By: Frank Cadenhead Deborah Warner is staging La Traviata opening Wednesday night at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées. She tweeted this photo and text:
“The #Traviata creative team on the Avenue Montaigne last night. Please note @10DowningStreet the passports held by this team:- French, Greek, Australian, Danish, Italian, Belgium & British. Tell me EXACTLY what happens post March, 2019.. General rehearsal tonight @TCEOPERA Paris.”
It is only a hint of the problems which the performing arts community is facing with the coming decisions about Brexit. There is an agreement between the British government and the European Union about the form and nature of the separation happening in March, what is being kept and what is not. However, remarkably, this agreement still faces a vote of the parliament in London where it’s death is rather commonly assumed. There can certainly be no renegotiation at this late date and the choices are, if parliament rejects the plan, either no agreement and a brutal EU exit for the United Kingdom or another chance at a vote of the public who might want to reconsider their rejection of the EU two years ago.
For opera management, the headache pills are always within reach. While you are planning your productions for 2021-22 season, you have no idea of the complications which may affect the free flow of goods, services and people with the UK and the EU. Worse, you already have singers and productions scheduled to open in just four or five months and have no idea what will happen to the planning so carefully set in place a few years ago.
It is unlikely that a new vote will ever happen and, even if one were held, a different outcome is not at all assured. A hard exit suddenly puts everyone in a different and entirely new world of regulations and controls and all of those plans for this and future seasons have to be reexamined. Everyone hopes those headache pills still remain easily available.
By: Frank Cadenhead. Frequent world travelers often expect, whether in Dubai or Berlin, Rome, Tokyo or Santiago, that their English will normally get them from the airport to a hotel and restaurant, etc. Many notice, however, that in Paris, or elsewhere in France, a French language phrasebook can be a helpful tool. The French are proud of their language and remember that in the distant past it was an international language and see no compelling need to automatically learn to communicate in that new major international language, English. Three out of four French students have taken English classes, it is reported, but foreigners usually hear little evidence of that from the natives.
You will notice that many other countries in Europe routinely create an English version of their important websites. This is not the case in France except when it is entirely necessary. That is why the new English edition of classical music broadcaster France Musique was such a surprise. The wealth of recorded and live concerts and other offerings from France Musique is a rich treasure which has been mostly enjoyed by French-speaking audiences around the world. It is now available for a click at francemusique.com (the French version is still at francemusique.fr). The English version is clearly still in the development stage but the rich archive of some 1600 recordings of live events is beginning to be accessible.
The broadcast center of Radio France is equivalent to the BBC in the UK and France Musique, the classical music division, has not one but two important radio orchestras plus a world-renowned chorus and a splendid children’s chorus. Aside from concerts at the Auditorium of Radio France, concerts and operas are broadcast from several venues, the Theatre des Champs-Elysées, the new Philharmonie, the Opera-Comique, the Palais Garnier and Opera Bastille plus other venues around France. Audio broadcasts from these major venues are regularly broadcast and, in recent years, videos of the performances have become much more common. Available now, for example, is Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the splendid soprano Karine Deshayes and is only part of a concert of French music broadcast live from the Auditorium of Radio France on Saturday 24 March 2018. From the Opéra Comique, a delicious December 29 live performance of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory, Louis Langrée conducting, is also available in one click.
Marc Voinchet, Director of France Musique, says: “We wanted to invite people from around the world to discover for themselves the full extent of our rich music catalogue. Francemusique.com offers concerts recorded at the Radio France Auditorium, musical sessions in our studios in Paris, a gallery of knowledge and musical practices, and seven fantastic online radio stations – we simply didn’t want to keep it all to ourselves anymore!” The seven streaming radio stations are “Easy Classical,” “Classical Extra,” “Jazz,” “Radio France Concerts,” Radio France’s own record label “Ocora World Music” “Contemporary” and “Film Music.” There is so much to explore.
Last Tuesday, a new theater opened in the 10th Arrondissement of Paris. Well, it was not exactly “new” but, thanks to a visionary couple, “La Scala de Paris” is reborn as a 550 seat performing arts center. Recently home to some 200 pigeons, it had, before that, been a porno cinema.
Completed in 1873, the theater was a well-known place for cafés-concerts during the Belle Epoque. Converted in 1936 to a splendid Art déco cinema, in 1977 it evolved into a porno multiplex but has been closed since 1999.
The couple who took on the project of reopening the theater, Mélanie and Frédéric Biessy, have invested some 19 million euros in this project and the theater now has modern equipment and 220 adjustable acoustic panels. It normally seats 550 but can be expanded to 800 to accommodate different-sized events. The restored interior was created and managed by Richard Peduzzi, who created sets with Patrice Chéreau for both his theater and opera productions.
