Graft scandal maestro conducts war on foes
Brazilian says he was fired in ‘witch hunt’
SA O PAULO, BRAZIL• Before taking the helm of this city’s opera house, John Neschling wielded the maestro’s baton in European venues from Lisbon to Vienna. He resurrected the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, moving it into an imposing concert hall housed in an abandoned railway station. He composed the scores of films such as Kiss of the Spider Woman.
The only child of Austrian émigrés who fled to Rio de Janeiro to escape the Nazis, Neschling, 70, emerged as one of Brazil’s most towering contemporary figures in the classical music world, winning praise for his conducting prowess even as critics blasted his domineering management style.
But in a stunning fall from grace, Neschling finds himself entangled in the farreaching ethical crisis consuming one Brazilian institution after another as a graft scandal engulfs the Theatro Municipal, the high- culture landmark in São Paulo’s old centre where he was named artistic director in 2013.
Authorities fired him in September after administrators who embezzled millions of dollars from the theatre implicated Neschling in illicit enrichment schemes. Scrambling to salvage his reputation, Neschling is going on the warpath against his enemies, upending a rarefied classical music scene in Brazil, where art and politics have long been intertwined.
“I’m being attacked by liars and thieves in a witch hunt of the lowest calibre,” Neschling said in an interview, arguing that he is the victim of a smear campaign by selfacknowledged lawbreakers who are seeking leniency through plea deals. “It makes me sad that I have to undergo this humiliating situation at my age, after having done so much for this country.”
In the case involving Neschling, two administrators of the Theatro Municipal, José Luiz Herencia and William Nacked, admitted embezzling about US$3 million from the opera house controlled by Sao Paulo’s municipal government.
After reaching plea deals, the two men claimed that Neschling illicitly profited from hiring international opera stars through agents who also represented Neschling to arrange conducting jobs abroad, placing the maestro in the cross hairs of investigators.
His accusers also claimed that Neschling made illicit gains from arranging a project with La Fura dels Baus, a theatrical group from Barcelona, which never materialized.
“The public prosecutors don’t have the slightest idea about opera administration,” said Neschling, contending that he was an easy target for such accusations because of envy over his success.
Supporters of Neschling have rushed to his defence, pointing out that up until now he has never been accused of doing anything illegal in a career spanning five decades.
“My personal knowledge makes it impossible to believe that his personal dealings have even a hint of illegality or dishonesty,” said Yoram David, an Israeli conductor who has worked with Neschling.
“If this man is collaborating with his own agents, this is perfectly normal in the music world.”
Still, by Neschling’s own admission, his abrasive, hard- charging personality did him few favours before he was caught in the whirlwind of the Theatro Municipal scandal.
Neschling won plaudits for raising the orchestra’s quality and moving it into a state- of- the- art concert hall in a cavernous, remodelled train station.
At the orchestra, some of the musicians called Neschling dictatorial. He chafed at the criticism, quarrelling with a board that was overseeing a succession plan. He called José Serra, the Sao Paulo governor who is now Brazil’s foreign minister, “a spoiled boy,” before authorities fired him in 2009.
Sao Paulo’s mayor, Fernando Haddad, gave Neschling another chance by naming him the Theatro Municipal’s artistic director in 2013 with an annual salary of more than US$500,000.