Breaking: Vienna Philharmonic ousts its chairman

Breaking: Vienna Philharmonic ousts its chairman

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norman lebrecht

June 12, 2014

Members of the Vienna Philharmonic have voted for a new chairman.

clemens hellsberg

 

Clemens Hellsberg (pic), who filled the role for 17 turbulent years, will be replaced in September by a fellow-violinist,  Andreas Großbauer. It is not clear if the election is contested.

The players also voted to replace their business director. Harald Krumpöck, another violinist, takes over from Dieter Flury.

Any change in the orchestra’s policies on anti-discrimination and full disclosure of the Nazi past is unlikely.

Comments

  • Dufornee says:

    In a glance I thought that the headline said: Vienna Philharmonic OUTS its chairman. That would be breaking on a whole different level…

  • Malcolm James says:

    Dieter Flury has been the most outspoken opponent of appointing women. I read an article which said that the younger generation of male appointees to the orchestra were in support of admitting women and that things might move faster when they reached positions of influence. Maybe, just maybe, the dinosaurs are being pensioned off and we’ll see some real progress.

  • Michael Schaffer says:

    I think the last sentence wasn’t quite finished when you hit “enter”. Happens to me all the time, too.
    It probably should have said “…is unlikely to change anything about how people who like to indulge in their anti-Austrian stereotypes will comment on anything the orchestra does”.

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