“These are my principles. If you don’t like them……well I have others!” Groucho Marx
The outstanding Executive Director, Henriette Goetz, has twice been on the receiving end of the vagaries of artistic directors, as well as at times unprincipled politics, to the detriment of her personal and working life.
The position today however in Basel is much worse. For 18 months since early 2019, Goetz had been the Executive Director in control of operations and finance at the Basel Opera House, working with previous management. There was harmony in the House with the three different disciplines - theatre, dance and opera - working together, even at a Covid-19 time when closure made life very difficult.
The Board however decided to appoint a new Intendant in the summer of 2020, being the young and inexperienced German Director Benedikt von Peter who, when he departed Lucerne, probably left behind a palpable sigh of relief. It took only 8 weeks for him to rid Basel of a financially astute Goetz at a time when the financial problems caused by Covid were extreme. Von Peter riled against alteration to his artistic programme and believed that whatever the Covid effects, his art should not suffer and if there was a deficit, the City of Basel and their residents would pay up. He fought hard against the financial probity introduced by Goetz in this pandemic era.
Unbelievably, during this dispute between senior colleagues and to the detriment of the City of Basel, the Board backed von Peter. They felt that with his appointment only 8 weeks old, they really couldn’t be seen backing anyone other than ‘their man’. Interestingly the Chairman, Michael Willi, communicated to all the staff that the Intendant would now be in control of everything and that they would take their time to find a new Executive Director.
How long will it take the Board to understand the terrible mistake they have made? It is clear that the unions, chorus and technical staff, all of whom have written an open letter to the Board demanding a meeting of all the staff and decrying the board’s actions in ridding Basel of Goetz, are aware of the potential consequences of putting von Peter in full control. It raises the question as to whether the Board or its Chairman really retain any real credibility in ultimately being responsible for the running of the Opera House?
This Board, which is a mix of politics and private mandates, with a former banker Chairman who apparently has great communication skills, seem to have proved that ‘the lunatics really do run the asylum’. Putting the Intendant in charge of Swiss tax payers money is like allowing ‘a fox to run wild in the chicken coup’. Even if the Chairman is proving to be solidly inept, what about the rest of the Board members? Caroline Barthe the Vice Chairman, Catherine Alioth, Adrienne Develey, Thomas Gelzer, Martin Luchinger, Meinrad Morger, Baltz Stuckelberger and Veronica Schaller. Have they all stood by and allowed the starting gun to be fired towards financial ruin or will they all rise up in 6 months and realise their mistake and change the Intendant?
It would have been easy for Goetz to change her principles and allow von Peter to run riot in order to preserve her job. That she didn’t do so speaks volumes for her credibility – and that she was fired as a result says more about the credibility of the Basel Opera Board – or lack of it – than anything else.
Opera Spy will continue to watch this story, which has been so underreported in the local Basel press. Perhaps like the Board they are feared of their new Intendant!