The theater has its eye on younger audiences and composer Philippe Manoury has created a “sonic identity” for the theater. His music, he reports, “is not recorded music but algorithms who play with probability factors. These ‘sound forms’ play from 11 am to 1 in the morning. At the end of 365 days, the parameters return to zero but with all the different combinations, it will be practically impossible to hear the same thing twice in a row. My great challenge is to discover the means to create music without the intervention of the composer.”
Opening events include young pianists Francesco Tristano and Bertrand Chamayou, the Ensemble Intercontemporain and writer Yasmina Reza talking of her father’s fascination with Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata. The theater’s site: https://lascala-paris.com. A television news introduction to the theater (in French): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3hVEcwDFiY
September 13, 2018. The French website ForumOpéra.com posted a 58 word note on Tuesday which announced something which has not appeared in the major press. It reported that the Minister of Culture, Françoise Nyssen, has already told Stéphane Lissner that his current term as director of the Opéra national de Paris would not be extended. He will leave, therefore, in 2021. The last sentence notes that the decision was apparently a result of a “bilan mitigé” (which Google translates as “mixed results”) but did not make clear whose opinion this might be. This post has since been deleted. It did, however, set off a storm of writing in the press which confirmed the story and acknowledged that the Culture Ministry is now looking for a replacement. Given the four or five year pre-planning for opera houses, the search is already somewhat tardy. A complication of this Forum Opéra post is that its chief editor, Sylvain Fort, is now in charge of relations with the press for the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. ForumOpéra.com had spoken strongly against Lissner’s alterations of boxes at the Palais Garnier and posted other criticisms of his leadership so the since-deleted “bilan mitigé” comment might been a bridge too far between Fort’s new role and his editorial role at the website.
Lissner, director since July of 2014, will be 68 in 2021 and above the age of retirement for government positions. Some imagined that he might get a waiver, as has been done in the past, and continue for another three years. He has included more advanced staging from controversial directors and has balanced the books despite the annual reduction in government generosity by doubling the income from private sponsors from 10 million to 20 million euros annually. Attendance figures at the two houses are always in the high 90s.
Lissner’s past history is impressive: Théâtre du Châtelet (1988-1997), Aix-en-Provence Festival (1998-2006). At those same periods, Lissner directed two theaters with one of which, the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, he co-directed with theater legend Peter Brook. Lissner was the first non-Italian to lead the La Scala opera company, 2005 – 2012. Moving on from seven years at the Aix-en-Provence festival (which has almost no government support) he was aware that major commercial brands might be interested in contributing to, and receiving recognition from, the legendary company. With this new financial source, and more challenging programming, he restored the balance sheet and standing of the historic theater after a long period of decline.
For the period beginning in 2014, It was generally accepted that he, or Serge Dorny of the Opéra National de Lyon, might be the logical successor to the conservative Nicolas Joel to take the Paris Opera to a new level of artistic and financial success. Lissner, coming from the La Scala rescue, seemed the careful choice but his programming, productions and casting, while important, maybe lacks a particular flare to garner the international attention many in France would like to see. The artistically adventurous Dorny, who took a plodding regional company in Lyon into the international spotlight, is now only 58 and would still be high on anyone’s list for Paris but is now unavailable: in March, he was named the new intendant of the Bavarian State Opera to start in 2021 and is already spending some of his time in Munich. Dorny’s Opéra national de Lyon now has a broad and challenging repertory and, importantly, the full houses have an average age much younger than when he arrived.
Lissner was the first non-Italian to lead La Scala and Dominique Meyer was the first non-Germanic to lead the VSO. Among names who might take over in Paris, note that Dominique Meyer is approaching his final season, 2019-2020, at the Vienna State Opera. Meyer will be 65 in 2020 and his ten year term saw steady direction and solid attendance. Radical productions were avoided, outrage was seldom heard and conservative Vienna was satisfied. There is a separate company, the Theater an der Wien, whose mission is to probe the edges of modern opera, so Meyer’s job, to continue the tradition of the VSO, was not subject to controversy. He imported Manuel Legris from the Paris Opera Ballet who revived the moribund ballet and brought it positive international attention. Meyer could be under consideration but there has been some movement in regional companies in France to look to a younger generation for a fresh approach to opera. Nothing has been leaked about a Culture Ministry search committee or have any candidate names been hinted at. At least we know that the process has begun.
