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Opera director Nikolaus Bachler criticizes Bavarian corona rules: "Everything is purely symbolic politics"

2020-10-27T16:14:47.139Z


A few days ago he and his colleagues sent an open letter to Prime Minister Markus Söder. It was useless: Only 50 visitors are allowed into the Bavarian State Opera with its 2100 seats and the tried and tested hygiene concept. Artistic director Nikolaus Bachler reacts to this with incomprehension.


A few days ago he and his colleagues sent an open letter to Prime Minister Markus Söder.

It was useless: Only 50 visitors are allowed into the Bavarian State Opera with its 2100 seats and the tried and tested hygiene concept.

Artistic director Nikolaus Bachler reacts to this with incomprehension.

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Is the premiere of Braunfels' "The Birds" on Saturday safe?

Gustaf Gründgens said in the thirties that everything is only safe if Marianne Hoppe comes in the door and wears a blue dress.

So nothing is certain, especially in these times.

I assume that the premiere will take place, regardless of whether in front of 50 or 500 spectators.

There will definitely be a live stream as well.

What reaction was there from the state government to your open letter?

No.

Did you expect that?

I have been fighting since March to ensure that the opera stays alive and that the cultural situation here does not become completely deserted.

It is known which concepts we have presented and how we have adapted to the measures.

And the ground is being withdrawn from us more and more.

Quite apart from the virus and health considerations, when we are dealing with regulations, they have to be proportionate and understandable.

But they are no longer at all.

No scientist and certainly no politician can explain to me why churches, shops or public transport are kept open and cultural institutions are practically closed.

This is pure symbolic politics.

And this not only leads to a hazard, but also to the destruction of a system.

We talk continuously and rightly about the catastrophic situation of the artists.

We're not talking about the audience at all.

After all, it is our mission that in a society in which culture is seen as essential to life, we also preserve it for the public.

We have just started our November pre-sale and I can see how much people miss the shows, so they need them.

Only clinics are safer than theaters.

And our audience is the most disciplined and conscious of all.

Only 50 visitors: What does such a regulation express?

One wants to demonstrate harshness where one believes that one has to fear the least political consequences.

Do you still feel that you are being taken seriously if you do not get any reactions to such an open letter?

The most natural thing would be to talk to us about such measures.

We have eight months of experience with this situation.

We don't do anything other than deal with it every day.

The doctors and virologists with whom we deal with our pilot project, however, are extremely cooperative.

In the meantime we have become experts ourselves.

Why is something possible in Austria that is forbidden in Bavaria?

In Austria, culture has a different focus.

In Austria the infection situation is even worse compared to Germany.

I was at a Vienna premiere on Sunday, and despite the reduced number of viewers, you have the feeling of a somewhat different, but basically normal, cultural situation.

Or when I look around at my colleagues in other countries: Madrid is playing, Paris is playing ... Politicians everywhere are very interested in art and identify with it.

Actually, I always thought that Munich also defined itself through the very high value placed on culture.

Even if you think economically, it contributes to the attractiveness of a city and its quality of life.

That doesn't just include sport.

Some people in charge of culture say that maybe one should have drummed earlier and louder.

Are you putting the shoe on?

In March, I was the only one who screamed and drummed.

The pilot test with 500 spectators was thanks to our fight.

And one has the feeling that politicians do not even notice this or see it as the basis for a different assessment of the situation.

I emphasize this again and again, even if I was often accused of complaining all the time.

Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier fears 20,000 new infections per day at the end of the week.

Has anything changed in your basic attitude since the numbers skyrocketed?

No.

Because I took everything seriously from the start.

But I believe, and the experts confirm that, that the current infection situation is a mixture of the time of year and the tiredness of people who no longer want their lives to be restricted.

There are also cross-border factors such as travel.

We now have to really live with this situation and not hibernate like an animal.

Because it could be that nobody presses the light switch anymore.

How it will go on is very much up to us.

The labors of the plain will come.

How long can the Bavarian State Opera afford such throttled operations - artistically and financially?

From an artistic point of view, this is already more than doubtful and difficult.

I never tire of saying: Maybe you can broadcast football on television - but theater only takes place with and in front of people.

It is not for nothing that the ancient Greeks used the term theatron to refer to the audience area.

As with Lufthansa and all other companies, the financial question is directed at the state.

This support is all well and good.

But everyone is in shock now.

A house like ours is particularly bad off because the proportion of personal income in the budget, which is falling away more and more, is so large.

When reading books and going to the theater is out of the way of life and people's minds, we have a long, arduous way ahead of us.

You can already see this in the fact that some theaters do not sell their limited ticket quotas.

There is not only physical but also psychological damage to humans in this pandemic.

In principle, I also think that it is not possible to play off freedom and security against each other.

Both are closely related.

You can't just give up freedoms and justify this with health.

Are we still learning something from the Corona period?

It is inherent in people that they learn from the crisis, remain creative and flexible - we've been doing that at the State Opera since spring.

But you can't plan anything, you act and react all the time.

One thing irritates me a lot: When you consider how important art was in the 1920s or World War II, how long the theaters played - and now culture is almost wiped out for some symbolic reason.

In the case of theaters and concert halls it cannot be medical.

We have proven that.

The interview was conducted by Markus Thiel.

Source: merkur

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