After conducting two presentations in March, Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Moest has bowed out of two additional Zurich Opera performances of Johann Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus, citing dissatisfaction with the staging. Although the operetta’s story has nothing to do with vampires or Count Dracula’s castle, Michael Sturminger’s staging uses those devices, apparently solely on the inspiration of the work’s title, which means "The Bat."

In addition to his Cleveland duties, Welser-Moest is general music director of the Zurich Opera.

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