By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq., Robyn Guilliams, Esq., and Christopher Dowley, Esq.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer…because we are just about the ruin it. So be prepared for some serious sunburn, chiggers, sand fleas, and food poisoning as we give you the latest updates:
I. NEW USCIS POLICY ALLOWS VISA PETITIONS TO BE DENIED WITHOUT FIRST ISSUING AN RFE
Effective September 11, 2018, USCIS adjudicators will have “full discretion” to deny visa petitions without first having to issue a “Request for Evidence” (“RFE”) or a “Notice of Intent to Deny” (“NOID”).
This new policy reverses the existing USCIS policy on RFEs, dating back to 2013, whereby, except in extreme cases where a petition was clearly deniable or there was no possibility of approval (such as requesting the wrong visa category), USCIS adjudicators were instructed to issue an RFE or a NOID and provide a petitioner an opportunity to provide additional evidence or correct any deficiencies prior to denying the petition. According to the USCIS Policy Memorandum issued (ironically) on July 13, 2018, the new RFE policy “restores to the adjudicator full discretion to deny applications, petitions, and requests without first issuing an RFE or a NOID, when appropriate.” The new policy memorandum provides the following examples of situations where a petition can be denied without an RFE:
If, in the sole discretion of the USCIS adjudicator, the petition was submitted without sufficient evidence; or
Where the petition does not contain a statutorily required form or submission.
In other words, even simple oversights such as failing to provide a no-objection letter from the correct union, forgetting to submit a contract, or merely forgetting to check a box or sign a form could result in a denial of the entire petition with no opportunity to fix the problem without re-filing the entire petition! You will only know what was wrong AFTER the petition has been denied. While there will remain an opportunity to file an appeal, appeals can take months and, given that an adjudicator has “full discretion”, there is little change of an appeal being granted anyway.
According to the USCIS July 13, 2018 Policy Memorandum:
This policy is intended to discourage frivolous or substantially incomplete filings used as “placeholder” filings and encourage applicants, petitioners, and requestors to be diligent in collecting and submitting required evidence.
Whilst on his way to the arctic to club a baby seal, USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna further explained:
“For too long, our immigration system has been bogged down with frivolous or meritless claims that slow down processing for everyone, including legitimate petitioners. Through this long overdue policy change, USCIS is restoring full discretion to our immigration officers to deny incomplete and ineligible applications and petitions submitted for immigration benefits…Doing so will discourage frivolous filings and skeletal applications used to game the system, ensure our resources are not wasted, and ultimately improve our agency’s ability to efficiently and fairly adjudicate requests for immigration benefits in full accordance with our laws.”
Indulge me to offer my own translation:
“For too long, our immigration system has been bogged down with people from other countries trying to obtain visas. By gaming the system so that petitioners will no longer know in advance why their visa petitions are being denied, we can greatly improve our ability to deny petitions more efficiently and, thereby, continue to make America great.”
Accordingly, we are recommending the following:
If you can’t decide from which union to obtain a no-objection letter, get a no-objection letter from all of them.
Do NOT use letters from peer organizations where there are unions that might possibly be willing to issue a no-objection letter.
Make sure that all itineraries include the FULL names and addresses of all venues, employers, presenters, etc.
If engagements have been booked through an agent, provide a copy of the written agreement between the artist and the agent, as well as proof that each venue, employer, presenter, etc. has authorized the petitioner to be the petitioner.
As there are no longer any second changes, throw everything you can into the petition–background materials on each venue, each award, each expert, and each publication, etc. Make no assumptions. Unless your concert pianist has also been on America’s Got Talent, the USCIS adjudicator will have no frame of reference.
Do not assume that just because an artist has previously been approved, that you can give less evidence the next time. Approach each petition as if it’s the first one.
Given the increased risk having a petition simply denied with no notice, we are also recommending premium processing for most petitions. At the very least, you will know sooner rather than later if you will have to re-file the entire petition.
Should you actually want to read the July 13, 2018 Policy Memorandum, pour a glass of rum and go to the following link:
II. USCIS IS BEING TASKED WITH IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
Officially, USCIS was never meant to be tasked with immigration enforcement. Rather, the purpose of USCIS was strictly limited to the adjudication or administration of immigration benefits, such as processing applications for visas, green cards, naturalization, and humanitarian benefits. Instead, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (“ICE”) was charged with the enforcement of immigration laws and violations. As a result, whilst USCIS regularly reported cases of fraud or misrepresentation to ICE, denials of visa petitions, even in instances where a beneficiary was determined to be a “status violator” (ie: performing illegally in the U.S.) or an “overstay” (ie: remaining in the U.S. after they were supposed to leave), were not.
