Barenboim Threatens To Quit Berlin Opera Company

Berlin Staatsoper director Daniel Barenboim has threatened to quit the company if a planned city reorganization of Berlin’s three opera companies goes through. Barenboim told the German daily Die Zeit that “the federation would jeopardise his artistic integrity as it had the final say in determining the Staatsoper’s programme. ‘Without changing the titles, the three directors have been reduced to vice-directors, because suddenly there is someone above them who dictates what they can and cannot do. If I can’t perform something that is musically important to me, I will not continue this job.”