Vienna declares it’s better off without a music director

The Vienna Opera boss Dominique Meyer and Vienna Philharmonic chairman, Andreas Grossbauer, have given Der Standard an insight into their priorities. At the opera, the orchestra expects to be consulted on all future plans.  They have a fruitful dialogue with the Frenchman Meyer and expect the government to renew his contract when it expires in 2017.

Their relationship has grown closer since Franz Welser-Möst walked out as music director of the opera house. Meyer says he won’t be looking for another music director if he stays on for another term. ‘One can find good solutions, and we have done,’ he says.

The orchestra, however, liked Welser-Möst. Don’t they miss him? ‘No, because we still have him,’ says Grossbauer. ‘We’ve just worked intensively with him in Salzburg and toured with him in Scandinavia. Fundamentally, we do not feel the absence of a music director.’

That begs the question: does any opera house still need one?