The respected mezzo-soprano and festival director has criticised the appointment of Jonas Kaufmann to run the Erl Festival in Austria.
She thinks they should have continued with the experienced Bernd Loebe.
More here.
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Doesn’t Loebe have enough to do in Frankfurt? (in 23/24 eleven premieres and thirteen reprisals!)
when will people look in the Mirror ? she did the same! just that he can attract attention with out posting a thing
and who doesn’t attack Jonas Kaufmann whatever he does or doesn’t do? it’s very fashionable. I cant’ fathom how he can stand it mentally. Or maybe he can’t?
Indeed, and this silly piece shows that some people will really scrape the barrel to trash him. So a retired mezzo doesn’t like his new role? Tough. I doubt he cares.
Such an experienced artiste as Ms. Fassbender surely knows more than a little about singers and Festival direction. I only heard her in live performance once – the glorious 1972 Salzburg Rennert production of Cosi with a sublime cast including Ms. Fassbender’s Dorabella along with Janowitz, Fischer-Dieskau, Grist, Schreier, Prey and with Boehm conducting.
I was there too and have never forgotten this once in a lifetime performance.
BF NEVER was a Festival Director!
She started as Intendant xactly in teh ssme age Kaufmann will do with the same experiances over decades as he has…….
Nick, I’m very jealous! What a grandiose cast!? Good for you! It must be something to cherish for the lifetime. There are no chance to hear something even close to what you have chance to enjoy in this age. Fortunately, we are left with many great recordings of gone by golden era of opera world.
Thank you for your comment Bozidar. I was so fortunate to see 5 operas that year – the only year I have been able to attend. The Strehler Entfuhrung with its use of silhouette and a cast led by the divine Elizabeth Harwood who died much too young, Pasquale with Corena, Sciutti and Muti in the production which had seen his Festival debut the previous year, Karajan conducting Ponnelle’s Figaro with Harwood, Mathis, Berganza, Berry, Krause, Montarsolo and Kerstin Meyer as Marcelina, and a glorious Wozzeck with Boehm, Berry and Silja. I still cherish those amazing ten days.
Interestingly, perhaps, at the Pasquale interval I bumped into Peter Diamond who was then the hugely experienced Artistic Director of the Edinburgh Festival, I asked his view on the production. He was somewhat non-committal but said he was not taken with Muti’s conducting!
Agree with her.
And what she said exactly? article is behind a paywall…
A small, angry truck driving drag queen mouthing off about Kermit the Frog. You can’t make this stuff up.
Yet angry trolls still seem able to
“make it up”.
Back in your hole now…
See. There you get some attention.
You’re disgusting! Hope you feel better now.
A least she didn’t mention anything like ‘inappropriate touch’. That’ll be next, I suppose!!
Are you sure you should be commenting on a classical music forum? Opera lovers can get angry but they don’t usually sink to the level of the gutter.
On the contrary, you apparently you can make stuff up quite easily.
I would like to ask the moderator why idiotic, childish and sometimes seemingly libellous comments like that by Skeptic above are allowed on this site. It appears to be happening with greater regularity and takes away from more serious, considered comment such as that given in the threads about the death of the great tenor Graham Clark and the new recording by the wonderful pianist Yunchan Lim.
Your nom de guerre should actually be ‘septic”; suits you perfectly.
It’s behind a paywall. Which means that a) this is mere clickbait from Slipped Disc, and b) none of the people commenting here, lest they are subscribers to the estimable Salzburger Nachrichten, have any idea what her criticism is and they’re talking about.
Nothing new there, of course.
Well of course, but on this site absolutely anything at all that might reflect even a teensy bit badly on Kaufmann, is delightedly seized upon. Tall Poppy Syndrome, of course.
Mr Loebe has enough to do in Frankfurt, as noted below. UNLESS – and this is speculation – he is preparing, after many years in post in Frankfurt, for an exit from Frankfurt once the new GMD Thomas Guggeis is established there. He is, after all, over 70. In which case, losing the Erl job has a major impact on his career and life plans.
His Frankfurt contract has been extended to 2028 – and the city is thrilled he has extended – but contracts can be abrogated.
Does her opinion actually matter?
Well, it does as regards Carlos Kleiber!!
Wish she would just shut up and maybe look in the mirror herself. Then so many on here just love to bash up Jonas Kaufmann for whatever he does or not do.
Paywall. Sensationalism. Great journalism tho
Oh for Goodness sake. Just someone else having a go at Jonas Kaufmann. It gets tedious. Just leave him alone. They wanted someone new. 42, I believe applied. He got it. Move on. Smart move by him. He is a clever person.
All through his caeer he has done this.
Apropos Bernd Loebe. Der Deutsche war 2018 nach dem unfreiwilligen Rücktritt Gustav Kuhns in Erl spontan als Intendant eingesprungen. Loebe hat sich bewährt und mit seiner Vertragsverlängerung gerechnet. Doch Festspiel-Mäzen Hans Peter Haselsteiner präsentierte zur Verblüffung der Opernwelt Startenor Jonas Kaufmann als neuen künstlerischen Leiter in Erl ab September 2024.
Fassbaender sieht das kritisch: „Ich finde, man hat Herrn Loebe übel mitgespielt und ihn kaltschnäuzig abgefertigt. Die Qualität der letzten Jahre in Erl, das Topniveau unter Loebe, ist nicht gewürdigt worden. Er hat die Karre aus dem Dreck gezogen, und das war es dann.“
Der Coup mit Jonas Kaufmann ist gelungen. Man hat einen Namen für die Festspiele Erl, das, was man wollte.
