Editorial

Ashutosh Khandekar - Editor
From the current issue of Opera Now

Germany is the powerhouse of opera, with more theatres producing more evenings of opera per capita than anywhere else in the world. For many Germans, having a thriving opera house in the heart of their community is an important part of their sense of civic pride. And though state subsidies for opera have been eroded in recent years, they still look comparatively healthy alongside the rest of the world.

The opera sector in Germany is kept strong and dynamic because the nation invests in its artistic workforce. Appointments to top jobs at opera houses are rarely haphazard or financially driven, as they tend to be in the UK or the US. There is a clear career path for Intendants (a job  that combines artistic and management skills) who are thoroughly experienced business people but are also capable of making informed artistic decisions that keep the art form alive and the audience interested and stimulated.

As Tom Sutcliffe discovers in his profile of the German opera scene in this issue (which includes German-speaking Austria and Switzerland), one of the reasons that opera thrives in Germany is that it accommodates change and is able to adapt to new trends. The country has a broad base of  talent to draw upon which means that opera never stagnates. You only have to look at the way a lot of Italian opera is run, with its mafioso factions and the same names and faces cropping up time after time in opera houses up and down the country.  

The lesson to learn from Germany? Change is good for the arts, and that the engine of change is investing in people who bring a wide range of skills and perspectives to the table.