General Music Director resigns from Finnish National Opera

Mikko Franck took up position as chief conductor only last autumn

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The General Music Director of the troubled Finnish National Opera Mikko Franck has decided to resign from his post. He informed the staff about his resignation on Wednesday afternoon.
      Franck said that he had lost his confidence in both the Opera's General Director Erkki Korhonen and Administrative Director Pekka Kauranen. He thinks that the decisions of the two directors are disastrous to the artistic future of the National Opera.
      "The administrative director has assumed authority over issues that are not within his competence and which actually belong to the general director. The situation is chaotic, as the general director is just standing by and is not managing the establishment", Franck reports.
     
Franck believes that he has to step down from his post, as he has no influence on the decisions which are being made at the Opera.
      According to the musicians in the orchestra, Franck's resignation is only one more indication of the Opera's "administrative chaos resembling a state of liquidation".
     
Franck vehemently opposes Kauranen's idea of a five-day week to be implemented in the Opera's production from 2008 onwards. This would cut down the number of performances on the Opera's main stage by as much as a fifth. Franck argues that the financial impact of the reductions cannot be known accurately enough.
      "The five-day week would cut also the number of rehearsals on the main stage, which means that they have to be held in rehearsal halls, without any stage setting and orchestra", Franck concluded.
     
Franck says that he feels a sense of longing now that he has decided to leave the National Opera.
      "The Opera has a top-class orchestra and choir, as well as a number of excellent soloists, and the ballet is at a high level. The entire personnel are excellent and the attitudes towards work are good. Initially I accepted this post as the Opera had so much artistic potential."
      Mikko Franck, born in 1979, was appointed as General Music Director in the spring of 2004, becoming the youngest chief conductor in the history of the National Opera. He started his 5-year term on August 1st, 2006, with 12 months' notice. His term was to have continued until 2011, but as of now he will leave on February 14th 2008.
     
At the Finnish National Opera, Mikko Franck has conducted performances of The Magic Flute, L'Elisir d'amore, Don Giovanni, and Tosca, as well as the premières of La Bohème, Khovanshchina, Manon Lescaut, Parsifal, and Yevgeny Onegin, and the world première of Rasputin composed by Einojuhani Rautavaara. Franck's future works include for example Tosca and L'Elisir d'amore at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Ring series at Deutsche Oper, and Salome at the Metropolitan Opera.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Strapped Finnish National Opera to cut down on performances (18.1.2007)
  National Opera to reduce staff by 40; two-month layoff for all in summer 2007 (27.4.2006)
  Leif Segerstam ends conducting "boycott" at National Opera (1.3.2006)

Links:
  Finnish National Opera
  Mikko Franck (Wikipedia)

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