On June 28, 2018, USCIS issued a new Policy Memorandum whereby,effective immediately, USCIS adjudicators have been instructed to issue a notice to appear before an immigration judge (“NTA”) to all beneficiaries whose lawful status expires while a petition or request is pending before USCIS!
This will have a major impact on artists and students in the U.S. who seek to extend their O or P status, change their employer, or seek to change their status to a different nonimmigrant classification while remaining in the United States. Current Immigration laws allow a person to file a visa petition or an extension or change of status and remain in the U.S. provided the petition is filed while the beneficiary’s underlying nonimmigrant status remains valid. For example, an artist whose O-1 visa is about to expire can file for a new O-1 and remain in the U.S. so long as the new petition is filed before the artist’s current O-1 expires. However, due to lengthy USCIS processing times, it is not uncommon for the artist’s O-1 status to have expired by the time USCIS adjudicates the petition.
Under the new policy, if the petition is approved, there is no problem. But if the petition is denied, under the terms of the new policy, the beneficiary would be issued an NTA and would be required to appear before an immigration judge and, possibly, be subject to deportation proceedings.
According to the USCIS Policy Memorandum, “USCIS is updating its NTA policy to better align with enforcement priorities.” USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna paused from munching on a dead puppy to further comment:
“For too long, USCIS officers uncovering instances of fraudulent or criminal activity have been limited in their ability to help ensure U.S. immigration laws are faithfully executed. This updated policy equips USCIS officers with clear guidance they need and deserve to support the enforcement priorities established by the president, keep our communities safe, and protect the integrity of our immigration system from those seeking to exploit it”
Permit me once again to offer my own translation:
“For too long, USCIS officers have been uncovering instances of foreigners actually entering the U.S. This updated policy equips USCIS officers with the tools needed to support the president’s policies of keeping those people out.”
Accordingly, we are recommending the following:
When an artist wishes to obtain a new O or P visa, advise them to leave the U.S. at the end of the artist’s current O or P classification, wait for the new petition to be approved, obtain a new visa from a U.S. consulate, and then re-enter.
In situations where an artist wishes to change status or extend a current status whilst in the U.S., the petition should be filed far enough in advance so that the petition can be APPROVED before the expiration of the artist’s current status;
The artist should engage in no performance activities (paid or unpaid) in the U.S. after the expiration date of their current visa classification.
Should you actually want to read the June 28, 2018 USCIS Policy Memorandum, pour another glass of rum and go to the following link:
III. ALL VISA PETITIONS FROM CURRENT OR FORMER STUDENTS WILL BE VETTED FOR STATUS VIOLATIONS
Effective August 9, 2018, when any student in F, J, or M status who was admitted to the U.S. for “Duration of Status” (“D/S”) files a visa petition for a different visa (such as an O or P), USCIS adjudicators are being directed to investigate exhaustively whether or not such student is or ever was a “status violator” (ie: performed illegally in the U.S.) or an “overstay” (ie: remained in the U.S. after they were supposed to leave.)
USCIS has never been particularly keen to approve recently graduated students for O visas, particularly if they sought to do so whilst remaining in the U.S. Regardless, under the existing, soon to be replaced, USCIS policy, when a student sought to obtain an O or P visa the student was given “the benefit of the doubt” about how long they were admitted to the U.S. before being considered to have violated their status (ie “performed illegally”) and/or remained in the U.S. after they were supposed to leave (an “overstay.”) A student who is or was in the U.S. on an F, J, or M visa was only determined to be an “overstay” or a “status violator” if USCIS “formally” determined there to be a violation of status. Even then, the student was only determined to be in the U.S. illegally AFTER this formal finding and never retroactively, or without notice. In other words, USCIS was less concerned with whether or not the student had violated their F, J, or M visa than determining whether or not the student was eligible for the O or P visa in the first place.
No longer.
Pursuant to a USCIS Policy Memorandum issued on May 10, 2018, on or after August 9, 2018, USCIS adjudicators have been instructed to pursue what amounts to a “no stone left unturned” policy whereby they are expressly empowered to asses all the available historical and background material collected on each individual student, using all the tools in the toolbox to establish a violation or overstay and consequent accrual of unlawful presence. Specifically, a student will be presumed to be unlawfully present in the U.S., without a formal finding or notice, on the earliest of the following:
The student fails to continue or complete their course of study, or authorized activity (including failing to completing optional practical training plus any authorized grace period);
The student engages in any unauthorized activity—such as performing without work authorization (even for free!)—not permitted by their F-1 status;
The student fails to leave the U.S. the day AFTER the date of completion of study/authorized activity and/or the approved grace period;
The student fails to leave the U.S. on the specific date, if any, listed on their I-94; or
The student stays in the U.S. after the completion of her course of study or authorized activity (including the completion of optional practical training plus any approved grace period)
Moreover, pursuant to the June 28, 2018 USCIS Policy Memorandum discussed previously, such violations will be presumably be reported to ICE.
