YOUR FAVORITE MTV SHOWS ARE ON PARAMOUNT+

Kaiser Leaves Royal Opera Without Successor

Michael Kaiser's early departure reportedly tosses organization into some disarray.

In accepting his new role as president of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Michael Kaiser also has announced he is leaving his job at the Royal Opera House five months earlier than expected.

Kaiser originally had said he wouldn't leave his post as president until spring 2001; his early departure will leave the Royal Opera House without an heir apparent.

"We obviously hope to make an appointment prior to Michael's departure; however, if it becomes necessary to appoint an interim manager while our favored candidate becomes available, the board will review this option during the autumn," Sir Colin Southgate, chairman of the board of the ROH, said in a statement.

The loss of Kaiser, coupled with the departure of Richard Shaw, the marketing manager Kaiser brought in to help put that division in order, has reportedly tossed the organization into some disarray.

A report in the London Guardian suggested that "[t]he double blow was seen last night by it[s] critics as a sign the 'bad old ways' were returning and that the Opera House's 'old guard' were again winning."

There had been reports for several months that Kaiser was not getting along with Southgate and was in fact asked to leave, but those rumors have been denied by both parties.

"There has been no fight, no rift," Kaiser told the Guardian.

"Contrary to speculation in the press I have no ambitions to become the executive director of the Royal Opera House," Southgate said in his statement.

Raymond Gubbay, a 30-year concert-promoting veteran who has produced shows with the Royal Opera, told the Guardian, "Whatever he says, Kaiser cannot have been happy to have gone so soon. Old habits die hard, and a lot of the highfalutin' board, I'm afraid, leave their brains at the stage door when they go to board meetings. He should have been given a proper chance to do the job instead of being undermined."

In his 19 months at the ROH, Kaiser eliminated a variety of scandals, presided over the reopening of a restored and modernized building, paid off a $30 million deficit and left the company with a $30 million

endowment.

He is expected to take over his duties at the Kennedy Center in January, succeeding Larry Wilker.

Latest News