Salzburg director Hinterhäuser: “We are alive! And we have to live too!”
So Currentzis is not Karl Böhm, who paid homage to the Führer and became general music director at the Semperoper in Dresden, then at the Vienna State Opera?
And even after the war, a war that everyone appreciates … To stay in the present: Currentzis is definitely not a Gergiev. And Valery Gergiev was being courted everywhere up until February – despite his well-known closeness to Putin. Also from those who are now demonizing him.
Many Western cultural institutions, like the festival, have entered into cooperation with Russia over the past decade. Greed for money?
There was, also as a result of glasnost and perestroika, a consensus that one can work with Russia on a political, economic, sporting and cultural level. Everyone did it! Also in the assessment that ideological differences can be neutralized by increasingly intertwining economic, social and cultural parameters. So that you can find some kind of coexistence. That’s also the nature of globalization, that everything is becoming ever more closely intertwined.
So there were no reservations about founding the Russian Circle of Friends?
The board of directors saw no problem with it. We have around 6,000 members in groups of friends around the world – in Germany, Switzerland, the USA and, of course, also in Austria. And the Russian Friends Association does not even have 20 members. As far as I can tell, these are enthusiastic music lovers. Yes, they can afford to come to Salzburg. But it’s not my job to scan and suspect all visitors with a Russian passport.
Didn’t the deal with Gazprom already have an aftertaste when it was announced?
On the occasion of the Sochi Dialogue 2019, Gazprom and OMV agreed to support “Boris Godunov” in 2020 with 200,000 euros each. Due to Corona, this production did not take place, we paid the money back. It is not the first time that I say that this approach had more than a false connotation, that it was actually a mistake. The festival has risen, but no more depraved than all the others that have cooperated with OMV and/or Gazprom. The close cooperation between OMV and Gazprom was well known. And it’s also no secret that Rainer Seele, the then OMV boss, received the Order of Friendship from Putin in 2018. One cannot blame the festival for all of this.
The dialogue was intended to strengthen bilateral relations – and Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen is said to have invited Putin to the festival.
In any case, the Salzburg Festival did not invite Putin. The invitation was issued at the highest political level.
And there’s also the money from the VAC Foundation, established by Leonid Viktorovich Michelson…
The VAC Foundation is not on the sanctions list. Michelson built a large cultural center in Moscow. It only works in cooperation with the international art and culture scene. It’s pretty much dead now. So if even Michelson couldn’t foresee it developing, how could we? Also, VAC’s sponsorship didn’t come through Michelson: Artistic Director, Teresa Iarocci Mavica, an Italian, is a great admirer of Castellucci. And so we received 400,000 euros each for his productions of “Salome” and “Don Giovanni”. There should also be this amount for “Bluebeard’s Castle” this year. Will it come to that? I dont know.
In addition to the three premieres, the opera program also includes “Aida” and “Magic Flute” – as cheap new productions.
The premieres in 2017 and 2018 did not deliver what we had hoped for. Now we’re not just giving the two productions a second chance: They’re really being changed. That also costs money.
Also no austerity program in the crisis?
Definitely not. It remains to be seen what consequences the horrible war WILL force us to take, and whether something like an austerity program is necessary. Of course I hope not.
Is it right to hold festivals while war is raging in Europe? Or are the festivals a happy distraction?
We will repeatedly address the situation in which the world finds itself – also as part of a top-class symposium. It WILL become obvious that we oppose this war. War is the negation of all politics, war is barbarism, war is primitiveness. And art opens up another space of thought. It’s worth getting into these!
But there are premiere celebrations and sponsor dinners…
Not having a premiere party would not change the situation. We live! And we must live too!