Gustav Kuhn

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Gustav Kuhn (2012)

Gustav Kuhn (born August 28, 1945 in Turrach , Styria ) is an Austrian conductor and director , as well as a composer , and works as a teacher and author. During his international conducting career, he founded the later “Accademia di Montegral” for young musicians and singers in 1987, was artistic director of the Tyrolean Festival Erl he founded for over 20 years and has been artistic director of the international singing competition “ New Voices ” since the competition was founded in 1987 Bertelsmann Foundation. Due to the allegations against Kuhn, he ended the collaboration in September 2018.

Life

Growing up in Salzburg, Kuhn received violin and piano lessons as a child and studied conducting at the music academies in Vienna and Salzburg with Gerhard Wimberger , Hans Swarowsky , Bruno Maderna and Herbert von Karajan . In 1970 he received the Lilli Lehmann Medal at the Mozarteum University . He was at the Salzburg University Dr. phil. PhD. At the age of 24, he won first prize at the ORF international conducting competition .

From 1970 to 1977 he was first choir director and conductor at the opera house in Istanbul, then first conductor at the opera house in Dortmund. During this time he made guest appearances in Palermo, Naples and Bologna, and subsequently in Rome, Florence, Venice and Zurich. He later conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Israel Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, the Orchester National de France in Paris, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome as well as the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo and the Vienna Philharmonic. In 1974 he founded the Institute for Aleatoric Music in Salzburg. In 1977 he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera with Elektra by Richard Strauss, in 1978 at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Salzburg Festival . In the following season he conducted for the first time at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London and in 1979 became general music director in Bern. In 1980 he conducted the opening performance in Glyndebourne . In 1981 she made her debut in the United States ( Fidelio in Chicago), in 1982 at the Opéra in Paris ( Così fan tutte ), in 1984 at La Scala in Milan ( Tannhäuser ) and in 1986 at the Verona Arena ( Un ballo in maschera ).

From 1983 to 1985 Kuhn was General Music Director of the Bonn Opera. In 1985 there was a break with his teacher Herbert von Karajan. In the same year Kuhn slapped the general manager of the stages of the city of Bonn, Jean-Claude Riber , which caused a sensation and earned him the nickname "Watsch'n-Gustl" in the local press.

In 1986 Gustav Kuhn made his debut as an opera director (set and costume design by Peter Papst) with the Flying Dutchman in Trieste, and he developed the concept of the “hall-opera” in 1993 for the Suntory Hall. At the Salzburg Festival he conducted until 1997 (1989 Ballo in maschera ; 1992, 1994 and 1997 La clemenza di Tito ).

In 1986 he was appointed chief conductor of the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome and later artistic director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. From 1990 to 1994 he was the director of the festival in the Sferisterio of Macerata.

From 1987 to September 2018, Gustav Kuhn was artistic director of the international singing competition New Voices of the Bertelsmann Foundation in Gütersloh. In 1987 he founded an academy for young singers ("Accademia di Montegridolfo") in the Romagna town of Montegridolfo , not far from Pesaro , where he often conducted the Rossini Festival , which he renamed in 1992 to "Accademia di Montegral". The seat of the academy has been the Convento dell'Angelo in Lucca ( Tuscany ) since 2000 . In 1997 Kuhn founded the Tyrolean Festival Erl . After several years of working on Wagner's Ring , the Tyrolean Festival Erl went on tour with this production for the first time (Santander) in 2005 and produced the now legendary 24-hour ring. In the same year, the building contractor Hans Peter Haselsteiner took over the presidency of the Tyrolean Festival Erl. As a sponsor, he enabled the construction of a new festival hall. Up until the summer of 2012, Gustav Kuhn had conducted and directed ten major Wagner operas in the Erler Passionsspielhaus. The opening of the Festspielhaus took place on December 26th of the same year.

Gustav Kuhn was artistic director of the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento from January 2003 to December 2012 . In 2010, at the suggestion of Governor Durnwalder, he launched the South Tyrol Festival (Toblach / Dobbiaco), which he also directed until 2012.