Brigitte Fassbaender (Opernregisseurin)
Sie ist sich aber natürlich bewusst, wen Präsident Haselsteiner da an Land gezogen hat: „Der Coup mit Jonas Kaufmann ist gelungen. Man hat einen Namen für die Festspiele Erl, das, was man wollte.“ Loebe, seit 20 Jahren Operndirektor in Frankfurt, war hinter vorgehaltener Hand dafür kritisiert worden, sich zu wenig mit Erl zu identifizieren. Kaufmann soll nun als „Mister Erl“ das Gesicht der Festspiele werden.
„Es ist ein knallhartes Geschäft und in Tirol besonders. Das ist ein eigenes Land mit einem ungeheuer gut funktionierenden Netzwerk“, befindet Fassbaender.
Selbst konnte sie sich als Intendantin im Landestheater gut behaupten. „Ich war erfolgreich, hatte daher meine Ruhe und die Innsbrucker Bürgermeisterin Hilde Zach und LH Herwig van Staa politisch an meiner Seite. Sie schätzten die Frauenpower.“ Ihr Nachfolger Johannes Reitmeier „hat das Haus wunderbar weitergeführt und kann jetzt mit Stolz gehen“.
Gasa Valgas Ex-Chefin
Den Wirbel über die Ablöse von Tanzchef Enrique Gasa Valga durch die neue Intendantin Irene Girkinger hat Fassbaender, die in Bayern lebt, mitbekommen. Ihre Meinung: „Enrique ist noch in meiner Zeit vom Tänzer zum Choreografen gewachsen. Ich hätte mir gewünscht, dass er längst irgendwo anders Chefchoreograf wird.“ Sie habe den Eindruck, dass er sich darum wohl gar nicht bemüht habe, „weil er in Innsbruck so erfolgreich und glücklich war“.
Es sei ein normaler Vorgang, dass sich eine neue Intendanz von vorherigen Mitarbeitern des Hauses trennt.
Speaking of Bernd Loebe. The German had spontaneously stepped in as artistic director in Erl in 2018 after Gustav Kuhn’s involuntary resignation. Loebe proved himself and expected his contract to be extended. But to the amazement of the opera world, Festival patron Hans Peter Haselsteiner presented star tenor Jonas Kaufmann as the new artistic director in Erl from September 2024.
Fassbaender is critical of this: “I think Mr. Loebe has been played with badly and he has been coldly dispatched. The quality of the last years in Erl, the top level under Loebe, has not been appreciated. He pulled the cart out of the mud and that was it.”
The coup with Jonas Kaufmann has succeeded. They got a name for the Erl Festival, what they wanted.
Brigitte Fassbaender (opera director)
But she is of course aware of whom President Haselsteiner has landed: “The coup with Jonas Kaufmann has succeeded. You have a name for the Erl Festival, what you wanted.” Loebe, opera director in Frankfurt for 20 years, had been criticised behind closed doors for not identifying himself enough with Erl. Kaufmann is now to become the face of the festival as “Mister Erl”.
“It’s a tough business and especially so in Tyrol. It’s its own country with a tremendously well-functioning network,” Fassbaender says.
She herself was able to hold her own as artistic director at the Landestheater. “I was successful, so I had my peace of mind and the Innsbruck mayor Hilde Zach and LH Herwig van Staa politically at my side. They appreciated the woman power.” Her successor Johannes Reitmeier “has carried on the house wonderfully and can now leave with pride”.
This is just sour grapes from a not-renewed Intendant whose pride was hurt (and he may be the most proud man in the whole business), asking his friends (and/or those he has given a load of work) to agitate on his behalf and show what a terrible mistake getting rid of him will turn out to be. Frankly, I agree with the festival organisers that they don‘t need to be an outpost of the Frankfurt Opera where he can put all the stuff he wouldn‘t want to put on in his main house. Kaufmann is a truly interesting (and might turn out to be very good) appointment, just what a festival should be doing in my opinion.
https://kurier.at/kultur/festspiele-erl-fassbaender-skeptisch-wegen-bestellung-von-jonas-kaufmann/402516643 It is not necessarily an ”attack”. Brigitte Fassbaender says that this career move is good for Jonas Kaufmann at this phase of his professional and personal life ( I think that too) . She also expects that the festival is going to attract a larger audience due to its star tenor intendant – nothing bad about it . She doubts nevertheless his ”Theaterwissen ” ( she may be right here – he has expressed some lame, rather reactionary , views on opera directing lately, but he has a talented wife director who can provide the artistic expertise.)
1. Fassbänder did the same step in the same ahe as Kaufmann will strt at Erl.
2. He is not only experienced in inner sights of the operabusiness, he has an operadirector in his persnal life, who is educated in economic issues too.
3. Haselsteiner as a businessman and cultural manager knows, that Erl is too good to be the “little Frankfurt stage”, managed by an over 70 years old person and in a distance of 500 km.
4. Its time to refresh Erl after the scandals with Kuhn and the more or less quiete periode during Corona.
I would rather he put an end to his singing career entirely and devote himself to the very demanding new job. He cannot do both well enough , in my opinion, especially because there are things he should study and learn on his own, as a beginner in this field. ( He cannot depend on other people’s professional advice indefinetely, even if these people are very close to him.)
Anything to stop him ‘singing’!…
You are unfortunately not living up to your name with that quip. New name required I suggest “ Nasty”. Yep that would suit.
His poor health seems to manage that fine. That’s the problem. I wonder how many genuine fans find themselves seriously out of pocket when JK cancels yet again. We never got this in the heydays of the three tenors.
What do you mean?
If Kauffman doesn’t perform the performance still happens.
He may be the most prominent performer in any given night but the performance may have a full army of artists, technicians and theatre management people making it happen.
He missed recently in Covent Garden and I felt disappointed but I wasn’t short-changed because the performance was still of the high standard one would expect.