Joker in the personnel deck

Sufi in Salzburg

Alexander Pereira, the quartermaster of the Salzburg festival, purposefully makes his way through the rows of chairs, densely staring the naves of Kollegienkirche , not forgetting to vigilantly look around: is everything ready? A podium and microphones are already installed under the dome in the center for the performance of Sufi musicians: a translucent canopy is suspended above them, which reflects a tightly sitting, elbow to the elbow, a circle of musicians. The messengers of the distant and mysterious Arab world were called up by cross in the heart of Europe in order to demonstrate the tolerance and openness of the most famous music festival, which started last Friday (it will last until August 31). It is these four concerts of the Al - Tariqa ensemble Al - Gazoulia (22 musicians in white robes) became the main feature of the first concert week and the subject of special pride in the intensive care unit: in all the interviews given before the opening, he invariably rested on how important it is to get acquainted with other cultures, keep the mind and ears open and exercise in tolerance.

Concerts of traditional music-know-how of Pereira; He began to include World -samples in the poster From last year, Music , having inscribed them in the cycle “Spiritual Enterprises”, preceding the main program. Needless to say, the actual trend: no self -respecting major cultural forum is costly without music of oral professional tradition.

Last year, this repertoire niche was filled with Japanese musicians: the music of Shinto Church, the court music of Gagaku. And everything also happened in Kollegienkirche : the Catholic temple was quite ready to accept alien cultures, beliefs and unusual sounds. The space is quite suitable - the circular review is provided.

As for ancient philosophy, the Sufis themselves are convinced that all world religions grew out of a single root (for which they were persecuted by fundamentalist Islam); The universe is integral, humanity is inseparable, everything is interconnected with everything. This was the main message of the concert - rather reminiscent of an esoteric ritual.

The singing of hymns, interspersed with solo numbers and instrumental wagers, lasted exactly two hours without a break. The musicians have achieved the desired: they introduced everyone into a trance. Sufi themselves lead to an altered state of consciousness through special techniques of rhythmized breathing.

Such aesthetic excursions for the Salzburg festival are not uncommon. However, Pereyra managed to successfully solder the ritual music of other cultures into purely European baroque discourse. Cantats and Passions of Bach, the oratorio of Handel and Haydn, Mozart's masses compiled the content of the first week of the festival program. Perhaps, thanks to this innovation, Pereir will be remembered in Salzburg from the positive side.

Goodbye, Salzburg, - Hello, Milan?

This season in Salzburg for Pereira is a farewell. Already in September 2015, Erich-Swen Bekhtolf, an actor and director, who until now oversaw the drama part of the program, will become the “locomotive” of the intensive career. The next two years, Bekhtolf and the President of the Festival, the permanent Helga Rabe-Stadler, the contract with which is unanimously extended by the trustees until 2017, will be controlled by the festival together.

In 2015, the festival will return to the previous format: it will last four weeks - and no “spiritual overtures”. And since 2017, the festival will be headed by all musicians, Marcus Kh Intchoizer, an Austrian pianist and, in general opinion, a brilliant program director.

Kha Interchoiser left Salzburg in 2012, publicly expressing disagreement with the artistic policy of Pereweira. Under Jorgen Flimme, the previous quarterly, the Kh Interchoyser very successfully oversaw the musical part: he invented the cycles of the Continents concerts dedicated to large composer figures of the XX and XXI centuries, attracted new interesting performers, previously not glowing in Salzburg. And after Flimm left Salzburg (traditionally without getting along with the Board of Trustees of the festival) and moved to the Berlin Statatsoper, the Kh Interchoyser actually formed the entire program of Salzburg. Now he has a triumphal return - as they say, “with a shield”: everyone is looking forward to him.

Creative managers of this level do not lie on the road; After leaving Salzburg, Marcus almost immediately found his use. Until 2017, he heads the largest (after Salzburg) Wiener art festival Festwochen . And he cannot terminate the contract ahead of schedule: this position is also considered very status and prestigious. So the Salzburg festival seems to be two years of timeless. You should not expect that Bekhtolf, a theater man, will be so concerned about maintaining the musical quality of concert programs.

I must say, building acceptable working relations with the trusteeship of the Salzburg festival is a stumbling block for so many quartermasters. In Salzburg, even Gerara Mordier “ate”-for almost ten years he formed the Fest program, but did not sit until the end of the second five-year period of some six months and left with the scandal after the noisy scandal of the performance of Neoenfels “The Bat”.

Therefore, many quartermasters begin to look for themselves a “quiet harbor” almost immediately after taking office, because to sit in the chair of the quartermaster with the almost unlimited power of the Board of Trustees is not an easy task. Only Karayan at one time allowed himself to rule in Salzburg undividedly; But after his death, the charter was revised.

