Just in: Munich renews top team
NewsAfter months of politically stirred speculation, the Bavarian government this morning awarded new contracts to Serge Dorny and Vladimir Jurowski as intendant and GMD of Bavarian State Opera.
Dorny, 62, gets five more years, Jurowski, 52, gets three.
Picture from this morning’s press conference.
UPDATE Jurowski said later: The Bavarian State Orchestra is not only one of the oldest, but undoubtedly one of the best in the world. I am delighted to be able to continue working with this unique collective in the orchestra pit and on the concert stage in the coming years. It is still important to preserve tradition, to make the present a topic of conversation and thus to set the course for an artistically vibrant future for the orchestra. But I am also delighted, as General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera, one of the most successful opera houses in the world, to continue to work closely with the house’s other musical collectives, the choir, the soloist ensemble, the musical department, the director and all other professions. Together, as in previous years, we will bring extraordinary and remarkable productions to the stage in the National Theater and all other venues of the Bavarian State Opera.
It’s really a renewal of Jurowski, who sadly entails Dorny, who indulges in all the Regietheater everyone is sick of — everyone except the camera-related careerists, that is.
What do German audiences really think of Regietheater? I am puzzled. How many of them held their nose and went for the overall experience? Personally I lost all patience about two decades ago. I am done.
It has been present now for 40 years, worsening with each click of the ratchet, so we have two generations of theatre-goers who think opera is hard surfaces and concepts and have never seen work-true stagings with due scene changes in live performance. The notion that a régisseur is there to solve the many problems inherent in an opera and to nudge the singers towards the truth of their characters, and not bring baggage and branding of his own, has become foreign, the job redefined.
I largely agree with your description of the current state of affairs, but would question your argument that two generations know nothing different. There were plenty of traditional production performed during the 80s. I remember, because I started attending opera in the late 70s. And I now happily watch and listen to DVDs from the 70s and 80s. Naturalistic productions reigned supreme at the MET opera until the early 2000s. Arguably the trashy new Gelb era productions are the elephant in the room. They’ve been keeping me away from an opera house I loved in the 80s and 90s.
The question was about Germany specifically, I believe.
This why Oper has to move forward with younger practitioners and hopefully younger audiences with productions which they can relate to rather than dusty historic old fashioned dull events with emptying auditoriums smelling of mothballs, old lady perfume and nostalgia. A return to the days you hanker for will truly kill off the art form. When the audience dies, so will the art if it is not allowed to be owned by the young. Quality singers there will always be, let’s hope they can keep truly expressing themselves, the music and stories in productions which have relevance.
Old lady perfume I can match with that specific smell of old unwashed males!
Tif, that’s the argument we’ve been hearing for 40 years.
“Younger audiences” want truth in art and dramaturgical logic in the theatre.
These stagings are “relating” to them LESS, not more, and we know this because they don’t see them twice!
I often wonder the same thing. A few years back, Wiesbaden put on an über-traditional Onegin and got a standing ovation as soon as the curtain came down.
I think many Germans stoically suck up the dross they’re served as a sop to the ‘Bildungsauftrag’ opera has had nailed to it since World War II. However, as with politics, they’ll also declare themselves fairly centrist until you start prodding, then the truth comes out pretty quickly.
Jurowski is 52 years old. (Born 1972)
Jurowski 62!
So he’ll be retiring with 65, making way for Mallwitz.
Oh joy.
She should have lessons with him.
I guess it also means that Erik Malmquist will stay at the Bayerische Staatsoper with Dorny. He is a total gem!
Did Norman go on vacation? Is he in the hospital and too sick to work? He seems to have missed one of the most important stories of the year!
—————–
THE ENTIRE KYIV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FLED TO GERMANY
The entire composition of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra asked for asylum in Germany.
https://by.tsargrad.tv/news/kievskij-simfonidcheskij-orkestr-vsem-sostavom-sbezhal-v-germaniju_1015521
“One of the most important stories of the year”? Are you kidding me…
Hopefully not to Greece!
The commentary this morning on BR Klassik was slightly bitter and pitiful re Mallwitz.
The fact is that Jurowski (52) has been doing a great job so far, both musically and repertoire-wise.
So great news that he’s staying on!