Where’s Runnicles? Staying put
mainThe Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles has renewed his contract as Generalmusikdirektor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for six more years, taking him to 2022. He’ll be 68 by then.
Runnicles retired this year as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Overrated.
Lots of better (younger) talents are around, if only the Intendants were doing their jobs — but most are lazy and ignorant and find it easier to keep the status quo.
Why do your say this ? It seems rather unfair? What evidence do you have?
A great artist, conductor and pianist! A humble person. One of the most honest musicians around!
Congratulations and best wishes !
He is a very good Strauss and Wagner conductor, judging from performances of Rosenkavalier and Tristan I attended in NY and Berlin.p
…….and a splendid orchestral conductor. He did a tremendous Mahler 9 at the Proms a couple of years ago. There is also an amazing Elgar 1 on the Berlin Phil website.
Schade.
Would have been a good time to move on…
If you were working for such an outstandingly innovative, outstretching company as the Deutsche Oper, as I have done, you might understand his decision to continue in Berlin!
Your opinion. If you consider the recent Entführung (speak to the singers!), scandalously bad studio productions (Gianni!), too many performances conducted by inexperienced assistants, playing Salome to practically empty houses, the plague of first-time opera directors etc. “innovative” then bitte schön.
The DOB is long since off the radar of many Berliners.
Innovative? There is nothing innovative going on at Deutsche Oper. And getting a conductor who cares and would bring the orchestra to a consistently high level would have been the right move. But instead they settle for mediocre… Shame!
An outstanding conductor who holds his own in Berlin among the likes of Barenboim, Rattle, Fischer, Janowski. Better young talents around ? Easier claimed than found. It is great to see that not only the audiences and orchestra, but also the DOB managment appreciates him.
Well said!