German orchestra vote 98-2 for next maestro, and get vetoed

Trouble at the Beethoven Orchestra of Bonn, where music director Stefan Blunier is on his way out. The players held a ballot for his successor and voted overwhelmingly – and with a decisive clarity that must be envied in Berlin – for the experienced, Munich-born Jun Märkl as the next chief conductor.

But a selection committee consisting of Beethovenfest director Nike Wagner (pictured), the Bonn theatre manager, Bernhard Helmich, and a musicologist Peter Gülke have ignored the musicians’ decision and handed a contract to the Frenchman, Marc Piollet. Our man on the spot says local bureaucrats wield far too much power in Bonn, believing they are still running the German capital, rather than an aimless ghost town.

This will not end well.