Biederthal, May 19, 2025
Hello Beatrice
What a misunderstanding this has been! We and many others were too quick to rejoice: “Beatrice and Stephan will talk to each other to reach an agreement”!
In any case, this misunderstanding was very enlightening and instructive. You showed how much you would like to be at peace with me. And with you, many others who suffer from this impossibility of pretending to be at peace.
And of course, all those who have nothing to pretend, but who are reasonably informed about what has happened and my situation, and who would be happy to see an agreement, were also pleased.
Without agreement and without truth, there can be no real peace, and when you realized that this is exactly what I am talking about, when you quickly read what I wrote in my email after the first sentence, the joy over the supposed peace quickly disappeared from your face and almost as quickly you simply ran away.
Do you want to spend the rest of your life (we don’t know exactly what comes after that) running away from the truth? “I don’t want to know!” “I don’t want to hear it!” You know very well that you have taken everything I have built up and destroyed it, both for me and my family. Only the newcomers can simply define me as an employee of the club and lull themselves and their consciences into a false sense of security. You want to blame the board, the lawyers, and the foundation and wash your hands of it. And what happened to your promise to the members with your resignation that I would remain on an external mandate and on stage for a long time to come? (“Important announcement” to the members in the appendix). You always took your position as president very seriously! All those who have known the club for a while, and there are still quite a few of them, some of whom you deal with almost daily, are repressing the atrocities that have been committed with varying degrees of success. Some are even mischievously happy about it, but many cannot really be satisfied. You least of all, as was clearly evident during our last encounter.
I don’t doubt that you were enormously influenced and even under pressure from government officials and family members who agree with your actions, but you know better. Do you want to make things right for yourself or for others?
I therefore repeat my proposal of April 25, which still stands:
“I am now in Biederthal, let’s talk and make peace. Peace is being feigned in and around bird’s eye; an agreement has been reached. You and many others know that this is not true, but we can make up for it, you and I. Let’s talk and restore peace in bird’s eye as best we can. It’s better than pretending.”
I hope your answer is still the same:
“Yes, let’s do it.” And now you haven’t just read the first sentence of my message.
You said you don’t want to be reduced to your money.
I agree, it’s not about our money, it’s about us and our actions. Everything else is just a tool. We always give our best, that’s what counts.
Let’s finally tackle this, but this time for real. There’s much more at stake than just the two of us.
Best regards
Stephan
Biederthal, June 2025
Hello Beatrice,
I would like to add something to my last letter in May after our dubious meeting:
It was so obvious how uncomfortable you feel in your own skin, how nervous you get as soon as the conversation turns to the drama surrounding my resignation. “I don’t want to hear it,” you say immediately. And for good reason. You know very well that you lied to me, betrayed me, and stole from me in the worst possible way. No amount of legalese or lawyers can help you now. The law of truth is universal. Even though you always liked to say that there is no justice, you can still feel it when you do something wrong and when you lie to yourself. Many followers also find themselves in an awkward position when they are asked about this topic and questioned. Whether accomplices, followers, or confidants, happiness in bird’s eye view is on thin ice.
I would like to revisit the announcement to the members mentioned in my last letter with your resignation as president of the association in February 2022. It reveals a number of things. (“Important announcement” in the appendix)
You promise the members that I will remain on an external mandate and on stage for a long time to come. Yes, that’s exactly how we could have planned my resignation! But that wasn’t the case. I was to be completely eliminated, but the members would hardly have agreed to that. Whether you actually believed at the time of writing the letter that I would remain with the club is less important. Perhaps it was already a lie, or perhaps you did not intend to keep your promise. In any case, you betrayed me and your members.
You bowed to politics and the Big Pharma (family) and withdrew your lawsuit and refusal to control certifications.This has made you one of them again. And they lie and cheat without any scruples to achieve their goals, and you with them. That is exactly what you did not want, you did not want to be part of it and you left, but unfortunately only for a limited time. I am sorry for you that you did not succeed better. But you can always start over and try again.
And this is how the members are misled already in the same section beforehand:
“Since fall 2021, it has become apparent that there are differences of opinion between the artistic director and founder Stephan Kurmann and the board of the supporting association Jazz-Live Basel regarding the perception of his tasks.”
Nothing has become apparent, there have never been any discussions between the board and me. There was only one board meeting a year, one hour before the general meeting, where the board was informed by the management (by you, René, and me) about the agenda for the general meeting. Otherwise, the board was passive until it became clear that the two new members you had recruited, Klaus Hubmann and Sarah Chaksad, had something very special in mind for me: “The board, with co-presidents Sarah Chaksad and Klaus Hubmann, has decided to terminate Stephan Kurmann’s employment relationship when he reaches the normal retirement age at the end of April 2023.”
You did not want to be part when this decision was made, you resigned just before on 2/2/22 and let the others do the dirty work. You all just lined it up perfectly:
“My 25 years as president are more than enough. Now is the time for new energy on the board. Sarah Chaksad and Klaus Hubmann have temporarily taken over the co-leadership of the board until the next general meeting. I am enormously grateful to them for this. They have taken on this task with great energy and enthusiasm“.
You can say that again!
And then there is another downright sarcastic lie in this statement:
“Vision Birdseye, draft: … As a team, we see ourselves as analogous to improvisation in jazz: we act freely within defined structures, we listen and respond to each other.”
What a mockery! On the second day of my “leave of absence,” a ban on communication between me and the team was imposed under threat of dismissal, and you have refused to talk to me ever since!
What was self-evident, we had lived for many years from the very beginning, friendship, mutual trust based on openness and honesty, actually became a distant “vision,” and absolute, blind obedience was established, controlled by the Board of Directors, which is obedient to you.
The ban on speech and threat of dismissal still stand. Because they all receive salaries and fees from the association and support from your Foundation Levedo. They have received favors from you or don’t want to think about such disgusting things as betrayal and theft during their beloved visits to the club. This situation is very unpleasant for many in the team, in the audience, and among the musicians. Even if they only have a vague idea of the underhanded way in which I was eliminated, they know well that you and your accomplices have done me a great injustice. They cannot really treat you impartially; they just pretend to, which is just as unhealthy for them as it is for you. Many have therefore turned their backs on the club, either completely or at least partially.
As much as I am disgusted by the club now, I feel comfortable in my own skin and am at peace with myself, even though my family’s financial situation has taken a turn for the worse and I have lost my most important professional foundation in the worst possible way. I can always admit and discuss the mistakes I’ve made, I’m sincere and honest with myself and everyone else, I don’t have to pretend anything.
You love the club, at least you did for many, many years. Is that still possible? In any case, it’s still an important social environment for you. But as long as there’s no agreement between you and me, there won’t be any peace there. “Yes, let’s do this,” you said, let’s clear the air, even if this step becomes more difficult each time, the relief will be all the greater. The bird’s eye will thank you for it, the general and our joy at our meeting and a supposed agreement, at least in retrospect, gave us a taste of it. I’ll be in Biederthal until July 7, then back to my exile in Brazil.
Best regards
Stephan