Georg Quander (born 29 November 1950) is a German opera and film director, music journalist, writer and culture manager. From 1991 to 2002, he was artistic director of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. From 2005 to 2013, he was councillor for arts and culture of the city of Cologne. [1] Since 2018, he has been the artistic director of the Musikkultur Rheinsberg gGmbH.
Quander was born in Düsseldorf. Quander, the son of the veterinarian Joachim Quander, studied theatre studies, musicology, art history and Altamerikanistik at the FU Berlin after his Abitur in 1970 at the Görres-Gymnasium in Düsseldorf. He worked since 1973 during his studies as a dramaturge, freelance music journalist and author for various radio stations, newspapers and cultural institutions. From 1979, Quander was music editor at the then Sender Freies Berlin radio and television station (until 1987), and from 1988 to 1991 he worked as head of the music and entertainment department at the then Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor Berlin.
From 1991 to 2002, he was artistic director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin alongside the general music director Daniel Barenboim. During this time, he transformed the GDR state opera into a modern opera company and reduced the number of employees from around 1,400 to 700, without any scandals. In addition to the artistic re-profiling of the house, his main concern was to return the opera house Unter den Linden to the ranks of the world's leading opera houses, to which it had always belonged in its long history and before the Nazi era and German division. He engaged renowned directors such as Harry Kupfer, Patrice Chéreau, Dieter Dorn, Jürgen Flimm, Peter Mussbach and Peter Greenaway and brought in conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Carlo Maria Giulini, Christoph von Dohnányi, Georg Solti and Michael Gielen regularly to the house. [2] A particular focus of the work was the cultivation of the baroque and pre-classical operatic repertoire, most of which was realised in collaboration with the conductor René Jacobs and for the first time in the repertoire of a major opera house, consistently on original instruments in accordance with the findings of historical performance practice. In addition, Quander repeatedly commissioned world premières. [3] [4] [5]
In 2001, the Bremen Senate appointed him professor. [6] As an honorary professor, he taught in the part-time course Music and Cultural Management at the Bremen University of Applied Sciences.
On 28 April 2005, Georg Quander, who is not a member of any political party, was elected by a large majority of the Cologne City Council for a term of eight years as Head of the Department of Arts and Culture on the proposal of the CDU and the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands. [7] He thus succeeded Marie Hüllenkremer, who died suddenly, after the candidacy of Christoph Nix , the theatre director in Kassel, failed.
During his term of office, Quander worked, among other things, for a considerable increase in the culture budget, which was raised by about 50 % from € 99 million to € 156 million in the years up to 2009. He strengthened the budgets of Cologne's 9 municipal museums, restored their acquisition and exhibition budgets, ensured better funding for the opera, theatre and Gürzenich Orchestra as well as increased support for the independent scene. [8]
Under the motto Cultural Metropolis on the Rhine, a cultural development plan was drawn up at the end of 2008, which was then discussed and adopted by the city council. [9] In Quanders Kölner Amtszeit fällt auch die Eröffnung der Akademie der Künste der Welt Köln und des Zentrums für Alte Musik. Quander war Mitglied des Kulturausschusses des Deutscher Städtetag sowie von 2007 bis 2013 Vorsitzender des NRW KULTURsekretariat .
Quander also made numerous important personnel decisions for Cologne's cultural life. For example, he brought the director Karin Beier to the Schauspiel Köln as artistic director, which under her leadership developed into one of the most successful German drama theatres, was voted Theatre of the Year several times and was regularly invited to the Theatertreffen in Berlin. [10] She was succeeded by Stefan Bachmann in 2013 at Quander's suggestion. After Christoph Damann's departure, he appointed Uwe Eric Laufenberg as artistic director of the Cologne Opera in 2009, who successfully repositioned it and won the title of Critics' Poll of the Opernwelt for his 2011/12 season. At the same time, the house was voted Annoyance of the Year because the city of Cologne had terminated Laufenberg's contract without notice (and later had to agree to a mutually agreed cancellation of the contract). [11] Quander's term of office also saw new appointments to the directorates of the Historical Archives, the City Library and the City Conservator, as well as 6 of the 9 city museum directors. [12]
In 2009, the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne collapsed due to the construction of the underground railway. The majority of the valuable historical documents from over 1000 years of the city's history, which were buried under rubble, were recovered in an unprecedented rescue operation and have since been made readable and usable again in the large newly established restoration and digitisation centre.. [13] [14]
In December 2012, the Council of the City of Cologne voted against his re-election as Head of the Department of Culture. [15] The parliamentary groups of SPD, Greens and FDP voted against, the CDU, Linke and the remaining council members voted for an extension. Numerous cultural initiatives, such as the theatre conference and initiatives of the independent scene, the Cologne Cultural Network, the Cologne Cultural Council, heads of municipal cultural institutions, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the sponsoring associations of the municipal museums in Cologne and the staff council of the cultural administration had spoken out in favour of his re-election. Quander's term of office ended on 31 May 2013. [16] [17]
In the years 2014–2018, Quander worked freelance. For example, he filmed a four-part television documentary on the opera houses in North Rhine-Westphalia for WDR, whose extensive research he also published as a book in the Cologne Wieland Verlag . Furthermore, at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music Johann Adolph Hasse's early opera Semele. In 2018, he was appointed by the supervisory board of Musikkultur Rheinsberg gGmbH as artistic director of the institute that emerged from the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg and the Bundes- und Landesmusikakademie Rheinsberg. [18] [19] Here he is responsible for the profile and further development of the Music Academy as well as the International Festival of Young Opera Singers founded by Siegfried Matthus. In 2019, he also founded the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg [20] and staged Domenico Cimarosa's famous but rarely performed opera Gli Orazio e i Curiazi. as part of the summer festival.