Traditionally, when a student on an F, J, or M visa comes to us seeking an O or P visa, we have traditionally advised that, so long as the O or P petition is “filed” prior to the student’s graduation or OPT expiration (plus any grace periods) the student will not be considered an overstay. Moreover, so long as the student does not engage in any performances (even for free!), the student will not be considered to have violated their status. However, after August 9, 2018, we will be advising all students on an F, J, or M visa who seek an O or P visa, the following:
Do not ask for a Change of Status from F-1 to O or P. Rather, file a petition and then leave the U.S. whilst the petition is pending.
If they must ask for Change of Status:
Make sure they have significant professional (non-academic) credits and achievements; and
File the petition far enough in advance so that the petition will be approved before the expiration of their current F-1 status or OPT expires.
Should you actually want to read the May 10, 2018 Policy Memorandum, add some bourbon to that glass of rum and go to the following link:
IV. CURRENT UCSIS VISA PROCESSING TIMES RANGE FROM 3 WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS
Visa petition adjudication times at both the Vermont Service Center and the California Service Center are currently wildly unpredictable—currently taking anywhere from 3 weeks to 4 months. We have been able to find no pattern, consistency, or predictability. Moreover, as always, the USCIS case processing times website is completely useless and inaccurate. Please plan accordingly—which, for our office, usually means premium processing and then the whole office heading out for happy hour.
Can you mix vodka with bourbon? Time to find out.
V.THE IRS HAS MADE A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE TO CWA ELIGIBILITY
Not content to let USCIS have all the fun, the IRS has announced that beginning October 1, 2018 nonresident performers must earn $10,000 or more in gross income (within the calendar year) to qualify for a CWA.
The $10,000 threshold applies to individual performers, so if individual members of a group gross less than the threshold amount, they are not eligible for a CWA. But – keep in mind that gross income includes per diem payments, merchandise income and potential overages (not just artist fees!)
Unfortunately, performers who don’t qualify for a CWA due to the income threshold are subject to 30% withholding.
We were recently reminded by the U.S. State Department that approximately a year ago the Trump regime revoked the 2012 Obama Executive Order which called on all U.S. Consulates to shorten visa wait times. So, naturally, there are now longer wait times.
Despite the fact that, officially, artists are not required to bring original I-797 Approval Notices with them when they apply for a visa at a U.S. Consulate, reports abound of consular officers hassling artists and insisting that they must have the original. Some officers are also insisting that the artist bring an entire copy of the visa petition with them. There are also increasing reports of similar requests by immigration officers upon an artist’s entry into the U.S. at the border or an airport. As a result, we are recommending:
That, where, possible, artists bring the original I-797 approval notice with them to the consulate; and
That artists be given copies of the relevant bits of their petition—which would include copies of the forms, itinerary, contracts, and a sample of the evidence.
Any artist seeking to apply for his or her first O-1, should continue to avoid the U.S. Consulate in London at all costs.
Artists from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, North Korea, and Venezuela are not going to be issued visas. Don’t bother. Artists who were born in these countries, but now have citizenship in other countries, or have parents from these countries, or have ever visited these countries, MAY or MAY NOT get visas, but its going to take much longer for them to be processed at the consulate—like 3 – 4 months. In addition, artists who have any relationships, connections, or have made visits to any other countries in the world that the Trump regime does not like, also MAY or MAY NOT get visas, but its going to take much longer for them to be processed at the consulate as well. In short, who the hell knows? We don’t. Stop asking.
Time for TEQUILA!
VII. NEW USCIS I-907 FORM FOR PREMIUM PROCESSING
On June 26, 2018, USCIS revised and issued a new I-907 form to request premium processing. Other than moving things around and making the form longer, nothing really significant has changed. Regardless, starting August 28, 2018, USCIS will only accept the I-907 marked 06/26/18.
Starting to feel woozy.
VIII. SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
For those of you who have managed to read this far, click here for a rare behind the scenes look at how USCIS policy is made:
We are living in challenging times and the rules can change at any time. As always, for official and reliable visa information, we recommend:
4) The US Customs and Border Patrol website: www.cbp.gov
5) The American Immigration Lawyers Association (www.aila.org)
You can also always find updated information on the “resource” page of our website: www.ggartslaw.com. And if there’s something in particular you want to know about, be sure to contact us!
