It’s happening at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and is a big deal. A new Intendant (Artistic Director, and head of the Theater). He’s bringing in a new team and has planned next season, beginning with a Stockhausen piece which includes a string quartet videoed in from helicopters. He’s also managed to avoid having a General Music Direktor, often a countervailing force by appointing several ‘resident’ conductors who will regularly conduct at the theater. The GMD and Intendant are sometimes at loggerheads, sometimes for good reasons and sometimes not, so this will save the new Intendant many headaches and possibly give him more scope to impose his vwill.
It is not an easy thing to change a Theater’s culture and operations, so a new Intendant has many rights to make changes, but these are not unlimited. For singers on renewable contracts and opera studio singers it’s often time to change jobs or face being ‘swept out’ when the new boss decides to clean house. Chorus and orchestra members are protected from this kind of arbitrary change. The DOB is part of the City of Berlin’s “Stiftung” so is probably governed by special rules, and I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything important, but it’s always an adventure.