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By ANDREW POWELL MUNICH \u2014 Bavarian State Opera has confirmed by phone it will announce a contract extension for Kirill Petrenko<\/a> before the start of next season, in September. With the month of August being a house holiday, the news could come as early as next week when the company\u2019s annual Munich Opera Festival winds down.<\/p>\n Petrenko, 43, became Generalmusikdirektor<\/em> less than two years ago but has quickly earned respect with his musical dedication, technical gifts and impassioned manner. His present contract expires in August 2018.<\/p>\n Although talks to retain the Russian-Austrian\u2019s services longer into the future have been underway for some time, as company Intendant<\/em> Nikolaus Bachler<\/a> noted last month, the announcement will be coming at an awkward juncture given Petrenko\u2019s June 21 acceptance of a surprise invitation to serve as Chefdirigent<\/em> of the Berlin Philharmonic<\/a>, albeit with no firm start date.<\/p>\n His move from Carlos Kleiber\u2019s orchestra<\/a> to Herbert von Karajan\u2019s will likely mean a briefer extension than would otherwise have been the case and a phasing in of Berlin commitments that works around his long-range Munich opera plans. Hopes are dashed anyway of a full Petrenko \u201cera\u201d at Bavarian State Opera like that of Wolfgang Sawallisch<\/a>, who led the company for twenty-one years.<\/p>\n The new contract will have three parties: the conductor, who is currently preparing cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen<\/em> in Bayreuth; Bachler; and Ludwig Spaenle<\/a>, Bavaria\u2019s Kultusminister<\/em>.<\/p>\n A perfectionist if ever there was one, Petrenko operates with specific capacity. Strain takes its toll. In 2007 he suffered \u201cexhaustion,\u201d leading to cancellations. He pulled out of a 2011 Fidelio<\/em> in London due to back problems. Last December he was \u201cindisposed\u201d for his fourth planned Berlin Philharmonic program, and in March he cited strenuousness of assignment as a reason for withdrawing from the Bayreuth Festival in 2016 and 2017. He has just begun to relax in the saddle with the Bavarian State Orchestra<\/a>.<\/p>\n What separates him somewhat from his nominal peers is his not being good at everything<\/em>. Instead he brings ideas and expressive depth to scores he identifies with. Mussorgsky<\/a> and Strauss<\/a> and Berg<\/a> are strengths.<\/p>\n Petrenko debuted at Bavarian State Opera with Pikovaya dama<\/em> in October 2003. He returned five seasons later for a new Jen\u016ffa<\/em>, receiving personal acclaim. In July 2010 it was leaked that Kent Nagano<\/a>\u2019s contract as GMD would not be renewed, and immediately, before Nagano \u201cquit,\u201d Petrenko\u2019s and Fabio Luisi<\/a>\u2019s names were publicly mooted. Bachler\u2019s choice, Petrenko won out on Oct. 5, 2010 (to start Sept. 1, 2013). Luisi withdrew piecemeal from several later staged-opera commitments with the company.<\/p>\n As GMD, Petrenko has led premieres of Die Frau ohne Schatten<\/a><\/em>, La clemenza di Tito<\/em>, Die Soldaten<\/em>, Lucia di Lammermoor<\/em> and Lulu<\/a><\/em> as well as a revival of Wagner\u2019s Ring<\/em> in Andreas Kriegenburg\u2019s hopeless realization (Siegfried\u2019s encounter with Br\u00fcnnhilde reduced to bedroom farce).<\/p>\n Next season his commitments here include South Pole<\/em> (Miroslav Srnka), a new Die Meistersinger von N\u00fcrnberg<\/em> and, not least, Die Fledermaus<\/em>. The Bavarian State Orchestra\u2019s six yearly concert programs, or Akademiekonzerte<\/em>, will feature Petrenko in music of Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Elgar and Sibelius.<\/p>\n Photo \u00a9 Wilfried H\u00f6sl<\/p>\n Related posts:
Published: July 24, 2015<\/span><\/p>\n
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