Dietmar Kerschbaum, artistic director of the Linz event company, could not adequately refute the accusations of conformity. A new “face of Brucknerhaus”, especially for the house's 50th anniversary, which is about to be launched, has already been discovered.
Dietmar Kerschbaum recently looked to the future with joy: the opening of the Brucknerhaus in Linz will soon be 50 years old, and in the autumn we will celebrate the 200th birthday of its namesake. The tenant and the Brucknerhaus director have also created a colorful program for this.
He has now been relieved from duty till further notice. Kerschbaum is also the artistic director of the Linz Event Agency (LIVA), and he recently faced massive allegations related to the procedure for his appointment in 2017. At the time, according to reports published by “Falter” magazine, among others, Kerschbaum was presented with questions before the trial.
In addition, the director was accused of employing himself as a tenant and paying fees that did not correlate with those paid to other artists for comparable services. Specifically, it concerns performances as part of a “musical advent calendar” in which the performers, according to the indictment, received compensation of 200 euros, while Gershbaum received 5,000 euros.
On Friday, LIVA's regular supervisory board meeting in Linz apparently did not sufficiently refute the allegations. Kerschbaum, but commercial director Rainer Stadler, who will retire on April 1, has been relieved of his duties with immediate effect.
Linz Mayor Klaus Lüger, chairman of the supervisory board, officially announced the board's unanimous decision on Friday afternoon. He also justified the dismissal of the commercial director: the four-eye principle applies to all decisions between him and the director. Hence, a biased situation prevails. The delivery of the project planning for Brucknerfest 2023 to the artist agency and the possible compliance cases surrounding the Linz project planning will now be investigated. According to Meyer, the contractual framework around the artist organization is “too complex to ensure future programming”.
The new managing director is René Esterbauer
The “face of Brucknerhaus” has already been discovered, which will be seen primarily in the upcoming house's 50th birthday celebrations. As the business director retires in early April, his successor, René Esterbauer, has been acclimating to the job since early March.
The celebrations will begin with an exhibition opening next Friday and will reach its first climax next Saturday with a guest concert by the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta. The program includes Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony – a “remake” of the inaugural concert performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan in 1974. At the time, Wiener sang some of Bruckner's sacred songs before a performance of the Zingverin Symphony – under the guidance of his then chief conductor, Helmuth Froschauer. His son, Daniel Froschauer, is now director of the Philharmonic Orchestra and has agreed to conduct a performance of the motets at the 50th anniversary celebration.
For the upcoming Bruckner Festival, Dietmar Kerschbaum has planned a cycle with performances of all the Bruckner symphonies, which for the first time will be played exclusively by the original sound ensembles.
