"I have accepted the appointment because I agree with the things that have begun here?and I think that I can contribute my experience to this process," Győriványi said at the press conference to announce the appointment.
Although Győriványi will hold the post from June 1, a tender for the position will be invited later.
Győriványi said he plans to place emphasis on coordination, and will hold negotiations with the opera?s trade union as well as independent experts before formulating his standpoint on the institution?s modernisation. He declined to say whether he agreed with Hegyi's plans to reduce the opera?s number of performers and performances, but said he would draft a number of proposals for the future of the opera.
Győriványi has held the same post before, being selected for a five-year term in a tender in spring of 2001 by then Culture Minister Zoltán Rockenbauer. But Rockenbauer?s successor in the next government, Gábor Görgey, together with opera director Miklós Locsmándi, dismissed Győriványi in June 2002, saying he was unsuitable for the post. Győriványi appealed the dismissal with the Budapest Municipal Court, but the court upheld the decision, saying he lacked the qualifications for a managerial post, although it ordered the opera to continue to employ Győriványi as a conductor.
Speaking about the court ruling on Thursday, Győriványi conceded he had made a mistake four years earlier, but added he had "learned a lot" during the past few years.
The opera?s performers and staff have protested Győriványi?s appointment.
"Members of the opera house are outraged by this decision,? said István Rácz, chairman of the opera?s public servants? council. ?They are not only shocked by the musical director's appointment, but by the director who has taken this whimsical decision."
Hungarian National Opera trade union leader Oszkár Rotter called the appointment ?unfortunate?.
"Of course, Győriványi is a music expert, but he may not be the right choice to promote agreement between the management and the staff ," Rotter said.
Rácz noted that Győriványi had been dismissed four years earlier following protests by the opera?s staff, and the staff could protest once more.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
