Gustav Kuhn

The following season, he conducted for the first time at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London and in 1979 became general music director in Bern.

In 1981, came the debut in the United States (Fidelio in Chicago), 1982 at the Paris Opera (Così fan tutte), in 1984 at Milan's La Scala (Tannhäuser) and in 1986 at the Verona Arena (Un ballo in maschera).

In the same year, Kuhn slapped the general director of the Bühnen der Stadt Bonn, Jean-Claude Riber, which caused a great stir and earned him the nickname "Watsch'n-Gustl" in the local press.

[3][4] In 1986, Kuhn made his debut as an opera director (set and costumes Peter Papst) with the Flying Dutchman in Trieste, the concept of "hall-opera" was developed by him for the Suntory Hall in 1993.

From 1987 to September 2018, Kuhn was artistic director of the international singing competition Neue Stimmen of the Bertelsmann Foundation in Gütersloh.

Between 1998 and 2006, Kuhn staged and conducted Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and Strauss' Elektra.

In autumn 2014, there was the world premiere of the opera El Juez [de] by Christian Kolonovits, written for the comeback of Josep Carreras.

In 2018, "bad working conditions and the authoritarian behaviour" of Kuhn in Erl were denounced by the Tyrolean journalist Markus Wilhelm [de][5][6] and plagiarism allegations raised in connection with his doctoral thesis.

The accusations of plagiarism led to an examination procedure by a "Commission for Ensuring Good Scientific Practice" of the University of Salzburg, which had accepted the dissertation.

"The fact that their origin was not carefully proven in part constitutes a deficiency in craftsmanship, but does not permit a finding of intentional deception, either in itself or in context.

[10] Following the conclusion of the 2018 summer programme, Kuhn then suspended his position as artistic director of the Festival on 31 July 2018 with immediate effect until the allegations had been fully clarified.

[15] In November 2019, the Equal Treatment Commission of the Austrian Chancellery ruled that sexual harassment by Kuhn had undoubtedly occurred.

[16] In 1999, Kuhn received the Tiroler Adler-Orden [de], "an award of the Provincial Government for non-Tyroleans whose relationship to the Province of Tyrol is of special political, economic or cultural significance".

On 9 January 2020, Culture Regional Councillor Beate Palfrader [de] (ÖVP) made it clear "that with today's knowledge an awarding of the order would not have been an option for her."

(Wording according to ORF) In the days before, the Green caucus leader Gebi Mair [de] had pushed for a revocation procedure within the coalition.