His compositions include orchestral works, masses and solo pieces, and his instrumentation of Janáček's Diary of a Missing Man at the Opéra National de Paris (published by Edition Peters) was successful . Since 2007 he has been a regular guest again with the concert series “Delirium” in his hometown Salzburg.

Kuhn has released recordings for the record companies col legno (of which he has been artistic director together with Andreas Schett since 2006), Sony / BMG, EMI, CBS, Capriccio, Supraphon, Orfeo, Koch / Schwann, Coreolan, ARTE NOVA. His book Out of Love for Music was published in 2000 by Henschel Verlag, Berlin.

children

With his wife Andrea he had a son and a daughter (* 1972, * 1980). A daughter comes from a second relationship. Two more daughters emerged from the relationship with the soprano Nadja Michael .

accusations

In 2018, Tyrolean journalist Markus Wilhelm denounced Kuhn's “poor working conditions and authoritarian behavior” in Erl and raised allegations of plagiarism in connection with his doctoral thesis. Both Kuhn and Haselsteiner defended themselves with a series of civil suits.

The plagiarism allegations led to an examination procedure by a "Commission for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice" at the University of Salzburg, which had accepted the dissertation. The commission found that Kuhn's doctoral thesis had "plagiarized text passages in addition to technical errors". Such had already been established in 1969 in two dissertation reports. However, it is not enough for the academic title to be withdrawn, because “the plagiarized text passages are in a part of the work that, as evidenced by the structure of the work, is representative. Kuhn does not in any way and at any point attempt to pretend these passages as his own statements ”, it said in the explanation. Rather, Kuhn reported unmistakably strange thoughts. "The fact that their origin has not been carefully proven in some cases represents a technical defect, but neither in itself nor in context allows the determination of deliberate deception." The plagiarism researcher Stefan Weber strongly contradicted this report.

In July 2018, five musicians complained of sexual assault by Kuhn in an open letter. The attacks are said to have occurred between 1998 and 2017, when the musicians were employed at the Tyrolean Festival Erl. After the end of the 2018 summer program, on July 31, 2018, Kuhn suspended his role as artistic director of the festival with immediate effect until the allegations were fully resolved. In September 2018, he was also on leave as a conductor in Erl, shortly before eight (male) artists and former employees supported the authors of the open letter in a declaration of solidarity on September 29. At the same time, a detailed report appeared in the Austrian news magazine Profil, which substantiated the allegations and provided further details on the cause under the title "Comprehensive allegations against Erl-Intendant Kuhn". An interview with Kuhn, in which he was confronted with the allegations again, took place on October 22, 2018 on the program ZIB 2 .

On October 24, 2018, it was announced that Kuhn was resigning from all of its functions with immediate effect.

In March 2020, the preliminary investigation against Kuhn was closed.

Accademia di Montegral

Founded in 1987 as "Accademia di Montegridolfo" for the purpose of training and promoting young artists and renamed "Accademia di Montegral" in 1992 (see #Life), the Academy has been based in the Convento dell'Angelo in Lucca ( Tuscany ) since 2000 . In addition to offering workshops and preparing artistic projects, it aims to provide a comprehensive musical and cultural education. Since its opening, musical masses and concerts have been held regularly in the church of the convent.

Tyrolean Festival Erl

In 1997 Gustav Kuhn founded the Tyrolean Festival Erl , which began in 1998 with the performance of Rheingold . Since then, the stage of the Passion Play House built by Robert Schuller in 1959 has been used every year. From 1998 to 2006 Gustav Kuhn staged and conducted Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen , Tristan and Isolde , Parsifal and Strauss' Elektra there . After the internationally acclaimed 24-hour ring in 2005, Kuhn presented a seven-day Wagner marathon to mark the tenth anniversary of the Tyrolean Festival in 2007. In 2009 Beethoven's Fidelio , Elektra and Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg were performed, followed by The Flying Dutchman and The Magic Flute in 2010, Tannhäuser in 2011 and Lohengrin in 2012 . A new festival hall was built as a second stage for the Tyrolean Festival 2010–2012. With Puccini's Tosca , an Italian opera was performed for the first time at the Tyrolean Festival Erl in summer 2012.

