Teodor Currentzis steps down as Artistic Director of Perm Opera

Teodor Currentzis steps down from Opera position in Perm. In a rambling three-page letter* he cites “a thorough lack of comprehension, utter lack of engagement and sensitivity” on the part of the administration of the city of Perm as the main reason for him leaving “his paradise”. The rest of the letter is a mix of thanking companions, musing on whether he was ever fully understood by anyone and on how governmental agencies by are incapable of understanding anything at all. The information the letter contains – if much – is between the lines, decipherable by insiders. Financial and bureaucratic fetters appear to be shining through as the problems causing this move… which would make sense to sufficiently offend an artist who ostentatiously despises fetters of any kind into resigning.

The Athens-born Currentzis, something of the Jack White among conductors, had been Artistic Director of the Perm State Opera and Ballet Theatre since 2011. This move will presumably not affect Currentzis’ work with his orchestra and chorus, musicAeterna, which he founded in 2004 in Novosibirsk (when he was Music Director of the Novosibirsk State Opera and Orchestra) and which has resided at the Perm opera since 2011. If anything, it was done to focus more on his work with this ensemble. His work as artistic director of Perm’s International Diaghilev Festival, too, will remain unaffected. Not surprising, as this festival will extend to the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris starting in 2021, giving him another foothold in the West. Currentzis is also the Chief Conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, where he just wrapped up his first season.

*So far the most comprehensible version I’ve come across is one translated into German by Natalia Breininger at Andreas Richter Cultural Consulting GmbH: Many thanks! Her source is the letter in the original, as published online by the Perm Opera house.

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Currentzis on ionarts & Forbes.com:

Dip Your Ears, No. 239 / Ionarts CD of the Month (Pathétique Heroin)
Favorite Recordings 2018: Mahler 6 (CDT)
Classical CD Of The Week: Not Everyone Does It Like That – Currentzis’ Così
The Currentzis Dances II & Ravel’s Wonderful Rubbish
Ionarts-at-Large: The Currentzis Dances (MPhil)
Best Recordings of 2011 (#3 – Weinberg/Passenger)