Intermezzo

A new pair of Hamburgers

It's official. After months of rumours, Simone Young's successors at Hamburg State Opera have been officially announced.

From 2015, George Delnon will take over as Intendant and Kent Nagano will become General Music Director. Both posts are currently held by Young - proof if any were needed that it takes two men to do the job of one woman.

Delnon is currently Direktor of the innovative Theater Basel, which under his stewardship has twice won the prestigious Opernhaus des Jahres award. Nagano comes from the Bavarian State Opera, where he has established his credentials particularly in contemporary work. Good news for all Hamburgers who want a forward-thinking opera house.

L'enfant et les sortileges and Der Zwerg in Munich

L'enfant et les sortilèges / Der Zwerg - Nationaltheater Munich, 13 November 2011

Like his compatriot Krzysztof Warlikowski, Grzegorz Jarzyna is a mainstay of Polish theatre, but on this showing their styles are very different. Faced with quintessential kiddies' opera L'enfant et les sortilèges, I dread to think what Warlikowski would do. It would be adventurous, it would be different, but they'd probably have to slap a warning on it.

Jarzyna takes a more populist approach. Here, he's opted for strict literalism, as if he's illustrating a story book.  The Teapot is a man with a teapot on his head, the Fire is a lady in orange tinsel, the animals look like animals. Even a five year old could follow it, which is probably the point - there were quite a few in the audience.

Tristan und Isolde in Munich

Tristan und Isolde - Nationaltheater Munich, 27 July 2011

A superbly-executed Festspiele performance of one of Munich's great productions. Covent Garden's older Wagner efforts are so embarrassing they're practically unrevivable. But thanks to Peter Konwitschny, the Bavarian State Opera has several that can be reliably resuscitated year after year, each time gripping/fascinating/provoking a new audience. 

Saint François d'Assise paints Munich red

Saint François d'Assise - Nationaltheater Munich, 10 July 2011

When the Madrid Opera staged Saint François recently, they took over a sports stadium to accommodate the vast forces required. The Bavarian State Opera had only the middling-sized Nationaltheater, so the 100+ musicians spilled out into boxes and even on to the stage, where they sat on either side in stripy costumes that matched the cast's, big-band style.

the other Lohengrin

Lohengrin - National Theatre Munich, 25 July 2010

There were two Lohengrins in Bavaria on Sunday. I was at the other one. I had time to take in only the first act of the new Bayreuth one (sounded pretty good) on the radio before setting off for another look at Munich's version. I didn't care much for the production itself last year. Richard Jones's silly lego house and class conflict twaddle was if anything even more irritating second time round. It can't help the performers when the audience are tittering away at inappropriate moments, but when Lohengrin arrives with a nodding swan tucked under his arm, or kills Telramund with a wave of his arm, what can you expect?

Kent Nagano falls on his sword

Can't Munich hold on to any of their conductors? Kent Nagano has confirmed in an open letter what had been widely speculated - that he won't be seeking a renewal of his contract as music director of the Bavarian State Opera from 2013. Culture Minister Wolfgang Heubisch had said no announcement would be made until the autumn, so Nagano's gesture is, as he points out, a sensible alternative to months of speculation.

In the letter, Nagano pours oil on the flickering flames of controversy, admitting that "politico-cultural developments of recent months in Munich" played a part in his decision. He draws attention to the city's seeming inability to retain top-flight arts leaders, noting specifically the unexpected failure to renew the contract of the Gärtnerplatz State Theatre's director and the acrimonious, headline-making departure of Christian Thielemann from the Munich Philharmonic. 

The conductor, hugely popular with the local operagoers, doesn't actually say that politicians should keep their noses out of the arts, but then he doesn't need to - events speak for themselves. At the very least it's another massive PR disaster for the government of a city that benefits heavily from cultural tourism in terms of both income and prestige.