Difficult search

LIVA affair: Who wants to come to Linz as artistic director?

Program at the Brucknerhaus in Linz continues

(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

The facts are finally out in the Brucknerhaus scandal, as we reported. But the LIVA affair is far from over. Because the concert hall on the Danube is currently without an artistic director. Enlightenment expert Meinhard Lukas now wants to work with the Supervisory Board to set a solid course for the search for an artistic director.

Meinhard Lukas, who is investigating the Brucknerhaus affair, is himself an enthusiastic concert-goer. As part of his factual presentation, he emphasized that he had brought to light how "politics dealt with the LIVA".

However, these events should definitely be considered "separately from the heart" of LIVA. After all, the "heart of the matter" are the employees who "switch the lights on and off every day" in the cultural and sports venues and do a "fantastic job" - including at the Brucknerhaus, which has been without an artistic director since Dietmar Kerschbaum was let go in mid-March.

After the scandal: a cautious look to the future
Nevertheless, "everything continues", emphasizes René Esterbauer. He has been the new commercial director of the LIVA since 1 March and is now also in charge of design: "I can say for all LIVA venues: the program is going well. What we are doing is working, we will present the Brucknerfest 2025 in November and are largely finished planning the new season."

How important is it for him that the facts are finally on the table? "It's good that we're working through everything and showing what happened in full transparency. This will make it clear to everyone what happened. And that is the basis on which we can shape the future."

Lawyer Meinhard Lukas is working through the Brucknerhaus affair

(Bild: Wenzel Markus/Markus Wenzel)

René Esterbauer has been in office as LIVA's commercial managing director since this year

(Bild: Einöder Horst/Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

We are certainly not going to come up with a bad solution.

Meinhard Lukas, neuer LIVA-Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender 

Search can take more than a year
Meinhard Lukas, the new head of the Supervisory Board, next wants to set the course for a solid selection process to find the artistic director. He wants to go through a "learning curve" himself, talk to artistic directors of other theaters and see "how such processes are carried out internationally and how the best ones are found".

The Supervisory Board will then propose to the owner how the process of finding an artistic director should proceed. Lukas is not yet committing himself to a specific date.