Komische Oper Director Leaps to Zurich’s Opernhaus
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Andreas Homoki, the director of Berlin’s Komische Oper opera house, will leave his post in 2012 to become director of Zurich’s Opernhaus, the Swiss opera company said in a statement.
He succeeds Alexander Pereira, who will prolong his contract by one year to fill the gap before Mr. Homoki’s contract begins. Mr. Homoki, who is 48, has led the Komische Oper since 2002. Last year, music critics chose the house as winner of Opernwelt magazine’s “Opera House of the Year” title.
“Even though we regret very much that Andreas Homoki is going, one has to understand that if you get offered a career leap to a house like Zurich, you have to take the chance,” Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit said at a press conference Wednesday. “This is a big compliment to the work Homoki has done here.”
Mr. Homoki’s replacement at the Komische Oper will be the 41-year-old Australian director Barrie Kosky, whose contract will run from 2012 through 2017, Wowereit said.
Mr. Kosky, who shared the title of artistic director of the Vienna Schauspielhaus with Airan Berg until 2006, has staged four productions at the Komische Oper — most recently Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me, Kate,” which premiered last month. He also has staged opera productions at the Sydney Opera House, the Vienna Opera, and Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
