In the past ten days, the Munich Philharmonic played eight concerts in four different cities, Munich, Vienna, Leipzig, Dresden, Munich again. Again and again with other soloists. Getting that in and setting the course for the artistic development of a world-class orchestra is normal madness. At least for Paul Müller, director of the orchestra since 2008. This Tuesday he announced that he will resign from this position at the end of 2024. Not because the madness is too much for him, but because Paul Müller is a rational man.
Müller is leaving a year and a half earlier than his contract with the city of Munich would have envisaged. The 64-year-old would like to make room for his successor in good time so that the new director can help prepare and accompany the start of Lahav Shani. The young Israeli will take over as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic in September 2026. If Müller had insisted on staying until the end of his own contract term, he would have left office exactly one day before Shani took office.
The first preparations for the Shani era are already underway. Next year he will conduct the Munich at the Classic Open Air at Odeonsplatz, in 2025 there should be a few more joint performances.
Paul Müller, who was artistic director of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra before moving to Munich, experienced turbulent times with the Munich Philharmonic and their chief conductor. In the beginning there was the spat between the orchestra and Christoph Thielemann, which finally led to the separation from the Wagner specialist. His successor Lorin Maazel died unexpectedly and Valery Gergiev succeeded him. The Russian was a great candidate for Paul Müller.
But when the Ukraine war broke out and Gergiev continued to present himself as a staunch admirer of Putin and a propagandist, Munich could no longer stand him. The city parted ways with him as chief conductor. Paul Müller thwarted all these storms with the orchestra without too much fuss. He is always extremely loyal to the people he works with, a disciplined fighter for the cause of his orchestra and a realist. It’s hard to imagine that he’ll retire completely at the end of 2024, but he’s “looking forward to the opportunity and the time to think about it,” says Paul Müller.