Janos Csak, Minister in charge of Culture and Innovation, announced the submission of an application for the position of General Director of the Hungarian State Opera on August 8, 2022, for a fixed term of up to five years. Applications had to be submitted within 30 working days of posting on www.kormany.hu, and this happened during the month of September. A meeting of the professional committee to review applications had to take place within 30 days of the application deadline, and this also took place in October.
Based on the Proclamation and Government Decree on the Application Procedure for Election of the President of a Performing Arts Organization and the rules for filling the position, the appointing authority exerciser will decide to fill the position within 30 days of the date of appointment. Meeting of the professional committee, taking into account the opinion of the professional committee. According to our information, this also happened in November. Knowing the decision, the Ministry of Culture and Innovation announces and publishes the winner on the website www.kormany.hu, on the page of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation – but we have been waiting in vain since then.
What could be in the background?
From the foregoing, it can be seen that we have exceeded all tender deadlines for the position of general director of the Hungarian State Opera, although it is true that we cannot find a deadline for announcing the winner in the call for tenders. At the same time, if the new general manager or the new old one wants to start work on merit, it would be nice to know about the decision by the end of November. (In 2017, for example, it was announced on November 14 that Szilveszter Ókovács had been given the CEO position for another five years, starting on February 15, 2018).
What could be in the background? On November 15, 2022, the index wrote that the winner of the general manager’s tender could be announced within days. According to our information, the decision was already made at that time. We also wrote that there are two applicants for the presidency of the Hungarian State Opera: in addition to the current general director, Szilveszter Ókovács, the conductor György Ráth Győriványi, who previously held the position of chief music director three times for shorter periods. The opera-loving architect Gabor Zubucki – credited with the large-scale renovation of the Opera House – ultimately did not submit his application due to the prevailing economic situation.
Among the successes of Szilveszter Ókovács’ period, we can count the fact that he reopened the Erkel Theater, designed and executed the Eiffel workshop, and the Ybl palace in Andrássy was also extensively renovated during his administration. At the same time, many conflicts were associated with his name, he terminated the troupe and hired singers for the roles, tension arose with the country theaters and the Hungarian Academy of Dance, and in addition to costumed operas, he also gave way to more modern productions that fell short of the taste of the most conservative opera fans.
Who decides and what is expected?
as we know, the committee set up to evaluate the applications endorsed Shkovax’s application, but only for a shorter course of two years, i.e. he would not receive another five years. All this is possible if there is someone who will take over the baton from him after a couple of years, and it will probably be Gabor Zubuki, who is popular with artists and will build a Hungarian and foreign directorate. In the current economic situation (when the Hungarian State Opera expects to withdraw a total of 1 billion HUF by 2022 and five hundred million HUF by 2023 in addition to the growing energy bill), he finally did not submit his request, informing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, János Csák is in charge of culture And innovation about this Minister and Secretary of State for Culture Péter Hoppál.
In light of all this it can be suspected that the fate of the general manager’s request was decided at a very high level,
The fact that we wrote that Scovac would only receive the assignment for two years may have played a part in the delay, but the original plan may have been overshadowed by the fact that when we asked if this was possible in principle, Sunday Brunch The current general manager made it clear on his broadcast that he would not accept the job for two years. He said it would not be a wise decision to appoint anyone under the specified five-year cap.
I would test this as a very unprofessional decision, clearly a lack of confidence and incompetence in handling the issue. It would be like giving a leg a stop list that is only good for 75 minutes, while a match lasts 90 minutes
He said.
He explained all this by saying that the theater plans several years in advance, which means that the director needs to be able to implement his detailed plans. In addition, he has been at the helm of the enterprise for 11.5 years, and would like to have a period of leadership when there is no need for construction, no planning, no need to deal with delays, no need for closing, no need for purge.
In light of this, it is conceivable that the committee will re-evaluate the decision, and this could move things in two directions: or resident Škovac will be given the opportunity to be the main manager for five years, or the application will be deemed unsuccessful. According to the announcement, if the bid is not successful, the bid must be re-announced no later than 60 days from the decision of ineffectiveness.
(Cover photo: Getty Images)
