Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: Opera a Berlino (Luisi c'e' ancora sul NG?)

Questo articolo appare sul NYTimes di oggi.
Sebbene non nomini Fabio Luisi (nuovo direttore della Deutsche Opera) mi
interesserebbe sapere la sua posizione su questa situazione ...
Rosario
          Clashing Arias for Berlin's Opera Houses
          By ALAN RIDING
              BERLIN — Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid
               and Washington have one opera house
          each, while New York, London, Vienna and
          Paris can boast two. Berlin, on the other hand,
          has three, which is a dream for operagoers but
          increasingly a nightmare for those charged with
          keeping them afloat. Put simply, Berliners love
          having three opera houses that they cannot afford. Who, then,
is going to
          foot the bill?
          That question, of singular importance to the opera world and
to Berlin's
          culture officials, is also the stuff of fierce argument and
bitter
          recriminations in the Berlin press. Indeed, such is the
passion of opera
          politics here that a banal battle over spending priorities has
awakened
          residual East-West tensions and exposed simmering German
distrust of
          Berlin as the capital of a united Germany.
          Simple solutions soon look complicated. Increase ticket
prices? Poorer
          East Berliners would be hurt. Close one opera house? The
city's cultural
          image would be damaged. Seek corporate backing? Private
sponsors
          are suspected of ulterior motives. Beg for more federal
government
          support? Many Germans, mindful of history, object to having
their tax
          money used to turn Berlin into a powerful capital anew.
          Things were easier when Berlin was an occupied and divided
city. On
          both sides of the wall, culture was considered propaganda
worthy of
          generous subsidies. West Germany cheerfully financed the
Deutsche
          Oper, a bunkerlike theater built in 1961, while East Germany
looked
          after the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, founded in 1742 by the
Prussian
          monarchy, as well as the Komische Oper, which was created in
1947
          and performs only in German.
          But after East Germany disappeared in 1990, a united Berlin
suddenly
          found itself running 3 opera houses along with 8 orchestras
and 17
          theaters, all accustomed to living off government handouts.
These were
          fine assets for a city with ambitions to become the cultural
hub of Central
          Europe, but they proved weighty burdens when the city lost the
financial
          privileges of being the cold war capital.
          In the initial excitement of unification, the federal
government in Bonn
          promised Berlin $500 million a year for 10 years to subsidize
its cultural
          institutions. But after providing just $105 million a year for
three years, it
          cut off the subsidies entirely, forcing the closing of the
Schiller Theater in
          the former West Berlin. Then in 1996 the government restored
the annual
          grant to $30 million and increased it to $50 million after the
capital
          moved from Bonn to Berlin in 1999.
          But this was not enough. For all the money that has gone into
rebuilding
          Berlin in the last decade, it remains a poor city by German
standards, one
          largely without industry or a strong tax base. It is poorer
than any large
          city in the former West Germany, too poor to spend heavily on
culture.
          Yet, under Germany's federal system, even as Berlin struggles
to make
          unification real, it is expected to be largely autonomous.
          "In 1995, I said to Eberhard Diepgen, the mayor, you have to
set
          priorities," recalled Daniel Barenboim, the Israeli conductor
who in 1992
          took over the Staatsoper and its orchestra, the Staatskapelle,
as music
          and artistic director. "And in opera, you have to decide for
one of the big
          opera houses. If you decide it is the Deutsche Oper, I may be
sad and
          go, but I would understand. It would be better than gradually
reducing
          the budget."
          Such a tough call was never made. The three opera houses were
urged
          to cut employees and seek other ways to saving money, but
their annual
          subsidies, which account for over 80 percent of their income,
were
          effectively frozen — at $42 million for the Staatsoper, $40
million for the
          Deutsche Oper and $30 million for the Komische Oper — with no
          adjustments for inflation and the annual wage increases
required by law.
          "The opera houses were earning less and less and were running
up
          deficits," said Christoph Stölzl, who heads Berlin's culture
department.
          "The projection was that they'd go broke. At the end of each
year they
          would ask for extra money from the city Parliament, which
would grind
          its teeth and pay the deficit. Last March the Parliament said
opera houses
          with deficits had to be managed by us. It also asked for a
plan to save
          the opera houses over the long run."
          Mr. Stölzl started from the premise that the opera houses
could not
          operate independently of one other, each with its own
orchestra, chorus,
          soloists and ballet corps as well as technicians and
workshops. An
          idiosyncrasy of opera in Berlin is that different opera houses
frequently
          schedule the same opera, not only in the same season but also
in the
          same week and sometimes the same night, and Mr. Stölzl
considered this
          impractical, too.
          His plan, vaguely inspired by the Paris National Opera, which
runs the
          Palais Garnier and the Bastille Opera, was to merge the
Staatsoper and
          the Deutsche Oper under one management. The smaller Staatsoper
          would present pre-19th century opera from, say, Monteverdi to
Mozart,
          leaving the Romantic repertory of, say, Verdi and Wagner to
the
          Deutsche Oper. Mr. Stölzl also imagined eliminating 77
positions from
          the newly united orchestra. The Komische Oper would not be
affected.
          Opposition was immediate, with Mr. Barenboim even threatening
to
          resign. "It was a Machiavellian plan cooked up by the West
Berliners
          who still run the city," he said. "They proposed closing the
Staatsoper for
          four years for renovation, then reopening in 2006 with a
smaller
          orchestra. They would have killed the Staatskapelle."
          The offstage drama escalated. With Mr. Barenboim organizing a
Save
          the Staatsoper petition signed by opera luminaries around the
world, the
          Deutsche Oper's incoming general director, Udo Zimmermann, was
          squabbling with the music director, Christian Thielemann. A
local
          Christian Democrat politician made things worse. "On the one
hand, you
          have the young von Karajan in Thielemann," said the
politician, Klaus
          Landowsky. "On the other, you have the Jew Barenboim."
          Mr. Barenboim was outraged, waving away Mr. Landowsky's claim
that
          he was being complimentary and had meant to underscore the
cultural
          diversity of the new Berlin. "If you must speak about me,
leave my
          Jewishness out of it," the conductor said. Federal and city
officials were
          in turn terrified that Mr. Barenboim might blame anti-Semitism
