Donald Runnicles is an imposing man, he stands tall and has a booming voice with a slight Scottish accent. Music director of the Deutsche Oper since 2009, when he arrived in the middle of a financial crisis in which the house was almost merged or downsized, he has attracted rave reviews for new productions of Wagner, Britten, and Janáček; and helped the house find its way back to sturdier footing. We speak for 45 minutes or so in his wood-paneled office backstage at the Charlottenburg opera house, interrupted by crackling stage announcements through a loudspeaker. Consistently modest, reluctant to talk about his own work except in relationship to the art others make, his focus on psychology—administratively, musically, and collaboratively—surprises me. As we talk, it makes more and more sense: I come to feel that he is in some way conducting me—drawing out questions, shaping the conversation.
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