Tobias Richter in Geneva

In order to put the crisis behind, Tobias Richter was appointed new General Manager of Le Grand Théâtre de Genève, effective in the summer of 2009. He is currently the GM of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf and Duisbourg) and director of the Montreux-Vevey Musical September Festival. A director, he began his career in 1972 in Geneva and agreed not to direct any production after the summer of 2009, to focus exclusively on the job of GM. Apart from the obvious human crisis in Geneva, a suicide of a technician in 2006, tensions between the staff and the direction, the firing of Secretary General Antonio Soragni and internal problems, Le Grand Théâtre is also facing a huge financial crisis; since a big sponsor, the Wilsdorf Foundation, left last year with its annual 600.000 euros donation, the city of Geneva had to vote an extra 1,5 million euros subvention to cover the debts of the 2007-2008 season. And that's without even thinking of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, that is threatening to withdraw as well. Tobias Richter will focus the Opera House repertoire (from 2010, the first season he will be able to schedule) around Wagner and Verdi (he wants 2013 to be a huge celebration of the bicentennial anniversary of Verdi's birth) and contemporary composers such as Peter Eötvös and Beat Furrer. Further reading (in French): Tribune de Genève, Le temps, Romandie News, 20 minutes.