for his
          departure from Berlin. Last November, in an undisguised move
to
          appease him, the federal government gave the Staatsoper a
$1.75 million
          subsidy to bring the musicians' wages at the Staatskapelle up
to par with
          those at the Deutsche Oper. The other opera houses viewed this
as
          favoritism.
          Finally, later that November, after the German Opera
Directors'
          Conference opposed the merger plan, it was dropped.
Triumphant, Mr.
          Barenboim abandoned talk of resigning and began negotiating
renewal of
          his contract, which expires in 2002, although now as only
music director,
          without the administrative duties of artistic director. An
armistice was also
          declared at the Deutsche Oper where Mr. Zimmermann agreed to
renew
          Mr. Thielemann's contract.
          Today, however, Mr. Stölzl still faces the question: who will
foot the bill?
          Radical action, he has concluded, is not politically viable.
"If you close an
          institution in the east, they say the colonists of the west
want to smother
          our culture," he said. "And if you close something in West
Berlin, they
          complain that it's the west paying for unification."
          Experience shows that a sharp increase in ticket prices, which
range from
          $10 to $70, is also not realistic. "Attendance is good because
ticket
          prices are cheap," Mr. Stölzl said.
          And more federal aid is unlikely. Julian Nida-Rümelin,
Germany's new
          culture minister, who recently moved here from Munich, said
that there
          was no support elsewhere in Germany for making Berlin the
nation's
          cultural capital. "Can Berlin afford three opera houses of
this size?" he
          asked. "For me, this is a problem for the city to resolve, not
the federal
          government."
          And yet, thanks also to the Berlin Philharmonic, music is the
one area
          where Berlin can outshine cities like Frankfurt, Munich and
Hamburg.
          Along with museums, music is perhaps Berlin's principal
tourist attraction.
          On one recent long weekend, opera lovers had the choice of
"Otello,"
          "Aida" and "Elektra" at the Staatsoper; "Don Carlo" and
"Elektra" at the
          Komische Oper; and "Madama Butterfly" and "Tosca" at the
Deutsche
          Oper.
          But can this continue? André Schmitz, the acting general
director at the
          Deutsche Oper, said the theater offered 257 performances in
2000, 60
          fewer than in 1994. And despite cutting employees to 740 from
1,100
          and modestly raising ticket prices, he said, the Deutsche Oper
had a $3
          million deficit because of annual wage increases.
          Still, there are signs of progress in one area. To commemorate
the
          centennial anniversary of Verdi's death this year, the three
opera houses
          organized a mini-festival in which they avoided duplication
and offered 35
          evenings of Verdi in January and February. In the future, Mr.
Stölzl said,
          the city will insist on coordination of repertory at the opera
houses. "If
          there is no agreement, their money will be blocked," he added.
          New players in the opera arena may prove more flexible than
their
          predecessors. Next year the Staatsoper will have a new
artistic director
          working with Mr. Barenboim. Mr. Zimmermann, who officially
takes
          over at the Deutsche Oper in August, has announced plans to
increase
          new opera productions each season to six from four. The
Komische
          Oper has in turn named a respected opera director, Andreas
Homoki, as
          its artistic director beginning in 2002, when he will succeed
Harry
          Kupfer, who has held the post since 1981.
          "I'm eager to find young singers who will have great careers
but whom
          we can still afford," Mr. Homoki said. "I want to introduce
more outside
          directors so that the Komische Oper isn't stuck with the style
of one
          director. I'm also ready to consider not using the German
language in
          some cases. Most of all, I think the three houses in Berlin
should offer
          more choice. I think we should do more operetta. We're the
house for
          operetta."
          But Mr. Stölzl said he believed the best solution in the next
year or so
          would be to turn the opera houses into government-owned
private
          companies run by an independent board of trustees. One result
might be
          to depoliticize the opera crisis. Another would be to
encourage the
          houses to increase their budgets through corporate
sponsorships, a
          revenue source largely untapped here.
          Mr. Barenboim said that at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
where he
          is also music director, 80 people worked in the marketing
department.
          "Here we have no marketing department," he said. "We have to
          professionalize fund-raising."
          Mr. Schmitz said that the Deutsche Oper's budget comprised $40
million
          from the city, $6 million from tickets and less than $1
million from other
          sources. "The problem," he noted, "is that even the rich are
poor here."
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interesserebbe sapere la sua posizione su questa situazione ...
Forse meglio se non la esprime...
Il fatto è che Fabio Luisi NON è il nuovo direttore della Deutsche Oper.
Ti riassumo la vicenda, da ciò che ho saputo dai media. Lo scorso
dicembre il senato berlinese ha approvato una mozione con cui imponeva al
direttore generale Zimmerman di trovare un accordo per rinnovare il
contratto di Thielemann, che nel frattempo si era dichiarato disponibile.
Inoltre proponeva "per evitare azioni giudiziarie"  una soluzione di
ripiego per Luisi che era il nuovo direttore designato ma non aveva
ancora ricevuto il contratto. Insomma volevano proporgli una soluzione
inaccettabile in modo che fosse lui a ritirarsi. Infatti Luisi a quel
punto aveva ritirato ufficialmente la propria candidatura.
La morale di questa vicenda? Che Luisi si è sempre comportato con la
massima correttezza sia verso l'OSR che verso la Deutsche Oper, mentre da
parte berlinese sembra non esserci limite al peggio - da parte di tutti.
Di Thielemann, di Zimmermann (una persona con un minimo di dignità al suo
posto avrebbe dimissionato!), e soprattutto dei politici berlinesi. Con
l'aggravante di comunicati stampa di una spudoratezza incredibile. Come
quando è stato annunciato l'accordo fra Zimmermann e Thielemann,
aggiungendo che la direzione della Deutsche Oper si era trovata sotto
pressione nella necessità di trovare una soluzione "a causa del ritiro di
Luisi".
E ancora pochi giorni fa ne ho sentito un'altra dalla radio tedesca: ora
secondo il senato di Berlino l'accordo con Luisi sarebbe stato respinto
dalla commissione bilancio, a causa delle pretese finanziarie di Luisi!!!
Veramente certa gente ha una faccia di bronzo.
Verrebbe da dire che per Fabio Luisi sia stato un bene di non diventare
GMT della Deutsche Oper, anche perchè il pasticcio berlinese continua a
produrre brutti episodi: ad esempio il NY Times non parla del caso di
René Jacobs alla Staatsoper, a cui è stato cancellato tutto il programma
già definito per il suo ciclo e che ora viene pagato fino a scadenza del
contratto per non far niente. Ciò che veramente dispiace è che l'OSR nel
frattempo aveva già cercato e nominato il successore di Luisi (per la
cronaca: sarà Pinchas Steinberg).
Giovanni

