Long-Haul Conductor Daniele Gatti Cancels with Injury

It's not quite the curse of the Ring, but frequent Wagner conductor Daniele Gatti has been struck down by a repetitive strain injury in his shoulders, forcing him to cancel all of his concerts over the next two months.

Gatti had been scheduled to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic in Berg’s Wozzeck at Carnegie Hall later this month; he will be replaced by Franz Welser-Möst (who suffered a similar affliction in 2012 and now does yoga). Gatti will also bow out of as second Vienna concert in March, three April concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and others with the Orchestre National de France, where he is music director.

The official diagnosis, according to a statement from the BSO, is tendinopathy, an acute inflammation of the tendon, affecting both shoulders. Gatti, who won much critical praise for his performances of Wagner's Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera last season, led a heavy-duty diet of Wagner and Verdi last summer and fall including the Salzburg Festival’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, a Bayreuth Parsifal and La Traviata at La Scala.

Strain injuries are a common affliction among conductors, often affecting shoulders and elbows.

Below: watch Gatti in a full concert of Verdi and Wagner orchestral selections.