German maestro to take baton from Barenboim at Berlin opera

BERLIN

Berlin said on Sept. 27 German maestro Christian Thielemann would succeed world-renowned conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim as general musical director of its State Opera following his resignation due to ill health.

Argentina-born Barenboim, 80, announced in January that he was stepping down after three decades at the fabled institution, one of Europe's most prestigious classical music venues, following a diagnosis with a "serious neurological condition."

Berlin's top culture official Joe Chialo said Thielemann, who has frequently stepped in to conduct the opera's Staatskapelle house orchestra, would succeed Barenboim from September 2024.

Chialo told reporters the choice of Thielemann was the "wish of the orchestra," calling him the "perfect successor" to Barenboim representing "the highest musical excellence."

Thielemann, 64, said he would respect the "canon" of musical greats in his initial five-year term while taking a page from cities like New York in offering cheaper, shorter matinee performances to lure younger audiences. But he said the operas themselves were more relevant than ever.

"The issues they deal with are the issues of life," he said, including family dramas and the #MeToo movement against sexual violence. "But it's up to us to sell it to people."

Asked whether his style would differ from the notoriously hard-charging Barenboim, Thielemann described himself as "someone who likes to listen."

Thielemann, a Berlin native and one of the classical musical world's most in-demand stars, is known for his passion for the music of Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss and, in particular, Richard Wagner.

His production last year of Wagner's "Ring" cycle at the Staatsoper "was unanimously described as phenomenal," the daily Berliner Zeitung said.

His outings at the venerable Bayreuth Festival of Wagner operas have also been well received.

Thielemann is still under contract as chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden until next year and is seen as having elevated it to one of the top orchestras in the German-speaking world.

He previously served as general music director of Berlin's Deutsche Oper but resigned in 2004 over a funding dispute with the city.