“I have admired Kirill Petrenko for years, and I am delighted that he will be my successor with this wonderful orchestra. I congratulate the Philharmoniker on making such a forward looking decision.” These were the words of Simon Rattle, chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker orchestra following the large majority election of Kirill Petrenko as the next designate for the highly-sought after position as chief conductor of one of the world’s top ranking orchestras.Petrenko certainly showed his passion for the position, which also comes with the title of artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, and indeed for his creative craft as he made an emotional statement following the announcement saying, “Words cannot express my feelings — everything from euphoria and great joy to awe and disbelief. I am aware of the responsibility and high expectations of me, and I will do everything in my power to be a worthy conductor of this outstanding orchestra. Above all, however, I hope for many moments of artistic happiness in our music-making together which will reward our hard work and fill our lives as artists with meaning.” Many were however surprised Christian Thielemann did not win the votes cast by members of the orchestra for the position of Chief Conductor from August 2018. Throughout the build-up to the decision German Thielemann has seemed the most natural and likely candidate to succeed Rattle.One player of the Berlin philharmonic orchestra was reported in the British newspaper The Telegraph in May 2015 as saying, “Thielemann belongs to the great Berlin tradition. He was born in the city, his stepfather played flute in the orchestra, and he grew up at the feet of Herbert von Karajan. From a musical perspective he is the obvious choice.”However, the same player went on to explain the reasons that may ultimately have been behind Thielemann being passed over for the chief conductor post: “Berlin has changed. Our conductor is a figurehead, and many of us think that Thielemann is not the best person to represent this orchestra or this city.” This belief was cited by the Telegraph newspaper due to Thielemann having previously openly shared his extreme conservative political opinions which contrast the liberal politics associated with Berlin.Interestingly, following the announcement of Kirill Petrenko’s victory, news has now broken of the Bayreuth Festival committee’s decision to appoint Christian Thielemann as the festival’s music director — a title that has only ever previously been bestowed upon Wilhelm Furtwängler briefly in 1931.This newly revived position is a true testament to the 56-year-old conductor’s talent as well as being a showing of his influence at the festival. He debuted at Bayreuth in 2000 with “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” and in 2010 was given the title of musical advisor to the festival.Both Thielemann and Petrenko will be conducting at the Bayreuth Festival this summer. Thielemann will lead a new production of “Tristan and Isolde” and Petrenko will conduct Wagner’s “Ring” cycle as part of the 2015 festival line-up.The news of these two world-class conductors both being appointed in prominent positions in such quick succession has led to classical music fans sharing their thoughts about the matters on Twitter. @Amfortas tweeted a picture of a man holding a sign reading “Looking for a job” and joked alongside it, “a photo of Christian Thielemann after the announcement that the Berliner preferred #KirillPetrenko.”Music blogger Frank Cadenhead (@fcadenhead) described Thielemann as the “controversial conductor” when sharing the Bayreuth Festival news via his Twitter account and conductor Alan Gilbert (@GilbertConducts) shared his thoughts on the Berlin orchestra’s new designate, with a tweet saying “Couldn't be happier for @BerlinPhil and Kirill Petrenko--truly an inspired and idealistic choice.” Click the slideshow to see 5 things you should know about Kirill Petrenko.
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