For additional information and resources on this and other legal, project management, and business issues for the performing arts, as well as to sign up for our newsletters and follow us on social media visit ggartslaw.com
All questions on any topic related to legal, management, and business issues will be welcome. However, please post only general questions or hypotheticals. Questions will be answered ONLY in future blogs. GG Arts Law reserves the right to alter, edit or, amend questions to focus on specific issues or to avoid names, circumstances, or any information that could be used to identify or embarrass a specific individual or organization. All questions will be posted anonymously and/or posthumously.
The purpose of this blog is to provide general advice and guidance, not legal advice. Please consult with an attorney familiar with your specific circumstances, facts, challenges, medications, psychiatric disorders, past-lives, karmic debt, and anything else that may impact your situation before drawing any conclusions, deciding upon a course of action, sending a nasty email, filing a lawsuit, or doing anything rash!
The Hamburg State Opera is suffering a public-relations disaster and it is clearly self-inflicted. When they decided that the popular French soprano Julie Fuchs could not perform the role of Pamina in their production because she was four months pregnant, somebody must have know that this decision would be controversial. With the ongoing international discussions about the rights of women prominent in media, both social and popular, how could this decision not attract attention? Here is what Ms Fuchs wrote on her Facebook page:
“April 20 at 6:34pm ·
Today, I have an unexpected announcement to make: The Staatsoper Hamburg has unfortunately informed me just this week that the artistic integrity of the Jette Steckel production of ‘Die Zauberflöte’ cannot be maintained if the soprano singing Pamina is four months pregnant.
As you can imagine, I am very disappointed as I am feeling vocally and physically in top form. I am fully committed to fulfilling my contracts as planned and previously announced. I was very much looking forward to making my debut in this role, and singing for all of you in Hamburg. My apologies to those of you who already booked tickets. Whilst I respect the artistic vision of the theatre, I am saddened that we were not able to find a solution to accommodate this slight physical difference which does not negatively affect my vocal or artistic performance. It was my strong desire to find small production changes to make my appearance possible. As is the case with most women, in this second trimester of my pregnancy, I am happy to report that I am feeling full of energy and my good health has been confirmed by my doctors. I look forward to returning to the stage in June to sing Poppea at the Opernhaus Zürich.”
This post has now 5.400 reactions, 1,812 shares and 1,081 comments, with few exceptions exclusively negative for the Hamburg Opera and includes comments by many major opera stars who have shared their experiences of singing while pregnant. The news spread around the usual European classical music sites and their published items also found the actions of Hamburg at least questionable and frequently hostile. Germany, like most other European countries, has strong labor laws which support the right of women to continue working while pregnant and, in normal employment situations, would require a doctor’s certification as to the risks inherent in the work to justify removing someone from their job.
On April 23, I received a form reply from the Hamburg Opera press spokesman (which was given to all media):
“The Hamburg State Opera regrets that we are not allowed to fill the soprano Julie Fuchs in the role of Pamina in the Hamburg production of the „Magic Flute“. After a thorough examination, it is not possible to change the staging so that there is no danger for the expectant mother and at the same time the core of the production of Jette Steckel remains. There are a variety of physically demanding scenes in this production, including several flight scenes, which are prohibited in principle for pregnant women. “The legal situation for the protection of the expectant mother is clear and we will never take a health risk, even if only a risky scenic action could take place on the stage,” Tillmann Wiegand, Director of Artistic Management at Hamburg State Opera.
This is also very regrettable for us – we were already looking forward to the performance of Ms. Fuchs as Pamina. However, it is clear that we have to follow to the strict laws for the protection of the expectant mother and of course we have offered Ms. Fuchs shows for the next seasons.”
Dr. Bellgardt did not respond to my specific questions about German law protecting pregnant women in the workplace and did not respond to my question about whether a doctor’s advise was sought. Are we to assume that Mr. Wiegand, the Director of Artistic Management, made this decision without medical advice? It seems that is the case from the text of the Opera’s reply.
The larger question is how any opera company, substantially supported by funds from a government with a woman as Chancellor, could be so oblivious to the insensitivity of their response. At the very least, more details about the demands of the production to justify the declaration of Mr. Weigand would be the least they could provide. The issue of relevance of opera to our present time is a much discussed topic in the opera world and modern stagings have been influenced by this trend. For any opera company to issue declarations which seem from an earlier centuries is hard to understand, particularly when the public reaction could have been anticipated. Younger generations have rejected earlier social confines around the issues of child-bearing. Yesterday, the Duchess of Kent, it might be noted, left the hospital only seven hours after given birth to her new child. Why should an opera company not be aware of this present social consciousness?
