Conductor Ingo Metzmacher says he will step down when his contract as general music director in Hamburg expires in 2005 because he is disappointed with the attitude of city officials toward arts and culture, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Metzmacher, who heads both the Staatsoper and Staatsorchester in Germany's second-largest city, told a newspaper that the city was unwilling to make adequate commitments toward the arts. He said that subsidies for the arts have remained stagnant for a decade while expenses have climbed.
The opera and the orchestra, he added, are also suffering because politicians are devoting their efforts to landing the Olympic games.
Metzmacher, known as an advocate of modern music, resigned in a letter delivered to the city Wednesday. He has held the Hamburg post since 1997 and remains under contract until 31 July 2005.
— Michael Markowitz
"Hamburger Opern-Chef
geht 2005 - scharfe Kritik an Kulturpolitik"
Deutsche Presse-Agentur [via Yahoo Deutschland] - 19
February 2003
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