Save the Wiener Kammeroper

Kammeroper Wien is the central pillar of the emerging artists development program of MusikTheater an der Wien. In its structure and orientation, this chamber opera stage is a rarity within the entire music theatre sector. It offers emerging artists from various disciplines the indispensable opportunity to enter professional life and gain essential learning experience in collaboration with established colleagues. Many well established artists had their first engagements at the Kammeroper. Affordable ticket prices combined with high artistic quality have, in recent years, attracted a significantly younger audience, with performances consistently sold out. The award “Opera House of the Year,” that MusikTheater an der Wien received this year, particularly highlighted its educational initiatives.

The pausing of the Kammeroper Wien effectively amounts to a closure and represents alarming symbolic politics - seeking an easy sacrifice while destroying the foundation and platform needed by future generations. Venues undergoing renovation are usually transferred to an alternative performance space in order to retain their existing audience, which would otherwise disappear within a year of closure. Renovation requires funding that is currently unavailable; this therefore cannot be considered a credible reason for a pause. Euphemistic terminology obscures the reality of the situation and hampers broader public reporting. The city councillor for culture announced that MusikTheater an der Wien was to be protected, yet now allows it to bleed knowingly through this sacrifice. Contrary to its brand and role as a model cultural city, Vienna is sending an alarming signal to the entire sector and to urban society at large - one in which future revenues and a few prestige projects appear to be valued more highly than cultural responsibility, foundational support, and diversity.