, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad, File)