BERLIN (AFP) — The head of Berlin's prestigious Staatsoper quit the opera company Thursday in a row over funding and artistic differences, a spokesman said.
Peter Mussbach, whose contract was not due to expire until 2010, leaves with immediate effect "by common consent" owing to differences over the "future direction of the establishment and its artistic programming," a statement added.
No successor has yet been named for the 59-year-old, who warned in April that he was unable to produce a viable artistic budget because of a dispute over how to use 10 million euros (15 million dollars) of funding injected by the city state of Berlin.
The money was granted for the renovation of the Staatsoper building on Berlin's Unter den Linden avenue.
On Friday, the company's musical director, Israeli-Argentine Daniel Barenboim, will unveil the company's programme for the 2008-09 season at an annual press conference.
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