Pereira was no exception. Having a reputation as a clever and reserved businessman from art, known for his ability to extract and “knock out” money, he managed to enter into a conflict with the trustees even before the official entry off. The stormy, passionate, but brief love of Pereira for the Salzburg festival was overshadowed by quarrels even before the official “marriage”, and, as usual, finances became the reason for the quarrels: the groom demanded money, and the bride’s parents - the Board of Trustees - cut the dowry. Pereweir managed to achieve a certain increase in financing; But only after the announced departure of Pereyra, the trustees, as if in peak, “put” the festival budget for 2015 two and a half million euros. Pereira in revenge hinted that the sponsors of the Salzburg festival would leave with his departure: “I can’t force anyone to remain sponsors of the festival - especially if they are my friends and supporters. Many sponsors are connected with me. "

Naturally, Pereira began to look around in search of a more reliable refuge: in this sense, the proposal from Milan must have seemed to him semolina, familiar from above. Moreover, his young partner, Daniela de Souza, moved to Milan in order to study fashion. And, as Pereira said, “Ironically received an engagement in LA Scala ". He was only glad to follow her. And even agreed to a significant reduction in the fee; However, he hoped to combine his activities in Salzburg and Milan and receive two salaries.

Creative managers of this level do not lie on the road.

It did not work out; More precisely, Pereyra did not allow this to do this. The public of Salzburg (and all of Austria) was extremely outraged. The burgomaster of Salzburg Hinz Shaden, in particular, said: “I completely exclude the possibility of parallel leadership in Milan and Salzburg, the Salzburg festival is not some“ additional ”festival.

As a result, the decision of Pereweira go to LA Scala , becoming the successor of Stefan Lissner (who, in turn, moved to Opera de Paris ), literally shook the foundations of the world order in the musical world. And gave rise to a real personnel collapse; All planning flew to hell, followed by the Czech of early termination of contracts, in general, the situation lost stability.

And, by the way, this appointment entailed after him the early care of Daniel Barenboym from the post of the main conductor LA Scala . He terminated the contract, which was concluded until mid -2016. His successor has already been announced: Ricardo Shayi, who led the Leipzig Gevandhaus for almost ten years, and before that, the Amsterdam concertgebau. However, Pereyra has his own “deck” of conductors in the sleeve, with whom he successfully collaborated in the Zurich opera: from his near circle - Ingo Metzmakher and Nikolaus Arnonkur.

However, Pereira himself in Milan, as it recently turned out, will not be delayed. He managed to cause a scandal there with his actions: even before the official entry off the post, he managed to sell La theater to sell Scala at a similar price three performances of the Salzburg festival of 2013. So he tried to patch the financial holes of the budget of Salzburg, which in 2013 turned out to be scarce. The mayor of Milan was indignant, the trustees of the theater considered this a dubious transaction and abuse of authority. They were especially indignant at the fact that Pereira resigned this financial operation, without even taking office officially. Some talked about a conflict of interests. As a result, the contract was hastily reduced to a year and a half: it turns out that Pereira will bail the theater only one season, until the end of 2015. And it will remain, like an old woman from a fairy tale, a broken trough: the limit of patience in a goldfish has dried up. However, Pereira does not lose optimism; He hopes for a revision of the contract with LA Scala or its renewal after one and a half years.

Musical Europe storms

Here it is worth making some digression: Europe has been shaking the musical Europe in generally shutting out personnel storms. Screaming, unexpected purposes ... One progress in the personnel pyramid inevitably entails another. And this is understandable.

It is no secret that Europe is experiencing the most severe personnel hunger for senior art managers, capable of managing large festivals and opera houses. All players in this field will be subject to the set of key figures is limited, so that musical institutions are simply doomed to harsh the same personnel “deck” for decades. And if one of the figures begins to behave like a Joker - unpredictably and outside the rules, then the whole structure is sprinkled, like a card house. That is how Pereira behaved.

A fresh example: after the death of the wonderful leader Zemperoper Ulriki Hessler, the Belgian Serge Dorni was invited to her place, who proved himself to work in the Lyon Opera, was from relatively young and early and - importantly - gravitated to the actual theater and modern authors. That is, it turned out to be the exact opposite of the imperious, but rather conservative in tastes Christian Tilemann, the chief conductor of the Saxon Staatskapella, who is both an opera orchestra.

Dorni, as many people note, was distinguished by the categorical of judgments and an amazing lack of tact. This quality of character has become fatal. The conflict of the new -naked quartermaster of Zemperoper with Tileman about what is “who is the main” - that is, who determines the repertoire policy of the theater, the composition of the performers, decides which operas to put and when - became the reason for the rapid departure of Dorni several months ago: he did not serve in the theater and years. The place is still vacant; The duties of the quartermaster of Zemperper are performed by the technical director.

So in the field of European art management you walk all the time like thin ice. Any scandal on financial or artistic soil, any dubious action or decrease in the quality of execution entail reputation losses. They are followed by a decrease in financing and the departure of sponsors. One wrong movement - and you are already "in the stalls."