2023-09-07 08:54:30
March 4, 2018 was a fateful day for Thomas Guggeis. At the age of 24, he stood in for conductor Christoph von Dohnányi at the “Salome” premiere of the Berlin State Opera – and caused a sensation. In the audience at the time sat an enthusiastic Bernd Loebe, director of the Frankfurt Opera. He then looked at other performances, “because I wanted to reinforce the first impression following this sensational debut,” Loebe reported later. And he made contact.
In the future, the two men will have a lot to do with each other. For the coming season, Guggeis will begin his dual role as general music director of the Frankfurt Opera and as director of the museum concerts. The 30-year-old describes his new tasks as “a huge gift and definitely the biggest and most important step in his career” – but also as an enormous responsibility.
Guggeis’ plans also include addressing the public with unusual methods. His new place of work is just right for that. “Frankfurt has always been famous for not going through the usual canon for the hundredth time, not in the selection of plays – and certainly not in the approaches to directing,” he says in the dpa interview.
And, as Guggeis affirms: “I want to be a lawyer of my generation.” His age definitely brings advantages for his own work: “I can still draw on a certain youthful, naïve idealism.”
Guggeis grew up in Straubing, his father worked in a brewery. It was mainly through his uncle, a professional drummer, that he got access to music. At the age of four he received his first drum kit, as a child he sang in a choir and then came the piano, which is still his great passion today.
Guggeis studied conducting in Milan and Munich. He also completed a degree in physics. “I’ve been fascinated by science since I was a little kid, and eventually physics turned out to be what really fascinated me,” he says. Of course, physics and music are different worlds, but both are regarding the question of why and understanding connections: “When I deal with scores, I want to understand why they took on this form and what moved the composer .”
Guggeis then worked at the Berlin State Opera as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim, whom he describes as his role model. “He is a universal genius who combines music with humanism, with philosophy, with literature,” he says of the great master. Barenboim, on the other hand, values Guggeis’ “incomparable combination of great talent and great modesty, which never ceases to amaze and delight me,” as he explained when asked by the dpa.
After his acclaimed performance in the “Salome” premiere, Guggeis was appointed Staatskapellmeister of the Berlin State Opera. From 2018 to 2020 he will be Kapellmeister at the Stuttgart State Opera. His places of activity as a guest conductor also include the Vienna State Opera, where he will conduct “Falstaff” in June 2024.
He wants to get people excited regarding opera, which is a deeply human product. “It’s all in there, the whole canon of humanity. It’s funny, tragic, sad and comforting. It’s upsetting, disturbing, shocking, awe-inspiring.” His debut in Frankfurt on October 1 fits in with this: Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”, “perhaps the best opera of all”. With her, everyone thinks they know how things are going – and that’s the difficulty.
His great success does not seem to have gone to Guggeis’ head. In the interview, he comes across as approachable, tidy and friendly. But he also gets serious when it comes to topics that are really important to him: “Opera is a jewel, it’s a luxury that our society can afford – and that it should continue to afford in the future,” he emphasizes. Only recently, on his trip to the USA, did he notice once more the international reputation of the Frankfurt Opera, which has repeatedly been voted “Opera House of the Year” by the magazine “Opernwelt”. “It’s really extraordinary.” It’s absurd “if funds are cut”.
(S E R V I C E – www.thomasguggeis.com/)
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