Kirill Petrenko, Christian Thielemann and Joanna Mallwitz have put their signatures to an appeal to the senate, calling on it to reverse planned budget cuts.
Statements below:
Joana Mallwitz, chief conductor and artistic director of the Konzerthausorchester: “We should all realise by now that we need to strengthen the core of our society and its cohesion, and that we need to give our cultural identity a positive image. So our aim must be to make it even easier to have access to music and culture. The damage that would be caused by cuts to the cultural budget would be immense and would not only severely affect us as a cultural organisation, but also jeopardise the cohesion of our society as a whole.”
Kirill Petrenko, chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker: “If we want to maintain Berlin’s extremely important cultural diversity and continue to attract the best in their field from all disciplines, we must not tamper with the financial foundations of our institutiuons, let alone call their very existence into question.”
Christian Thielemann, general music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden: “Berlin’s classical music scene is unrivalled, and has a worldwide reputation. In addition to concerts in the city, we all contribute to making Berlin synonymous with cultural excellence through our tours and media broadcasts. Do the politicians really want to allow such a devastating message to be sent out from Berlin to the rest of the country?”
Joint statement by the artistic directors and general managers: “Culture is the heart of Berlin – it attracts people from all over the world, is an important economic factor, creates jobs and makes our city worth living in. Our city’s cultural institutions are not only places of art with international appeal, but are also urgently needed to maintain Berlin’s reputation as a location for business. One thing is clear: cuts in the cultural sector would massively damage the city of Berlin in the long term.”
Philip Bröking, artistic director and opera director, Komische Oper Berlin
Susanne Moser, artistic director and managing director, Komische Oper Berlin
Sebastian Nordmann, director of the Konzerthaus Berlin
Anselm Rose, managing director of ROC Berlin – Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH
Dietmar Schwarz, general manager, Deutsche Oper Berlin
Elisabeth Sobotka, artistic director, Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Christian Spuck, artistic director, Staatsballett Berlin
Georg Vierthaler, general director, Stiftung Oper in Berlin
Andrea Zietzschmann, general manager, Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation
The post Berlin conductors unite against budget cuts appeared first on Slippedisc.
