Christian Thielemann greets an elderly fan
Christian Thielemann may not have any friends at Munich city council, but he has plenty in the arts community at large. 35 of them - conductors, singers, pianists and composers including Plácido Domingo and Daniel Barenboim - have signed a petition requesting the Munich mayor to reopen negotiations to extend Thielemann's contract as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic from 2011.
Talks broke down in July when Thielemann refused to cede the final word on programming and guest conductor decisions to the orchestra's manager (who appears unable to cope with the first basic task of management: keeping people sweet). And despite Thielemann's desire to stay in Munich and willingness to discuss the issue further, the city have stated firmly that the contract offer has been withdrawn and the matter is closed.
As the petition says, no respectable principal conductor could agree that more than half of his orchestra's concerts would fall outside his influence. It rightly calls Munich's decision "incomprehensible" and points out the very real damage to the city's international reputation. It is "in the interests of the musical world" that Thielemann stays to build on his "many world-wide musical successes". "I very much hope that Maestro Thielemann and the city of Munich can settle their differences" ends Plácido Domingo.
Christian Thielemann himself alludes to a further sticking-point in an interview published in yesterday's FAZ. The new contract would give Munich the right to reduce the orchestra's funding from 2013 if the city's tax income drops below a certain level - this might force him to cut orchestra numbers, and this he cannot accept.
Here's the full list of signatories:
Francisco Araiza
Daniel Barenboim
Pierre Boulez
Friedrich Cerha
Alfred Brendel
Rudolf Buchbinder
Plácido Domingo
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Jürgen Flimm
Hans-Joachim Frey
Christian Gerhaher
Hélène Grimaud
Peter Gülke
Peter Michael Hamel
Thomas Hampson
Hans Werner Henze
Wilfried Hiller
Philippe Jordan
René Kollo
Edgar Krapp
Gidon Kremer
Helmut Lachenmann
Siegfried Matthus
Siegfried Mauser
Dominique Meyer
Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser
Johannes Moser
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Peter Schreier
Julia Varady
Lars Vogt
Eva Wagner-Pasquier
Sebastian Weigle
Jörg Widmann
Anja Harteros
Peter Ruzicka
