Director of Prague State Opera resigned, future of the house uncertain

Second economy-related post today. Oliver Dohnányi, the General Director of the Prague State Opera House, resigned today, after a "friendly agreement" with the Minister of Culture, Jiří Besser, M.D. According to the Minister, Mr. Donhányi is "more of a musician than a manager" and failed to pay off the debt inherited from the previous management (Dohnányi had been appointed by Riedlbauch in June this year). The opera house is, by words of the Minister's spokesman Brunclík, "in a state of despair" and in need of an extensive reconstruction. According to Mr.Dohnányi, the line was so low that there was nowhere to save up.

The opera is now 7,000,000 CZK ($370,000) in debt, while the reconstruction is about to cost tens of millions of Crowns. The length of the reconstruction hasn't been revealed by the Ministry. Even before there were concerns about the State Opera - it has been always losing the competition with the National Theatre. It has been suggested that it should merge with the National Theatre, so that there would be cooperation rather than the counter-productive competition. Some people argued that three opera stages are too many for Prague. As the plans of reconstruction emerged, many fear for the fate of the opera itself, including Mr. Dohnányi:

Oliver von Dohnányi

I'm not going to assist in the liquidation of the opera ensemble

Today at 11 o'clock, I resigned from the position of the General Director of the State Opera. It happened after a long pressure from the Ministry of Culture. At today's audience Culture Minister Jiří Besser informed me for the first time about the plan of the Ministry to have the Prague State Opera Prague comprehensively reconstructed, therefore to discontinue the art business - that in his opinion the post of the Director should not be occupied by an artist, but a manager. If I refused to resign, the Minister I was going to withdraw me on the spot. Minister didn't present me with another reason for the appeal he said that the State Opera has long been in a state of emergency, technically and economically, of which I do not bear the slightest guilt.

I regret that the Minister hadn't informed me of his intention earlier, while I was responsible for developing the project savings in 2011 and specifying the medium-term development concept of the State Opera. I presented to him both the documents. At the meeting on  November 22 the Culture Minister also announced that he intends to list as director of the State Opera tender, in accordance with the declared intent to tender for any directors of governmental organizations, who in his opinion haven't passed the selection procedure. At the same time he invited me to take part in the selection process.

I regret that I could not implement the plans that I declared, but I am not going to assist in the liquidation of the Prague State Opera.

Thank you for your cooperation to all who joined me in striving to restore the importance and prestige of the opera house.

Oliver Dohnanyi

(translation by frufruJ)

Czech Philharmonic must economize, Hvorostovsky cancelled

According to the Ministry of Culture, the Czech Philharmonic must "completely change its economy management". The audit doesn't report any fraudulent activities, rather incompetency of Mr.Riedlbauch and Mr.Darjanin. Mr.Riedlbauch was the Director General from 2001 to 2009, when he became the Minister of Culture of the caretaker government after the international embarrassment fall of the regular government during the EU presidency, and Mr.Darjanin took over.

Vladimír Darjanin

Václav Riedlbauch

_____________________________
However, ten months later, Riedlbauch dismissed Darjanin and appointed Václav Kasík - without a tender. After protests by the philharmonics, Kasík resigned at the end of August, and since then the director of the Czech Philharmonic is Radek Zdráhal, a deputy of the Minister of Culture.

Musicians protesting against Kasík in front of the Rudolfinum,
suggesting that he got the post out of acquaintanceship.

Mr.Darjanin had arranged a concert and workshop with the starry pianist Lang Lang, and the season was supposed to end with style, with Dmitri Hvorostovsky's concert in the Spanish Hall of the Prague Castle (it's the beautiful golden-white hall where Obama and Medvedev signed the New Start treaty). The philharmonic are arranging alternate dates for these two concerts, but it seems that it won't be before 2012.

Source of information and images: Czech TV

Le Nozze with Plachetka - Standing Ovations at the Estates Theatre

Adam Plachetka, Kateřina Kněžíková.
Photo: National Theatre

Tripple good luck: I'm subscribed to the National Theatre on Facebook, where they announced that Adam Plachetka, who's now singing in Vienna, would make a special appearance in Prague; and there were two seats left in the centre of the second row! Moreover, the places before us were empty for the first two acts, so we could admire the full stretch of the conductor, Mr. Jan Chalupecký, who not only did great job, but was also fun to watch.

I saw this production more than a year ago, and then I had a few objections - I didn't like the scene of "Non più andrai", the way how Figaro and others behave to Cherubino, and some actions of Rosina in Act II. (namely the obligatory rolling on the floor in a gown, which I find as one of the most annoying clichés in opera direction). HOWEVER this time, the Countess behaved more like a Countess, and what's more important, it was sensible how every singer was enjoying the performance. Even the end of Act I was palatable for me, and even the audience of the Estates Theatre - mostly tourists who take it as an attraction, especially at operas like this or Don Giovanni - was constantly cracking up. I don't know if it's just me having seen one too many eurotrash productions, or if the singers smoothed it up with performing it, or it was special because of the special guest, or all three, but it was a wonderful night for us.

