Posts Tagged ‘Commentary’

Five More Years

Wednesday, February 21st, 2018

By ANDREW POWELL Published: February 21, 2018 MUNICH — Putting box-office steadiness ahead of artistic achievement, the city council here voted this morning to extend by five years Valery Gergiev’s contract as Chefdirigent of the civically run Munich Philharmonic, as requested by the orchestra’s managers. The move doubles the Russian’s tenure, to encompass the seasons […]

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Concert Hall Design Chosen

Friday, October 27th, 2017

By ANDREW POWELL Published: October 27, 2017 MUNICH — Though it will be built on the wrong side of the wrong train station, Munich’s much-debated, much-delayed new concert hall crept toward reality today with the announcement of a winning design. Bregenz-based Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architekten secured first place in the competition for the venue, now dubbed […]

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Magelone-Romanzen on Disc

Monday, October 16th, 2017

By ANDREW POWELL Published: October 16, 2017 MUNICH — Sony has released a remarkable recording of Brahms’s Magelone-Romanzen, Op. 33, complete with Zwischentexte prepared by German author Martin Walser. Christian Gerhaher sings the fifteen songs and recites two of the other three poems (the 1st, 16th and 17th) from Ludwig Tieck’s 1797 narrative not set […]

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Staatsoper Favors Local Fans

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017

By ANDREW POWELL Published: February 22, 2017 MUNICH — Bavarian State Opera had a delicate problem. It was selling too many tickets online, more with each passing season. Its system, powered by CTS Eventim, was so robust and so fast that little was left to sell via phone or in person minutes after the 10 […]

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Muti the Publisher

Saturday, October 29th, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: October 29, 2016 RAVENNA — Imprints, sub-brands, and discreet licensing entities were once a way for artists with bargaining power to secure fatter stakes in the published output of their work. Among conductors, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Nikolaus Harnoncourt enjoyed the privilege. Are such endeavors still viable, given social […]

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Concert Price Check

Saturday, September 3rd, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: September 3, 2016 MUNICH — Visiting orchestras cost more for concertgoers. But why exactly? Several factors govern ticket prices on tours, often mitigating each other, and all have a bearing this month as three orchestras from this city hit the road: — Bavarian State Orchestra (BStO) with Kirill Petrenko, general music […]

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Petrenko Hosts Petrenko

Friday, April 22nd, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: April 22, 2016 MUNICH — Vasily Petrenko’s debut at Bavarian State Opera this weekend prompts a glance at two Russian-born, modestly profiled conductors who have built distinct careers in Western Europe while sharing a last name. The guest from Liverpool will lead Boris Godunov, last revived two years ago by company […]

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Six Husbands in Tow

Sunday, March 13th, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: March 13, 2016 MUNICH — Some contracts come with strings attached, others with husbands. In a remarkable set of coincident artistic priorities for company boss Nikolaus Bachler — or a broad capitulation — Bavarian State Opera’s 2016–17 season, announced today, features no fewer than six divas in performance with their husbands. […]

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Mozartwoche: January’s Peace

Monday, February 15th, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: February 15, 2016 SALZBURG — There is a pleasure in arriving in Salzburg with snow on the ground. Or maybe the word is reassurance: the city will be real, not a theme park; the people mostly locals, despite the hollowing out of property ownership here; the profile quiet, even intimate, affording […]

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Poulenc Heirs v. Staatsoper

Thursday, January 7th, 2016

By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 7, 2016 MUNICH — Bavarian State Opera will defy the heirs of Francis Poulenc and proceed with revival performances of its literally explosive staging of Dialogues des Carmélites later this month, the company said today. The 2010 production by Dmitri Tcherniakov departs from the scheme of the composer and the […]

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