The Board of Directors of Opernhaus Zürich AG has appointed Andreas Homoki as the new General Manager of the Zurich Opera House. Homoki, who is currently General Manager of the Komische Oper in Berlin, Germany, will assume his new duties in summer 2012. Alexander Pereira, the Zurich Opera House’s present General Manager, will thus remain in office one year longer than originally envisaged.
The Board of Directors of Opernhaus Zürich AG created a New Appointment Committee about a year ago to help seek a successor to Alexander Pereira, its current General Manager. The Committee consisted of former Zurich City Mayor Josef Estermann (chair), Peter Wuffli (deputy chair), Zurich Government Councillor Markus Notter and Zurich City Arts & Culture Officer Susanna Tanner. It was further supported in its work by Sir Peter Jonas, General Manager of the Bavarian State Opera and First Chairman of the German Opera Conference (until 2006), by Gerhard Brunner, Director of the Executive Master’s in Arts Administration Programme at Zurich University, and by Clemens Hoegl, Managing Partner at Egon Zehnder International Switzerland.
The Committee devised a requirements profile for the General Manager’s post which included artistic credentials, the capacity to communicate an artistic concept, proven leadership abilities, experience in managing an opera company and personal qualities such as openness and pronounced social skills. The candidate would also be required to commit to the Zurich post for some ten years, and should therefore be broadly middle-aged.
Equipped with this profile, the Committee conducted an extensive survey of the opera houses of Europe and their executive personnel, with a special focus on German-speaking countries, and also looked into the current commitments of the individuals concerned. As a result of these investigations, the Committee drew up a shortlist of around a dozen possible candidates for the Zurich post, selected a preferred candidate from among these, and was delighted to secure his services for the position.
The Board of Directors of Opernhaus Zürich AG is thus pleased to present Andreas Homoki as the new General Manager of the Zurich Opera House. Homoki, who was born in 1960, is an experienced director who is currently General Manager of the Komische Oper in Berlin.
The Komische Oper has a unique reputation within the opera world. Andreas Homoki was appointed its Artistic Director from the 2002/2003 season, succeeding Harry Kupfer, and was subsequently appointed General Manager from the 2003/2004 season. During his tenure, Homoki has brought the Komische Oper centrestage in discussions of opera interpretation today, and has given even greater depth and definition to the ensemble’s musical profile.
Andreas Homoki is not only a director of international renown, he is also a General Manager in every sense of the term: leader, motivator, interpreter and editor-in-chief. In his time with the Komische Oper he has created an artistic ambience that has spawned a string of top-quality productions. And it is no surprise that the Komische Oper was voted 'Opera House of the Year' in 2007 in the annual critics’ poll conducted by the specialist Opernwelt magazine.
"I am greatly looking forward to my new work in Switzerland, where the great opera traditions of Italy, France and the German-speaking world converge like nowhere else on Earth,” said Andreas Homoki upon his appointment. “I am delighted to have this opportunity to build on the truly excellent achievements of Alexander Pereira. And I am thrilled at the prospect of presenting innovative opera productions on a stage that has been setting the highest of artistic standards for several years now."
Andreas Homoki will take up his new position as General Manager of the Zurich Opera House in summer 2012. An agreement has been reached with the Mayor of Berlin that his present Komische Oper employment be terminated at the end of the 2011/2012 season.
Alexander Pereira will remain in office one year longer than previously envisaged. The Board of Directors of Opernhaus Zürich AG is pleased to know that in the transitional year, too, the Zurich Opera House and its activities will remain in the most capable of hands. The arrangement will also make Pereira the longest-serving General Manager in the Zurich Opera House’s history.
Alexander Pereira has been pivotal in the recent development of the Zurich Opera House, leading the company to strong and sustained success. He will continue to keep it firmly on course in the years immediately ahead. And the Board of Directors of Opernhaus Zürich AG is convinced that Andreas Homoki will both build on and further develop the achievements of his predecessor and write many more chapters in the Zurich Opera House’s continuing success story.
For further information please contact:
Opernhaus ZürichNadia StefanizziMedienverantwortlicheFalkenstrasse 1CH-8008 ZürichTel. +41-(0)44 268 64 18medienabteilung@opernhaus.chwww.opernhaus.ch