Another contemporaneous public relations failure, this time almost comic, was from the Royal Danish Theater. This name describes the most important Danish performing art complex, central to Copenhagen’s opera and theater scene. It consists of the original Royal Danish Theatre, from 1874, the dramatic bay-front Copenhagen Opera House from 2004, the Stærekassen, an Art Deco theatre adjacent to the main theatre and finally the Royal Danish Playhouse inaugurated in 2008. When vague suggestions began on the internet that the Danish stage director Kasper Holten, who has a major success while director of London’s Royal Opera form 2011-2017, and stages opera for the world’s most important opera companies, might be directing part or all of this Denmark landmark, A survey of the internet and found no information circulating which would support this speculation. My inquiry to the press office produced this response:
“Thank you for your interest in The Royal Danish Theater.
In our pressroom, we have two press releases regarding Kasper Holten. In the press releases, we have comments from the head of our board Lisbeth Knudsen, Kasper Holten and from coworker Nicolai Bentsen.
I hope it is useful for you, even though it is in Danish.
Kind regards”
I was not able to locate any press release available at the press internet site, in Danish or any other language. The fact that they publish their press offerings only in Danish is contrary to the practice of every other European cultural institution, who would normally seek international recognition. It is a practice that seems militantly provincial. I was invited to the opening of the dramatic new opera house in 2004 and remember press staff at the time as helpful and kind. When Kasper Holten arrives at the The Royal Danish Theater he will certainly have some housecleaning to do.
There is good news from the Paris Opéra which might somewhat offset the dismal recent news on this site of sexual harassment and alleged poor management of the Opéra’s world-renowned ballet company. That bad news might go someway to explain the early departure of Benjamin Millepied as ballet director in February of 2016 after only 15 months on the job. Stephane Lissner, the opera’s CEO, brought him in from Los Angeles, where he was working with the 8 dancers of the L. A. Dance Project. Suddenly he was working with 20 times that number and charged with renovating a company that is 350 years old. One suspects that he was a creative type suddenly burdened with substantial organizational detail and likely never quite adjusted to his new role. (His L. A. Dance Project is coincidentally opening tonight, April 20 – the first night of a four night visit at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.)
Here is some good news: the balance sheet for the Opéra National de Paris is positive. Last month the Board of Directors approved the financial accounting for 2017 and the numbers were good. After 2016, marked by strikes and Parisian terrorist attacks, calendar year 2017 found significant improvements in attendance and finances. In an interview in Les Echos (the French equivalent to The Wall Street Journal), Lissner described an operating profit of 3,48 million euros with 91.4% of all seats sold at the Opéra Garnier and Opéra Bastille for a total attendance of 840,378 (23% of which are foreign visitors). He has put serious caps on the production budgets and the operating budget is under control, with a payroll increase of less than 2%. Private patronage, with 15.69 million euros collected, “is an increase of 13.2% over 2016, and 70% compared to 2014,” said the accounting statement and the revenue from visitors touring the Palais Garnier increased by 21%.
Lissner’s efforts to avoid strikes in 2017 were a success to be noted. There are six unions representing those working at the Opéra and ballet and the employees are well-represented. However, in 2016, there were six strikes, often last-minute and causing performances to be cancelled. These strikes did not involve in-house labor issues but were in sympathy with nation-wide social movements. Lissner, in a letter to all employees, detailed the problems that these strikes had for the Opéra: full houses mean replacement tickets are hard to find, expensive singers have to be paid anyway and he described other costs which could not be recouped. These blows to the budget, he explained, could damage the Opéra’s larger artistic mission. Since that letter to employees, there has been no further strikes at the Opéra. Ongoing Macron government reforms are causing strikes at present but so far they have been limited to the institutions affected by the labor issues.
Also, there might be soon six-packs of beer for sale at the Paris Opéra gift shop. In the last few weeks, three hundred feet of hops were planted on the roof of the Opéra Bastille in the 12th Arrondissement. It is part of an initial effort that is anticipated will eventually produce annually several thousand liters of artisanal beer. There will also be a vegetable garden of some 5,300 square meters. This city-encouraged effort is part of the continuing ’greening’ of Paris.
MUNICH — Bayreuth’s Rococo gem of a theater, the Markgräfliches Opernhaus, will reopen April 12 after a five-year, €32-million restoration. On the bill, fittingly: Hasse’s Artaserse (1730), as mounted by the Theater-Akademie August Everding.