Forse meglio se non la esprime...
(cut)
Mi dispiace profondondamente che a Luisi sia stato riservato un simile
trattamento, ma allora vuol dire che non solo in Italia si fanno certe
porcate !
E adesso che prospettive ha ?
A un Direttore del suo valore non dovrebbero mancare occasioni anche
migliori, magari dall'altra parte dell' Atlantico.
Cesare Simonetti
GENOVA PROFONDA

Luisi lavora da anni stabilmente con l'orchestra della MDR e mi pare anche
con il Gewandhaus di Lipsia e inoltre con l'orchestra del
Tonkünstler-Verein a Vienna. Penso che le occasioni in Germania, dove č
molto stimato, non dovrebbero mancargli. Per me č perň un peccato che
abbandoni la OSR, ma ormai la frittata č fatta. Non penso che a Ginevra
ritotnino sulle loro decisioni soprattutto, non per causa sua, non
esisteva piů un grande feeling.
Brenno
Cesare Simonetti schrieb:


Forse meglio se non la esprime...


 molto stimato, non dovrebbero mancargli.
È stimato, e non solo come artista.  Anche come uomo.
Roberto
-- 
/_/  Roberto Maria Avanzi Mocenigo  <><
_/  Institut für Experimentelle Mathematik / Universität Essen
/  "All a poet can do today is WARN" - Wilfred Owen