Academy Opera Today 2013 / 2014 - Deutsche Bank Stiftung

page 6
Prof. Klaus Zehelein
Educated in musicology, philosophy
and German studies. Began his
career as a dramatic advisor in Kiel.
Chief dramatic advisor and lecturer
for music sociology in Oldenburg
since 1970. 1977, chief dramatic
advisor at the Oper Frankfurt a.M.,
promoted to coordinated opera
director. Guest professor at the
State University of Minnesota, the
Collège International de Philosophie
in Paris, the University of Applied
Arts, Vienna and the Institute for
Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen.
1991–2006, artistic director of the
Staatsoper Stuttgart which was
named opera house of the year six
times during his tenure. President
of the Deutsche Bühnenverein since
May 2003 and of the Bayerische
Theaterakademie August Everding
since 2006.
that starts with children, who have a keen
sense of whether they are being taken
seriously or simply regarded as customers
and consumers that we want to acquire to
boost visitor numbers. And above all I
think that we should run as many theater
projects as possible that allow kids and
young people themselves to sing, play,
dance and act. The way that people best
take art into their lives is through playful,
fun experiences with music and theater.
That doesn't absolve schools of their duty
to provide children with practical access to
art. But constantly talking about what others
should be doing gets us nowhere either.
It's about opening up the largest possible
number of spaces where young people can
take their own journey of discovery to find
out what music and theater does for them.
3
Against this background, what are the
challenges facing educational institutions?
Elena Tzavara Education should be a safe
space where young artists can experiment
and discover themselves. Educators should
focus on teaching what's expected of
artists today and what they have to be able
to do, and making sure that their teaching
remains up to date. Also, young artists need
to be given a frank, honest view of their
career prospects in terms of their talent, and
their potential for artistic development.
Andreas Rochholl At the moment there's
a lack of cultural richness and diversity in
education. There needs to be a drastic
change to open up today's elitist values.
Educational content and structures, and
educators themselves, need to be more
outward looking. Cultural identity is
something that people go on seeking and
reviving and trying to make it fit with the
raw edges of past and future. In any case,
the unilateral focus on competition in the
classical music niche is purely bound up
with the artificially-maintained public
service market. There is ignorance around
all other musical directions and that needs
breaking down. The key to that may be the
increasing personal responsibility of artists
themselves. We are all co-responsible for
cultural diversity as it stands. The dominant
Karsten Wiegand
Educated in German studies,
political studies and business
administration. He has been
working as a dramatic advisor
since 1994 and more recently as
a theater director. Winner of the
2001 Bayerischen Theaterpreis.
From 2008–2013 he was opera
director at the Deutsche National -
theater in Weimar. From 2014 he
will be the new artistic director
at the Staatstheater Darmstadt.
world view in universities remains
Eurocentric. Content isn't even pan-
European yet, let alone internationally
integrated. Anyone who were to examine
the values of our pluralistic society as
expressed in conservatoire content would
be shocked to see where we really stand
politically.
Prof. Klaus Zehelein Given that most
university singing coaches consider
contemporary music non-existent and that
they generally perceive and present it as
vocally damaging, it remains a challenge.
Karsten Wiegand Theater professionals
and teachers in educational institutions
can work closely with each other to try to
understand what challenges we share and
how we can rise to them. I cannot and
would not wish to tell my colleagues what
their challenges are, and I have no panacea
to offer them. ///
Pictures, top: musical prelude by
members of the Berliner Philharmoniker