Gergiev’s rival secures his Moscow base
mainAlexander Sokolov, a Putinist former minister of culture (2004-08), has been given a third term as head of the Moscow Conservatoire after an internal election that he won by a 261-4 margin.
Insiders say Sokolov, 65, is trying to wrest the Tchaikovsky Competition back from Valery Gergiev into the hands of a professorial clique.
Peter Grote, the piano salesman who has been installed as the next competition’s artistic director, is said to be Sokolov’s place man. Gergiev, according to our sources, is being written out of the script.
The kind of cultural in-fighting that used to prevail under Soviet authority has been revived by the Putin regime.
Considering the fact that ever since Moscow became the Soviet-Russian capital nearly a century ago, all cultural stars who dare to remain loyal to the former capital (Petrograd-Leningrad-St.Peterburg) have been increasingly marginalized and discriminated against by their colleagues in Moscow for their attempts to stay relatively independent from the ruling cultural bosses in the capital, these moves directed against Gergiev and intended to minimize his powerful influence and dominating presence in Russian cultural life are not surprising.
What an over politicise bullshit! 😀
By the way here is members of Organizing Committee:
http://www.competition-tchaikovsky.ru/en/the-tchaikovsky/organizing_committee