Shock in the Bavarian State Opera: On the death of conductor Stefan Soltesz

Created: 07/23/2022, 10:50 am

By: Markus Thiel

Stefan Soltesz should have conducted Richard Strauss's "The Silent Woman" in Munich.

Two minutes before the end of the first act, the tragedy happened.

© davo-Wolfgang Ebener/dpa

The tragedy happened in the middle of the Munich Festival performance of the “Silent Woman”: Conductor Stefan Soltesz collapsed and died a little later at the age of 73.

The first act of the "Silent Woman" might have lasted two minutes last Friday, when the musicians noticed the conductor's insecurity.

Only moments later the shock: Stefan Soltesz sags to the right, falls unchecked from the podium and remains lying between the viola stands and the wall of the orchestra pit.

"Definitely not a fainting spell," as a member of the Bavarian State Orchestra put it the morning after.

It was clear to everyone: It was worse.

After the theater doctor provided first aid and the audience was sent to the foyers of the Bavarian State Opera, an attempt was made to revive Soltesz for half an hour, as those involved reported unanimously.

The 73-year-old was then taken to the clinic by ambulance, where he died shortly afterwards.

Soltesz was considered a skilled stylist and outstanding craftsman

The news of Soltesz' death spread rapidly on Friday evening and made the opera world hold its breath.

"We are losing a gifted conductor," tweeted Serge Dorny, artistic director of the Bavarian State Opera.

"I'm losing a good friend.

My thoughts are with his wife Michaela.” Actually, Soltesz's conducting should have been a highlight of the Richard Strauss series at the Munich Opera Festival.

"The Silent Woman", not necessarily a repertoire piece, plus a tricky score - the perfect opera literature for Soltesz, who was considered an all-rounder in the scene, a musician, a skilled stylist and an outstanding craftsman.

Soltesz was born in Hungary in 1949 and moved with his family to Vienna, where he became a member of the Boys' Choir and later also studied.

And this with Hans Swarowsky, one of the most legendary conducting teachers of the 20th century.

With someone who made it clear to his students that it is not the ego and some kind of interpretation, but only analysis and craftsmanship that are decisive for the success of an evening.

Soltesz then embarked on the classic conductor's career, found himself in a ditch in Vienna and Graz, and also assisted Karl Böhm and Herbert von Karajan.

The highlight of his career was the time at the Aalto Theater in Essen.

From 1997 to 2013 he was not only chief conductor there, but also - rather unusual for a representative of his guild - also artistic director.

Thanks to Soltesz, the house became an excellently functioning, broad-based repertoire company that also attracted singing and directing stars.

And precisely because this Pultmann was at home with so many composers and in so many styles, the big houses brought him in for guest conducting.

Soltesz's conversational tone, direct, blunt and sometimes gruff, may have been very old school.

Whoever accepted that, who knew how to take it,

but he experienced incomparable opera evenings both as a performer and as a listener.

Only one rehearsal like now with the "Silent Woman" in Munich had to and could therefore be enough for Soltesz.

The death of Soltesz continues an unfortunate Munich series

His death continues an unfortunate series.

On June 21, 1911, the conductor Felix Mottl collapsed in the Munich Court Opera during a performance of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.

On July 20, 1968, Joseph Keilberth died in the same play at the Nationaltheater.

Giuseppe Patané died there on May 30, 1989, shortly after the beginning of Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

And the same fate as Soltesz befell Giuseppe Sinopoli on April 20, 2001 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, when he collapsed during Verdi's “Aida” and died a little later in the hospital.

"A big shock for everyone involved," wrote a singer on Facebook the day after Soltesz's death.

"But I think he might even have wished for it, albeit much later.

Rest in peace."