Kateřina Kněžíková
Photo: National Theatre

What I love about Czech productions of Mozart, is that they are (more often than not) able to capture the fun, playfulness and lightheartedness of his work, that I can't find in many productions by renown directors. When you add the wonderful cast - Adam Plachetka as Figaro, Kateřina Kněžíková as Susanna (I'm told that they've separated... if the rumour that they were dating is true in the first place... well, who cares :-) ), Martin Bárta as Almaviva (you can also see him as a very good [and handsome] Don Giovanni here, with Kněžíková as Zerlina), Stanislava Jirků as Cherubino, Yvona Škvárová as Marcellina or Zdeněk Plech as Don Bartolo.

History (abbridged)

3050 B.C.- A Sumerian invents the wheel. Within the week, the idea is stolen and duplicated by other Sumerians, thereby establishing the business ethic for all times.

2900 B.C.-Wondering why the Egyptians call that new thing a Sphinx becomes the first of the world's Seven Great Wonders. 

1850 B.C.-Britons proclaim Operation Stonehenge a success. They've finally gotten those boulders arrange in a sufficiently meaningless pattern to confuse the hell out of scientists for centureis. 

1785 B.C.-The first calendar, composed of a year with 354 days, is introduced by Babylonian scientists. 

1768 B.C.-Babylonians realize something is wrong when winter begins in June. 

776 B.C.-The world's first known money appears in Persia, immediately causing the world's first known counterfeiter to appear in Persia the next day. 

525 B.C.-The first Olympics are held, and prove similar to the modern games, except that the Russians don't try to enter a six-footer with a mustache in the women's shot put. However, the Egyptians do! 

410 B.C.-Rome ends the pracitce of throwing debtors into slavery, thus removing the biggest single obstacle to the development of the credit card. 

404 B.C.-The Peloponnesian war has been going on for 27 years now because neither side can find a treaty writer who knows how to spell Peloponnesian. 

214 B.C.-Tens of thousands of Chinese labor for a generation to build the 1,500 mile long Great Wall of China. And after all that, it still doesn't keep the neighbor's dog out. 

1 B.C.-Calendar manufacturers find themselves in total disagreement over what to call next year.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky - Recital in Prague

Yesterday's recital of the starry baritone, accompanied by Ivari Ilja (the two have released two CDs and can be seen on many videos on YouTube), was without doubt one of the highlights of the very busy season. Hvorostovsky's intelligence of interpretation, depth of feeling, and indeed the sheer beauty of the voice, make him the interpret of this repertoire.

In the beginning it seemed to me that the singer was not in his best of moods - perhaps because of the cold he had, as he said on his Facebook. Not only no indisposition was noticeable, but the atmosphere in the hall was so wonderful that it even warmed up the singer, who seemed much more cheerful by the end. Also I've learnt from a source close to the performers that it was their last concert with this particular content, which might have added to the artists' feelings. The first half of the concert (Tchaikovsky) can be found in this playlist on my YouTube channel and at the bottom of this post, if indeed embedding works.

The program opened with my favourite Why?. Probably because it was the first song, it was a little bit inferior in expressiveness to its counterpart on the aforementioned CD, but that's normal, especially with sensitive performers; during the course of a couple of songs, the recital turned into an event that even Mr.Hvorostovsky can be proud of. The second half featured Medtner's expressive songs (three of them are on the Pushkin CD) and the evening closed with five songs by Rachmaninoff.

The only negative thing I can say is a marginal detail: in the second half of the recital Mr. Hvorostovsky, to my ears, overdid a couple of fortissimi a bit. It was awkward that there was just one encore, yet another art song. One would have thought that such an appreciative audience deserves better, but maybe Mr. Hvorostovsky was tired because of the cold.

Overall however, it was a very strong experience for both those who are familiar with this repertory and those who are not. Hvorostovsky's artistry almost hypnotized the audience. Even knowing these songs almost by heart from CDs, I often found myself completely lost within them, staring jaw-dropped at the singer. One couldn't not smile when he was singing the light Pimpinella or the Serenade Oh, Child. He naturally worked with the people, it almost seemed that he was singing the amorous parts to each woman in the audience. In dramatic or melancholic passages, 100% concentration could be seen in his face. All people I talked to agreed that they could be listening to this till the dawn. Mr. Ilja provided an ideal support. Not only is he an excellent pianist, but also is able to tune-in for the singer and co-ordinate with him - a quality that can't be taken for granted.

This is a playlist featuring the same Tchaikovsky songs at a different recital - this one took place at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and was aired in January 2010:



***EDIT***
Photos from the concert, by Alice Bochňáková after the jump