The director of the Brucknerhaus, Dietmar Kerschbaum, must go. The directors of LIVA’s parent company KKV Holding decided during a general meeting to terminate the contract with the cultural manager, who has been dismissed since March, with immediate effect. In the “Krone” conversation, Kerschbaum starts to defend himself and makes it clear: “I won’t stand for that!”
The supervisory board of the Linz event company (LIVA), to which the Brucknerhaus belongs, met for three hours and unanimously decided to recommend the immediate termination of the contract with Kerschbaum. The result of the special audit by the audit committee and the result of the compliance audit by KPMG “revealed serious misconduct by the artistic management.”
Later, KKV Holding (creative, cultural and events company) followed this advice: Kerschbaum’s resignation was announced on Tuesday afternoon.
This is what the affected cultural manager said after his dismissal
Dietmar Kerschbaum received the “crown” a few minutes after his official dismissal. As emphasized several times in his open letter, the cultural manager emphasizes his correct behavior: “I don’t understand the fuss.” He has always been transparent in his life and has always kept to his contract – whether it was guest involvement or part-time work. “The director of the control office was personally present at one of my evening performances and even congratulated me on how good the event was for customer loyalty,” says the dismissed director. Everyone knows where and when he sang in the Brucknerhaus: “To say that it was not transparent is ridiculous!”
The criticism of his many business trips is incomprehensible to him because ‘most of them went to Vienna’. And he adds: “If you are not allowed to appear at an international Bruckner festival abroad, you should probably only make the international Bruckner festival national.”
In his role as Brucknerhaus director, he brought in 8.2 million euros in sponsorship money. For him, it is self-evident that major sponsors show their appreciation with a meal. The cultural manager also refers to the pub laws that have been criticized by the city’s control office.
“Sales figures speak for me”
The numbers speak for him, says Kerschbaum. Free evening sales increased by 70 percent between 2018 and 2023. “The average for a large season ticket was 1,025 people – that’s great for Linz,” he emphasizes. The fact that he has been working around the clock on the programming of the cultural year 2024 and the 2025 season is also evident from the fact that he has not accepted any other external engagements outside the Brucknerhaus in the past three years: “All my A lot of energy has gone into this design of the Brucknerhaus.” With his departure, Kerschbaum now fears that the economic success of the renowned cultural institution from Linz could decline. “I am a salesman. That was my daily business. I constantly advertised the Brucknerhaus.”
That’s what Kerschbaum plans to do after his release
Kerschbaum’s answer to the question of what the future holds for him seems unsurprising: “I will not tolerate the accusations! I think I am absolutely right.” The next chapter of the LIVA crime story will therefore take place on a legal level. Kerschbaum: “Now it is the turn of the labor court.”
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
