I was delighted to read this interview with the inestimable Italian maestro, Riccardo Muti, in an article by Mark Pullinger on Bachtrack (www.backtrack.com).
Mr. Muti is a maverick in many respects and at 82 years young is entitled to be. Not for the first time, the maestro in this interview extols his utter contempt for today’s Opera directors (noting as an exception, his admiration for the great Giorgio Stehler) as well as the loggionisti circling like vultures up in the Gods of Italian opera houses.
For a more in-depth analysis of the problems of modern-day Opera direction, I would recommend reading Conrad L. Osborne’s Opera as Opera: The State of The Art (2018).