The incumbent Artistic Director of the National Theatre Opera, Jiří Heřman (by the way the director of the wonderful
Miracles of Mary), is to be replaced by a congenial 30-year-old Slovene by the artistic name Rocc, an Artistic Director of the Janáček Opera Brno. On the occasion of a commentary on the move, Heřman explained that "[w]ith the Director of the National Theatre Ondřej Černý we agreed on termination of my activity in the context of the
expected merge of the opera of the National Theatre and the State Opera Prague. I'm not convinced that the reorganization can be performed in such a short-time perspective without an influence on the artistic level."
[source]
There had been speculations on what would happen with the State Opera, which is suffering from financial problems and, according to some, lower artistic level. These talks emerged with much greater intensity just before last Christmas, when
Oliver Dohnányi, the General Director of the Prague State Opera House, resigned after a "friendly agreement" with the Minister of Culture,
Jiří Besser, as we reported
here.
I'll keep you posted.
