“What exactly is the difference between a concert hall and a concert hall?” SPD MP Katja Weitzel posed the crucial question on behalf of the opposition this Wednesday in the state parliament’s cultural committee, which was reconstituted after the election. All other parties also have a great need for information about how the corresponding passage in the coalition agreement between the CSU and Free Voters should be understood. The paper states that a “concert hall” should still be built in the Werksviertel and that it must be appropriate to the global importance of the Munich orchestra, but that the project should be “redimensioned” for cost reasons.
“Whether it’s a hall or a house – you shouldn’t stick to your word,” said Michael Piazolo (FW), who was just the Minister for Education and Culture until the cabinet reshuffle and is now chairman of the Culture Committee. “The issue is important for all of Bavaria. I want this concert hall and have already collected signatures for it in the past,” he says. He strictly rejects any new debate about the location. The “planning processes that are far too long” are already the central problem of the project and the cause of the total estimated costs of 1.3 billion. We now have to get started “quickly, within this legislative period” in the Werksviertel, and at a “reasonable price”.
Other options, such as the Free State’s participation in the renovation of the Philharmonie in Gasteig or a later expansion of its interim location “Isarphilharmonie”, were rejected by the majority of MPs. For the first time, criticism of the Isarphilharmonie, which is otherwise so much praised for its low costs, was voiced in the state parliament. “The backstage area is so narrow that you can hardly get through with a double bass,” said Sanne Kurz (Greens). The options for heating it would be poor, which would be acceptable for an interim solution, but not for a permanent solution.
Rather, Kurz made a passionate plea for the preservation of certain elements of the planning for the Werksviertel concert hall. The Green Party’s cultural policy spokeswoman includes the rooms that are intended for education. But a concert hall must also be built that can compete with cultural buildings in other world cities. Kurz also called for greater commitment and enthusiasm from the state government for the project. “Then there will be more private donors who would like to get involved,” she said, quoting Bastian Schweinsteiger, who recently wrote on his social media channel: “I think that the time speaks for this project more than ever. Precisely because we have so many crises to overcome and so many new challenges in our country, we should show strength and have confidence in ourselves.”
Robert Brannekämper (CSU) also spoke of the “functional weaknesses” of the Isarphilharmonie, whose adjoining rooms had the quality of “the adjoining rooms of a St. Nicholas parish hall” somewhere in the country. This in turn called his party colleague Winfried Bausback onto the scene to break the usual lance for more culture in the rural region. He sits in the state parliament for the Lower Franconia district. In the end, the entire committee unanimously demanded a report from the ministries involved in the planning. This should be submitted by the end of May 2024 at the latest. At the end of January, however, Arts Minister Markus Blume will appear before the committee to explain his view on “slimming down” the concert hall plans in more detail.