In 2012, at the opening of the Festspielhaus, Jacques Offenbach's Bluebeard and Mozart's Nozze di Figaro were played , and in 2013 Puccini's Tosca and Mozart's Don Giovanni ; for the 2014 winter season Fidelio , Mozart's Così fan tutte and a low-budget production The Seven Deadly Sins . Since the Passionsspielhaus was not available in the summer of 2013, a “Verdi Summer” with Rigoletto , La traviata and Il trovatore was performed in the Festspielhaus . In autumn 2014 there was the world premiere of the opera El Juez by Christian Kolonovits , written for the comeback of José Carreras .

In October 2018 Bernd Loebe was presented as the successor to Gustav Kuhn, he took over the management on September 1, 2019 alongside the artistic director of the Frankfurt Opera.

Honor

Gustav Kuhn received the Tyrolean Eagle Order in 1999 , "an award from the state government for non-Tyroleans whose relationship with the state of Tyrol is of particular political, economic or cultural importance".

On January 9th, 2020, State Councilor for Culture Beate Palfrader (ÖVP) made it clear that "with what we know today, an award of an order would not have been an option for her." (Wording according to ORF)

In the days before, the green club chairman Gebi Mair had urged within the coalition for a revocation procedure.

On January 10, 2020, Kuhn informed the state government by letter that he would like to return this medal.

Web links

Commons : Gustav Kuhn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Singing competition without Gustav Kuhn . In: New Westphalian . Culture ( nw.de [accessed September 29, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Lehmann Prize Winner. (PDF) accessed on June 5, 2014
  3. ↑ The Erlkönig . In: Die Zeit , No. 52/2012
  4. ↑ "Many opera houses only do vocal porn" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 19 , 1985 ( online ).
  5. ↑ HeToo: The unbelievable conditions at the Tyrolean Festival Erl dietiwag.at, February 13, 2018.
  6. ↑ The "Kuhn System". Allegations against the director of the Erl Festival . Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 19, 2018.
  7. ↑ 1969 Gustav Kuhn wrote his dissertation. Ab. Over long distances. dietiwag.at, March 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ University of Salzburg exonerates Gustav Kuhn: Dissertation was not plagiarism . In: Salzburger Nachrichten . ( sn.at [accessed on September 10, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Alexandra Bader: Critique of Haselsteiner: David against Goliath. Retrieved September 16, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Musicians accuse festival directors of attacks , deutschlandfunkkultur.de, published and accessed on July 25, 2018.
  11. ↑ Gustav Kuhn puts function inactive , tirol.orf.at, published and accessed on July 31, 2018.
  12. ↑ Gustav Kuhn also on leave as conductor of the Erl Festival. In: Salzburger Nachrichten , September 21, 2018.
  13. ↑ "This is where the Erl-King speaks" . In: profil.at . September 29, 2018 ( profil.at [accessed September 29, 2018]).
  14. ^ Ljubiša Tošić: Erl Festival: Gustav Kuhn in the monastery, Bernd Loebe follows him in Tyrol. In: derStandard.at. October 24, 2018, accessed October 24, 2018 .
  15. ↑ krone.at: Causa Erl: Gustav Kuhn does not become a defendant . Article dated March 13, 2020, accessed July 2, 2020.
  16. ↑ orf.at: Erl: Bernd Loebe will succeed Kuhn . Article dated October 24, 2018, accessed October 24, 2018.
  17. ↑ Culture: Kuhn returns the Eagle Order orf.at, January 10, 2020, accessed March 13, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Kuhn, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kuhn, Gustl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian conductor and director
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Turrach , Styria, Austria