Status: 27.10.2023, 16:00 PM
By: Markus Thiel
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This image may no longer be realistic: animation of the concert hall in Munich's Werksviertel. Now the project is to be "redimensioned" – and is now called "Concert Hall". © Cukrowicz/Nachbaur
The Konzerthaus is coming - that's what Bavaria's governing coalition has decided. But in a much slimmed-down form. But when? Cultural workers are skeptical.
Only hours after the coalition agreement became public, the internet was already joking. "Redimensioning", he suggests, is the non-word of the year, for example, someone posted on Facebook. As reported, Bavaria's new-old coalition of CSU and Free Voters describes that the planning for the concert hall in the Werksviertel is not only to be revised, but significantly slimmed down. After all, they are committed to the project – even if no one knows when and in what form it will be realized. Or maybe even fall off the long bench at some point.
Accordingly, the reactions. Anyone who listens to music circles hears skepticism. Which, as is typical Sir Simon Rattle, can also camouflage itself with euphoria. "The long-promised concert hall is alive!" announced the new chief conductor of the BR Symphony Orchestra, i.e. the future main user. "I am pleased with the new government's commitment to this great project." To add a but: "It is important that we now make rapid progress. You can and should think about everything, but there is one thing we should not lose that has been taken into account with so much care in planning for years: a vision for the future! A concert hall in the 21st century must be so much more than an auditorium: it must be a beacon for music that shines and inspires far and wide with its spatial and digital possibilities. A house for everyone and for generations to come."
The coalition agreement speaks of the "hall", no longer of the "house"
Not much was missing, and the concert hall would have been buried as part of the coalition negotiations. The Free Voters, it is heard, could well have imagined this. Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) also thought an end was possible. At the presentation of the treaty, he said of the passage that has now been adopted: "I would have expected a commitment before the negotiations to be difficult." But now the agreement states: "We stand by our responsibility to build a concert hall in the Werksviertel that does justice to the international significance of its orchestras."
The previous plans – a large hall with 1800 seats, a small hall with up to 600 seats, a multifunctional hall plus rooms for music education, experiments and recording studios – are likely to be obsolete for financial reasons. There are no official figures on how much this original program would have cost. Allegedly, they are already moving towards 1.3 billion euros. And an important detail: the coalition agreement only speaks of the "hall", no longer of the "house". This is not due to nonchalance in wording, but apparently on purpose.
Andreas Schessl, managing director of the private promoter Münchenmusik, takes a critical view of the coalition's agreement. "The key word of the passage about the concert hall seems to me to be 'redimensioning' – translated: the cost increases caused by the eternal procrastination are now to be at least partially compensated for by slimming down the project," he said when asked. From his point of view, this is "a big mistake" because a change in planning would again cost a lot of time. "However, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle and the music metropolis of Munich deserve a top-class concert hall as soon as possible in order to remain at the top of the world. This demand on the Konzerthaus is also of existential importance for us as a private, unsubsidized promoter."
Next, talk to the property owner
With their agreement, the CSU and the Free Voters are also bowing to reality. It is true that the public does not know what exactly is in the hereditary lease agreement between the Free State and property owner Werner Eckart. However, it is unanimously reported that there is explicit mention of the concert hall. This means that the Free State of Bavaria will not be able to get out of this number so easily, for example with an alternative use such as a museum. In addition, a ground rent of around 600,000 euros must be transferred annually to the Pfanni heir – a payment that is currently virtually ineffective without any construction activity. The next step would therefore be talks with Eckart about changing the planning of the concert hall.
As is well known, Söder had announced a "pause for thought" for the project some time ago. It now seems to be going into overtime. "If politics in Bavaria were Monopoly, we would now be back on the loose," criticizes Sanne Kurz, cultural policy spokeswoman for the Greens in the state parliament. "Unfortunately, we don't get any money on the lottery, but a lesson for Söder's pause for thought: the hereditary lease is linked to the consumer price index." Kurz also points to the sharp rise in construction costs. "And planning staff, who could have finished planning a long time ago, will continue to be paid. So procrastination and hesitation is expensive, and we all end up footing the bill."
In any case, for the previous and probably also the new Minister of the Arts, Markus Blume (CSU), it is clear that things cannot go on as before. He said he was pleased with the coalition's commitment to the concert hall in Munich's Werksviertel. But: "With regard to the foreseeable cost dimension, it is clear that it will have to be significantly slimmed down. We will discuss this with the parties involved."