The Vienna State Opera was thrown into turmoil just days after its new season began when its general music director, Franz Welser-Möst, abruptly resigned on Friday and withdrew from all his scheduled performances there, citing “irreconcilable differences of opinion regarding the company’s artistic planning and profile.”
The bombshell announcement left one of the most prestigious posts in the opera world empty, sent the Vienna State Opera scrambling to find replacement conductors for Mr. Welser-Möst’s 34 planned performances this season and set off what promises to be an intense round of jockeying by maestros – and their managers – with dreams of a Vienna succession.
After a period of simmering hostilities, Mr. Welser-Möst handed in a letter of resignation on Friday to the Vienna State Opera’s artistic director, Dominique Meyer. While the details of their artistic differences remained murky, Mr. Welser-Möst, who declined to be interviewed, suggested in a statement that they involved casting, guest conductors and productions.
While walking away from Vienna, one of the greatest jobs in all of classical music, may appear perplexing, there is actually a long tradition of musicians either opting to leave the post or being forced out of it, dating back to Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.
Source: The New York Times, September 5
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The Vienna music community is very confusing to me but as the Vienna Philharmonic has no resident conductor, it is the Vienna State Opera that is in high drama, isn’t it? The two are not one and the same, although all the musicians are plucked from the Opera orchestra. This info taken from
http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2013/2/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-Vienna-Philharmonic