Just in: Sudden death of controversial manager

Just in: Sudden death of controversial manager

RIP

norman lebrecht

November 15, 2023

We have just been informed that Franz Xaver Ohnesorg died suddenly last night at the age of 75. He was preparing for a farewell concert at the Ruhr Piano Festival in ten days time.

Ohnesorg was a highly energetic, often abrasive executive whose career coups included running Carnegie Hall and the Berlin Philharmonic. He walked out on both jobs, and still bounced back.

As young manager at the Munich Philharmonic he hired Sergiu Celibidache as music director. Next, he put the Cologne Philharmonie on the map. Hired by Isaac Stern to run Carnegie Hall, he fell out with virtually everyone in the building before phoning in his resignation from a cab on the way to Kennedy Airport.

He flew to Berlin to look after the Philharmonic Orchestra in the transition years from Claudio Abbado to Simon Rattle. He departed pretty much overnight in 2005 to be artistic director of the Ruhr Piano Festival.

Ohnesorg had detractors but my key memory is his sleepless dedication to the job in hand. When I left him once at 1 am in Cologne, he was going straight back to work.

Comments

  • Beinisch says:

    Great personality.
    Clever,knowledgeable.
    RIP

  • Christopher Stager says:

    Not popular with many here in the States, particularly those who worked for him. But we had a delightful evening together at Avery Fisher Hall at a performance of the final two parts of the Orff Carmina trilogy. He had just left Carnegie and was headed to Berlin. And he told me a funny story about the very photo you used here, Norman. He was addressing the Berlin press with Abbado and Rattle standing behind him. When he mentioned that it was the first time in over 60 years that conductorship of the Philharmonic had transferred without the death of the predecessor, he heard Abbado whisper to Rattle, “Well, I tried!”

    • Carl says:

      Yes, his Carnegie Hall days were known for a lot of hasty departures – both among rank-and-file and the executive suites – and shouting behind closed doors. I can’t remember if he was involved in the NY Phil’s aborted plans to leave Lincoln Center for CH or not. But it wasn’t until the Gillinson era that the revolving door began to slow there.

      • Christopher Stager says:

        Robert Harth, a tenure tragically cut short, was at Carnegie’s helm in between the two. The merger the board attempted was during his time there.

        • MWnyc says:

          I’m not sure that the merger proposal even qualifies as an attempt. The Phil and Carnegie announced it before it had even been fully thought through, as was clear at the time, and (if I recall correctly) it took a couple of months or less for them to figure out that bringing the Phil back to Carnegie wouldn’t work if Carnegie wanted to continue to be the presenting organization it had become.

  • Novagerio says:

    Of course he was not liked – he was after all competent!

    • MWnyc says:

      If you cannot run your organization without regularly screaming at your colleagues, then I would argue that you are not, in fact, fully competent.

  • Ludwig's Van says:

    His brief tenure at Carnegie Hall was calamitous – with key figures quitting left and right. The construction of Zankel Hall ran ruinously over budget, and it was clear he was in over his head. He was well liked by artists and worked well with them, but administrating a large organization and budget was beyond his skill set.

    • william osborne says:

      An administrator used to the public funding of social democracy working in an American system of cultural plutocracy. I’m sure he felt he couldn’t get out of that idiocy soon enough.

  • Annabelle Weidenfeld says:

    He was one of the kindest people I have ever met, a loyal and generous friend to Menahem Pressler and myself and of course many many others who were lucky enough to have him as a very dear friend. My heart goes out to Franziska and his two children in the hope they find the strength to deal with such a devastating shock, and consolation from all of us friends who loved him so much. May he rest in peace and I know one person who will be welcoming him with open arms!

  • Tamino says:

    Zeitgeist feels like any competent leader with a strong personality, who needs to get things done at some point – without endless time at hand to consider and discuss opinions of anyone – is “controversial” these days.

    Only fluffy “feel good” people need to apply anymore.

    RIP Franz Xaver Ohnesorg. You will be remembered.

  • MWnyc says:

    “Ohnesorg was a highly energetic, often abrasive executive whose career coups included running Carnegie Hall and the Berlin Philharmonic. He walked out on both jobs, …”

    I don’t know that I’d describe his departure from either organization as “walking out.”

    As I recall, he sued the Berlin Philharmonic, which ended up having to pay out the full value of his contract, which had several years left on it.

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