Georg Quander was married to Jutta, née Blaznik (1954–2013), and has two daughters.
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden, also known as the Berlin State Opera, is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from 1741 to 1743 according to plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in the Palladian style. Damaged during the Allied bombing in World War II, the former Royal Prussian Opera House was rebuilt from 1951 to 1955 as part of the Forum Fridericianum square. Nicknamed Lindenoper in Berlin, it is "the first theater anywhere to be, by itself, a prominent, freestanding monumental building in a city."
Kammersänger (male) or Kammersängerin (female), abbreviated Ks. or KS, is a German honorific title for distinguished singers of opera and classical music. It literally means "chamber singer". Historically, the title was bestowed by princes or kings, when it was styled Hofkammersänger(in), where hof refers to the royal court.
Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg is an international opera festival for young singers, founded and first directed by composer Siegfried Matthus. It takes place every summer at the historical Schloss Rheinsberg, in Brandenburg, Germany. The festival presents the winners of the International Singing Competition Schloss Rheinsberg, in which about 450 candidates from all over the world participate every year.
Misha Aster is a Canadian producer, director, writer and educator specialising in opera and classical music.
The Tauzieher is a limestone sculpture by Nikolaus Friedrich which was erected in 1911 in Rheinauhafen, Cologne. It depicts a man making a heavy rope or hawser fast to a bollard and is 6.5 metres in height. In 1980, it was listed as one of the first heritage sites in Cologne.
Georges Delnon is a Swiss theatre director, artistic director and professor. From 2006 to 2015 he was the artistic director of the Theater Basel and he took over the management of the Hamburg State Opera in 2015.
Michael Boder is a German conductor of opera and concert who works internationally. The chief conductor of the Royal Danish Theatre, he has conducted regularly at the Vienna State Opera, including the premieres of Cerha's Der Riese vom Steinfeld and Reimann's Medea. He also conducted the premieres of operas by Dusapin, Enescu, Henze, Lombardi, Penderecki and Trojahn.
The Kölnische Rundschau is a regional, independent daily newspaper for the Cologne/Bonn area. It is edited by Cologne Heinen-Verlag, which has its own independent local editorial office. The production of the national section was taken over by the Bonn General-Anzeiger during the first quarter of 2010. In the first quarter of 2018, the joint edition with the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger sold 251,994 copies, a loss of 40% since 1999.
Hiltrud Kier is an Austrian art historian and academic. She was city conservator to Cologne and Director General of the city's museums, with her term including the Year of Romanesque Churches in 1985. She popularised the preservation of monuments and was committed to 1950s buildings.
The Rheinsberg Music Academy is an academy for music in Rheinsberg, Brandenburg, Germany. It was co-founded by Ulrike Liedtke and is now a national and state institution, educating both lay people and professionals. It is based at Schloss Rheinsberg and uses the theatre there for performances.
Rut Berglund, also Ruth Berglund was a Swedish operatic mezzo-soprano and contralto, who was engaged in Germany from 1924 to 1944. She was personally appointed Kammersängerin by Adolf Hitler.
Käthe Heidersbach was a German operatic soprano.
Manos Tsangaris is a German composer, musician, sound art installation and performance artist, and a poet.
Heinz Rückert was a German opera director. He was one of the co-founders of the Halle Georg Friedrich Handel Renaissance.
James Saunders was an American dancer, choreographer and movement teacher.
Benjamin-Helge Bruns is a German operatic tenor.
Günter Rimkus was a German dramaturge and, from 1984 to 1991, manager of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
Michael Hampe was a German theatre and opera director, general manager (Intendant) and actor. He developed from acting and directing plays at German and Swiss theatres including the Bern Theatre, to focus on directing opera and managing opera houses, first at the Mannheim National Theatre, then the Cologne Opera from 1975. He was professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln since 1977. Hampe was influential for both the Salzburg Festival and, after the reunification of Germany, the Dresden Music Festival for which he commissioned and directed world premieres. He directed at international opera houses and festivals, including productions recorded for television, film and DVD.
Erich Witte was a German stage actor, operatic tenor and opera director. He was based for almost five decades at the Berlin State Opera, and performed leading roles at major opera houses in Europe and at the Metropolitan opera. He participated in world premieres, including Louise Talma's Die Alkestiade and Alan Bush's Joe Hill.
The Kölnische Stadtmuseum is the municipal history museum of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is housed in the building of the historic Zeughaus with the adjacent Prussian Alte Wache Zeughaus.
{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Interview in akt. Die Kölner Theaterzeitung 28/2011, December 2011.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Biographical dictionaries | |
| Other | |
