Lucerne chief’s wife takes over Rachmaninov house

Lucerne chief’s wife takes over Rachmaninov house

News

norman lebrecht

May 31, 2022

Reading the press release below, I wondered why it fails to mention that the successful candidate for this prestigious arts position in the town of Lucerne happens to be married to Michael Haefliger, director of the Lucerne Festival.

Why the omission?

Swiss secrecy, no doubt.

Press release:

The Board of the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation is happy to announce that the musician and cultural advisor Andrea Loetscher will be the new Director of the Cultural and Education Centre “Villa Senar” in Hertenstein/Weggis as well as the Managing Director of the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation as of July 1, 2022.

‘Andrea Loetscher has emerged from an international tender as the best qualified new managing director of the Foundation and director of the Villa Senar Cultural and Educational Centre’, explains Urs Ziswiler, President of the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation. ‘She has convinced the Board with her visions for the place, but also with her versatility as a musician, director of an educational institution, concerts organizer as well as with her curiosity for unusual projects, which shall be implemented at such special place with Sergei Rachmaninoff as inspiration and starting point. The Villa Senar and its magic should be positioned as a cultural brand and networked as a fine education and cultural centre. Andrea Loetscher will maintain a lively, fresh and joyfully, but also respectful approach to the place and its history….’

Comments

  • Ya what says:

    What? Back door dealings in positions of power? Oh no – what a shocker! I thought this world operated fairly, just like the bible envisioned. Whatever next?

    • Achim Mentzel says:

      Yes, it is absolutely still shocking to some people that nepotism is an anthropological constant.

  • Taras Bulba says:

    A Swiss secrecy that is “a lively, fresh and joyful, but also respectful” secrecy

  • JohnB says:

    Did you know that Haefliger’s ex-wife Irina Nikitina is the godmother of Putin’s daughter Maria?

  • Robert Hairgrove says:

    It is perhaps interesting in this context that Mr. Haefliger’s former wife, Irina Nikitina, was godmother to Vladimir Putin’s first daughter (and married to Sergei Poldugin at the time the picture in this article was taken — I’m sure we all remember him, too):

    https://insideparadeplatz.ch/2016/04/05/schoene-putin-patin-und-ihre-swiss-connections/

  • Robert Hairgrove says:

    Poldugin = Roldugin, sorry (too much Cyrillic on the brain, I guess).

  • Come on now… says:

    Perhaps because she has a career of her own and it is completely inconsequential who she’s married to?

    I don’t think you’re actively trying to be chauvinistic, but you surely must see how you come across as so?

  • christopher storey says:

    Oh Gawd! Why do these announcements always have to be delivered in cultural management-speak instead of plain language ?

  • Elizabeth Owen says:

    It must be awful going through ones adult life labelled as someones’ wife as if she is a servant. This lady has her own career and is obviously good at it so why mention her husband?

  • Robert Hairgrove says:

    Is there any link online to this news item?

  • Escort Milano says:

    Nuovissime Escort Orientale a Milano qui vieni a rilassarti e divertiti con noi ti troverai con due ragazze molto alla mano che ti faranno sentire subito a tuo aggio per poi trovarti due sorelle caldissime con voglia di farti splodere del piacere e a talvolta ricevere piacere

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