The Intendant of the Berlin Philharmonic, Franz Xaver Ohnesorg, has announced his resignation after just a year in office. Ohnesorg made the announcement, accompanied by chief conductor Simon Rattle, to the orchestra and the press on Tuesday.
In a press statement issued by the orchestra, "personal reasons" was the only explanation given for the precipitous and early departure (Ohnesorg's contract expires in August 2006). "Since Prof. Franz Xaver Ohnesorg's reasons for leaving are of a personal nature, all the parties involved have agreed to give no further information about his motivation for moving on," the statement said. However, it was common knowledge that Ohnesorg, who left his previous post as executive director of Carnegie Hall suddenly and prematurely following two turbulent years, had provoked the ire of many in the course of his year in Berlin.
During his tenure in Berlin, Ohnesorg was largely responsible for the orchestra's successful change of legal status from a governmental entity into a private foundation, a change aimed at freeing the organization from weighty bureaucracy and improving its long-term financial prospects. He introduced free program books, free cloakroom facilities and free cough lozenges to the Philharmonie; embarked on a project of more unified programming and presentation for the concert hall; and raised the orchestra's Internet profile. Publicly, at least, he and Rattle enjoyed an amicable relationship.
However, many in Berlin were reportedly upset by the aggressive and abrasive managerial style that had made Ohnesorg a star when he ran Cologne's Philharmonie hall. Just one day before his resignation, Ohnesorg appeared in court as private concert agencies accused him and the Berlin Philharmonic of unfair competitive practices — specifically, of undercutting the agencies' prices for presenting visiting ensembles. (The court will decide by 5 November whether it will hear the case or not.) He had also infuriated the Scharoun Society, watchdogs of the legacy of the brilliant architect who designed Berlin's Philharmonie concert hall, when he ordered the construction of a large, unsightly bar in the middle of the foyer without requesting the group's permission. A falling-out between Ohnesorg and the Berliner Festwochen meant that the Berlin Philharmonic was not part of the city's main music festival for the first time since its inception.
Meanwhile, Philharmonic staff members were rumored to be unhappy about the inclusion in Ohnesorg's contract of a clause allowing him a significant personal cut of any sponsoring money which he won for the orchestra. He stood to profit on a grand scale from the Deutsche Bank's decision to increase by many times its already considerable contributions to the orchestra in order to fund an education project, the opening concert of the season, concert tours and improved marketing. But the degree to which that and other sponsorship packages were the result of Ohnesorg's personal efforts was seen as debatable.
"A manager must be prepared to sit in the third row, behind the conductor and the orchestra," Alice Stroever, the head of the Berlin parliament's culture committee, told Agence France-Presse. "Ohnesorg was unable to do that. He smashed a lot of china,"
Over the last several weeks, as Rattle led first concerts as chief conductor of the orchestra, Ohnesorg, unquestionably one of the most prominent figures in German music management, slipped from the spotlight. It was not clear whether he had deliberately kept a low profile or whether he was simply eclipsed by the British conductor's media allure. But it cannot have suited a man accustomed to being the center of attention and power to be ignored to such a degree.
Ohnesorg will stay in office until 31 December, and has agreed to remain as
an advisor to the orchestra until 2006. There are no reports — or even
rumors — as to his successor.
