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NY TIMES
March 2, 2004
A New Act in Berlin's Opera Wars
By ALAN RIDING

BERLIN - From the start of the prolonged offstage drama that has been
convulsing Berlin's opera world since the late 1990's, two inescapable and
contradictory realities seemed likely to determine the outcome.
Financially, the city government could no longer afford to maintain three
opera houses in the style to which they had become accustomed.
Politically, it could not afford to close any of them.
The solution that has now been imposed by the Berlin Senate, amid squeals
of dismay and sighs of resignation, was predictable. The three opera
houses - the Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Deutsche Oper and
the Komische Oper - will remain open, but they must cut costs, including
220 jobs, and learn to live on smaller subsidies. They are also to share
workshops, and will shortly merge their three ballet companies into a
single Staatsballett Berlin.
"We are starting a new chapter," said Georg Vierthaler, the Staatsoper's
managing director, in an interview last month. "In time we will see if it
is a comedy, drama or tragedy."
With the German economy in a slump, traditionally generous cultural
subsidies are being trimmed across the country. Berlin's situation,
though, is special. During the cold war, governments on both sides of the
divided city promoted culture for propaganda purposes. After 1990, a
united Berlin inherited three opera houses, eight orchestras and 17
theaters, but it lost many of its financial privileges.
As its budget deficit mounted through the 1990's, the city's coddled opera
houses became targets for austerity measures. The opera managements
protested, with the Staatsoper's music director, Daniel Barenboim,
threatening to resign. But dependent on city government subsidies for $142
million of their collective $196 million annual budget, the houses could
not elude political pressure.
And as they came under the spotlight, something else was revealed: they
were in need of a good shake-up. For 14 years the three houses - the
Deutsche Oper in former West Berlin and the Staatsoper and Komische Oper
in former East Berlin - have been operating as independent fiefs,
mirroring the old divide. Now they will be expected to respond more
faithfully to the interests of a united Berlin.
Though it is once again the federal capital, Berlin is a relatively poor
city lacking an industrial or financial base. One of its principal assets
is culture, not only its fine museums and the legendary Berlin
Philharmonic but also its opera houses. Yet unlike, say, the Vienna State
Opera, Berlin opera houses have never reached out to tourists, even though
attendance by Berliners is falling. Now Berlin's politicians want more for
their money.
The key is the creation of the new Berlin Opera Foundation. Headed by a
general manager to be named by the city, the foundation will have control
over the three opera houses, the new Staatsballett and the service company
that will manage costume and d�cor workshops. The foundation's component
parts are all represented on a 10-member executive board, and have
collective responsibility for opera and ballet in Berlin.
"In the past when they were in debt they'd come to the Senate and hold out
their hand and ask for help," said Barbara Kisseler, the city's under
secretary for culture, who is overseeing the reform. "Now this has to be
sorted out by the foundation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/02/arts/music/02BERL.html?pagewanted=print&position=