Like virtually every public project in Germany these days, the effort took longer than expected and went over budget. Little or no funding came as a result of the building’s 2012 inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage “property” just before work began, leaving Bavarian taxpayers to foot essentially the whole tab.
Carlo Galli Bibiena created his sumptuous interior entirely in wood, with canvas, under the remote eye of his famous father Giuseppe. It sits within an urbane masonry shell by architect Joseph Saint-Pierre, all on orders from Wilhelmine of Prussia. The doors first opened in 1748 for stagings of Jommelli’s Ezio and the Hasse opera. Two years later, Saint-Pierre finished his façade.
The restorers progressed meticulously, from the ceiling down through the loges. Their mantra: “as bright and colorful as [when new].” Stage and proscenium have been remade in their 18th-century form, reversing Nazi-era structural changes. 4,500 bricks have been replaced.
Michael Hofstetter will conduct Artaserse, which transfers in May to the Theater-Akademie’s home here. Next Thursday’s premiere and attendant festivities will video-stream starting at 12:30 p.m. EDT at www.br.de [slash] franken. A tight-squeeze matinee concert May 1 by the Berlin Philharmonic, paying tribute to the Wagner town with the Wesendonck-Lieder, plus Beethoven, will likewise show online: 5 a.m. EDT at www.br-klassik.de [slash] concert.
MUNICH — Bavaria’s Culture Ministry, responsible for Bayerische Staatsoper and Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, among many other entities, underwent a sudden double shake-up this morning with the firing of its cheerful chief, Ludwig Spaenle, and an organizational severing into two parts.
Bernd Sibler, 47, is the new Kultusminister. The former Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Bildung und Kultus, Wissenschaft und Kunst (Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Culture, Science and Art) is now two ministries, divided at that comma for the third time in its history. In a more subtle change, the word Bildung (learning) has been replaced with the sterner term Unterricht (instruction).
The shake-up came at the behest of Bavaria’s forceful new Minister-Präsident, Markus Söder, 51, who replaced Horst Seehofer when the latter joined Angela Merkel’s cabinet in Berlin last week as Federal Minister of the Interior. (The two are pictured.) Merkel and Seehofer, who differ on the sore topic of immigration, belong to the CDU party and its Bavarian ally, the CSU, respectively. Söder and Sibler are CSU members.
It is unclear what moves Söder, through Sibler, will make on Bavaria’s lavish arts budgets. He has been Seehofer’s Finanzminister these last seven years, and known as a fiscal hawk not much connected to the classical music scene.
Bavarian King Ludwig I established the Culture Ministry in 1847, soon broadening it to embrace “all aspects of upbringing, instruction, morals, spiritual and artistic learning, and the institutions for them.” It became a state body in 1918, when the monarchy fell; a purveyor of Nazi ideology in schools and universities, art and culture, in 1933; and a champion of freedom, rule of law, and democracy after the Second World War.
Minister-PräsidentFranz Josef Strauß in 1986 was the first to divide the ministry, on the pattern now mimicked by Söder. It was reunited in 1990, divided again eight years later, and reunited in 2013. Its spiritual mandate never disappeared: Kultus means worship, or adoration, as well as culture.
MUNICH — Judging from reports around the country here, the Houston Symphony Orchestra today returns to Texas mission-accomplished. The clarity of its tone colors, the exuberance of its brass section, the articulate luster of its strings — all have been remarked upon during an eleven-day tour to busy German cities (plus Brussels, Vienna and Warsaw) already awash in art music. Last night’s concert in the Gasteig certified the plaudits, although the advance acclaim had not filled every seat. Stronger programming might have helped. Music director Andrés Orozco Estrada opened with the so-called Overture to West Side Story (1956), “a compilation of tunes not made by [Bernstein]” (Jack Gottlieb), when he could have chosen the work’s tense and authentic Prologue and thrown a cleverer light on his musicians. A heavily pregnant Hilary Hahn then meandered in good taste and with pure intonation through the same composer’s conceited Serenade after Plato’s Symposium (1954), unable to do much about its weak structure but sensitively supported by harpist Megan Conley and six astute percussionists. Dvořák’s D-Minor Seventh Symphony (1885) received a brilliantly flowing, sunny performance, with smooth work from the Houston horns and much soft, detailed playing. The Vienna-based, Colombian-Austrian maestro, who learned music at a school next to the rainforest east of Medellín, and first conducted there, will be with the 105-year-old HSO until at least 2022. An ideal appointment, on the evidence.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer…because we are just about the ruin it. So be prepared for some serious sunburn, chiggers, sand fleas, and food poisoning as we give you the latest updates:
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