Hans Widrich

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Hans Widrich (born February 3, 1936 in Haberberg , municipality of Griffen ) was press officer of the Salzburg Festival and active in Austrian cultural life for decades .

Career

Widrich comes from an old farming family in which both German and Slovenian have been spoken for generations. In 1948 he came to the Marianum Episcopal Boarding School in Tanzenberg , which was connected to a federal high school, where he graduated with distinction in 1956. 1956 to 1963 studied philosophy and theology in Klagenfurt and Graz , which he won in 1963 with the Dr. theol. completed. In 1961, while still a student, he was commissioned to set up the newly established Afro-Asian Institute in Graz, the new building of which was inaugurated in Leechgasse in 1964.

From 1965 to 1971 he was press officer of the Archdiocese of Salzburg and managing editor of the church newspaper Rupertusblatt , correspondent for Kathpress and member of the contact committee of the diocese to the political parties, 1971 to 1974 head of department for the weekly magazine of the Salzburger Nachrichten . From 1968 he worked part-time, from 1975 to 1996 full-time as press spokesman for the Salzburg Festival .

In 1963 he married the doctor Gerheid Kupelwieser . Children: 1964: Theresa (gynecologist), 1967: Virgil (film director), 1968: Mechtild (art historian).

Cultural policy

As an employee of the Salzburg Festival , Widrich was committed to its social and programmatic opening, in particular to sacred and contemporary music. In 1969 he became interested in ORF music director Otto Sertl in a permanent participation of the newly constituted ORF symphony orchestra at the festival. He especially promoted modern drama ( Thomas Bernhard , Rolf Hochhuth , Peter Handke ). In negotiations with Archbishop Rohracher in 1969 he managed to open the Collegiate Church for festival events. Finally, he prepared the festival to attract sponsors. In 1999 he was a member of the search committee for a festival director ( Peter Ruzicka ). From 1979 to 1987 Peter Handke was Widrich's immediate neighbor in the Kupelwieserschlössl. and wrote a significant part of his early work here ("The Repetition", "The Absence", "About the Villages") and numerous translations. Widrich and Handke, who had known each other since they were at boarding school, remained friends. When Handke moved from Salzburg in 1987, he left numerous photographs and personal belongings to Widrich. In the period that followed, Widrich built up an extensive Handke collection, which he left on permanent loan to the Austrian National Library in 2009 .

In the church sector, Widrich worked professionally and later on a voluntary basis for the implementation of the principles of the Second Vatican Council . In 1968 he was an elected member of the Salzburg Diocesan Synod, in 1974 of the Austrian Synodal process in Vienna and in 1996 of the Salzburg Diocesan Forum. He was a parish councilor in Salzburg-St. Blasius and at the Salzburg Cathedral . He published several documentations on contemporary church history.

In 1967, Widrich founded the “Galerie am Markt” for modern art in the custody of the Kollegienkirche and provided the then Austrian avant-garde ( Bruno Gironcoli , Wolfgang Hollegha , Josef Mikl , Peter Pongratz , Markus Prachensky , Drago Prelog , Erwin Reiter , Edda Seidl-Reiter ) for the first time in Salzburg. As president of the Salzburg Art Association, he opened the traditional artists' house to current international trends. For the first time in Salzburg: exhibitions by Max Ernst , Gonzales, Hajek, David Hockney , Alfred Manessier , Pier Paolo Pasolini , Robert Rauschenberg and Pierre Soulages . In the “Palette” series, young artists could present their work free of charge. A newly created café in the Künstlerhaus was immediately accepted as a meeting point. In 1979 he was responsible for the first large exhibition with sculptures by Pino Castagna in the squares around Salzburg Cathedral . In 1979 he founded the "Verlag Hans Widrich" for elite prints, especially for larger portfolios.

Voluntary work

  • 1967 to 1970 1st vice-president of the Catholic Action Salzburg
  • 1973 member of the board, 1976 to 1979 president of the Salzburg Art Association
  • 1976 to 1996 board member of the Friends of the Salzburg Festival
  • 1976 to 1979 regional chairman of the parents' associations at public compulsory schools
  • 1977 to 1979 member of the state school board as parents' representative
  • 1977 to 1981 in the art advisory board of the Federal Ministry for Education
  • 1980 and 1982 Austrian Government commissioner for the “Biennale des jeunes artistes” in Paris, 1985 its official correspondent
  • 1993/1994 President of the Rotary Club Salzburg

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Who is who in Austria, 2009
  2. ↑ Wolfram Schwinger, Penderecki, Stuttgart 1979
  3. ↑ Hans Widrich: I held the robber ladder for him. In: Sepp Dreissinger, What are people talking about. 58 encounters with Thomas Bernhard, Salzburg 2011
  4. ^ Ingo Winkler, A diplomatic man for in between, Salzburger Nachrichten (= SN) July 20, 1966, as well as: Festspiel-Streiflicher SN August 29, 1966
  5. ↑ SN November 27, 1999: The king is made
  6. ^ ORF broadcast "Menschenbilder" on September 5, 2010.
  7. ↑ Malte Herwig, Master of the Twilight. A biography. DVA, Munich 2010.
  8. ^ Austrian National Library, Literature Archive: Peter Handke Collection / loan from Hans Widrich , overview of contents online (PDF).
  9. ↑ Hans Widrich: Temporary trust. In. Fritz Csoklich (ed.), Revisions. The Catholic Church in the Second Republic, Graz-Vienna-Cologne 1996, as well as: Ernst Hintermeier. Alfred Rinnerthaler, Hans Spatzenegger , Archbishop Andreas Rohracher, Salzburg 2010
  10. ^ Anselm Wagner, The art association under the direction of Hans Widrichs (1976-1979) - From the artists' association to the art gallery. In: 150 Years of the Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg 1994
  11. ↑ Hans Widrich. How artists find collectors. SN January 23, 1999
personal data
SURNAME Widrich, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian journalist
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Haberberg , municipality of Griffen