When it became known a month ago that Bernd Loebe would – probably not entirely voluntarily – end his directorship of the Tyrolean Festival Erl prematurely, namely after the summer edition of the festival in 2024, there was the most absurd speculation about his successor. Nobody came up with an idea – but this, a sensation, becomes reality: star tenor Jonas Kaufmann succeeds Loebe’s director in Erl.
Singer directors are not new – especially in Austria. Cecilia Bartoli directs the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, Brigitte Fassbaender was director of the Tyrolean State Theater in Innsbruck for a long time. In Erl, however, it should be interesting to see the logistical background with which Kaufmann will establish a new festival operation there.
Festival founder Gustav Kuhn, who had to leave because of allegations of sexual assault, had a singer and orchestra academy in Italy in the background, Loebe is the very successful director of the Frankfurt Opera. First he was the preferred candidate of Hans Peter Haselsteiner, president and patron of the festival, but then they apparently degenerated more and more into a secondary Frankfurt venue without a profile of their own.
Jonas Kaufmann should now restore this. In any case, he will bring splendor to Tyrol, because he will be on the stage there himself, although not “necessarily every season”. According to Austrian media reports, Haselsteiner suggested to the search committee that the search be terminated and that the ideal candidate should be named Kaufmann.