End of the Dominique Meyer era

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Morning journal | 27 06 2020
Kulturjournal | 26 06 2020 – An interview with Dominique Meyer

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Dominique Meyer’s contract as director of the Vienna State Opera ends on June 30. The Frenchman ran the Haus am Ring for ten years, led it to almost 100 percent occupancy, but had to accept the accusation that it had little courage to take risks. On March 1, Meyer took over La Scala in Milan and had to lead two major opera houses through the corona crisis. Since the beginning of June, concerts have been played on the state opera stage again – as a crowning conclusion next Saturday, a gala concert by the young ensemble.

This refers to all those singers Dominique Meyer brought to the Vienna State Opera. They will be accompanied by the State Opera Orchestra for the first time after the lockdown. It is a farewell evening: with Dominique Meyer, a larger part of the ensemble is leaving the house.

State Opera in “good condition”

“It is difficult to separate from these people,” Meyer admits – but at the same time he is pleased to “conduct” the Milan Scala from now on. This will also be reopened with a concert series in July. Meyer starts the new season with the performance of the Verdi Requiem in homage to the fatalities of the corona pandemic.

Meyer sees the near future at the Scala as well as at the Vienna State Opera anything but rosy: at both houses, foreign tourists make up almost a third of the audience, and they will stay away even further. The State Opera has lost 130,000 euros every day since the corona-related closure, says Meyer – but he will still be able to hand over the house to his successor in good condition.

“As the staff was on short-time work and we had less expenses, we will still end the year positively,” said Meyer. “We were doing very well before the crisis and already had 1.3 million euros more revenue than planned.”

“Utilization nerd”

This is also due to the high occupancy of the Vienna State Opera of more than 99 percent recently. Dominique Meyer was repeatedly accused of not taking any risks in favor of a full house – as was often the case with the choice of directors who were not lucky. His successor, Bogdan Roščić, unequivocally said, for example, when presenting the program for the coming season that an institution like the Vienna State Opera could never be uncomfortable as a “striving for capacity utilization”.

“I find that absurd,” replies Meyer. “I don’t want to be polemical either. I think you have to be happy when the house is full. It’s also a sign of quality.”

Internal quarrels, great moments

Otherwise you would assume the audience had no idea, argues Meyer. There were also artistic differences internally: in 2014, General Music Director Franz Welser-Möst resigned. On the other hand, there were also great moments in the Meyer era, such as “Anna Bolena” with Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca or Thomas Ades’ contemporary work “The Tempest”. Late, but nonetheless, Dominique Meyer initiated a series of premieres, brought the baroque opera genre back to Haus am Ring and established a free streaming service that was used by over three million people during the lockdown. “I don’t understand why you don’t do this radically everywhere,” says Meyer.

And so the last performance, the gala concert on Saturday, can be experienced via live stream.

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Vienna State Opera – I had the honour …
Teatro alla Scala

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Overview

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