Martin Riccabona (organ custodian at the Brucknerhaus), Martin Haselböck (emeritus professor of organ at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts) and the Linz cathedral organist Wolfgang Kreuzhuber confirm that both the award of the contract and the tender for the new organ building in the Brucknerhaus in 2017/18 were legal had expired. According to rumors published in the OÖN, it was said that the released artistic director of the Brucknerhaus, Dietmar Kerschbaum, had awarded the new organ building “freehand” to the Rieger company and had also “benefited financially” in the process.
Rieger offer recommended
“We accompanied the new organ building in 2017/18 as an expert commission,” writes Riccabona to the OÖN. And further: “The tender for the new building was carried out internationally in accordance with the binding guidelines for a procedure of this magnitude. The subsequent award process was carried out in several stages: the offers received were viewed and, following careful consideration, two offers were ultimately shortlisted.” The two providers presented their concepts in detail. “After subsequent consultation, we recommended that Rieger’s offer be implemented by LIVA.”
The proceedings were legally supervised by Christian Fink. There were no flows of money from the Rieger company to people in the vicinity of the new organ building.
