Who else is in Palmyra? Putin’s billionaire cellist

Who else is in Palmyra? Putin’s billionaire cellist

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norman lebrecht

May 05, 2016

For Valery Gergiev’s concert on recaptured Syrian territory, the Russian government has sent a delegation headed by the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, it is reported.

He is accompanied by the Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky and the St. Petersburg House of Music director, the cellist and conductor Sergei Roldugin.

Mr Roldugin is suspected of squirrelling away billions of dollars on behalf of President Vladimir Putin in bank accounts in Panama.

sergei roldugin_bio

Comments

  • Gregor Tassie says:

    Trust this writer to bring this, when we should be celebrating such an event, you have to drag the dirt up …..

    • jane panama says:

      Bring dirt up????……more like an a mudslide….the rich getting richer off the poorer….just how much money does one need?

  • Holly Golightly says:

    This concert has been criticized the world over, according to BBC World Service reports I’ve just heard. Putin’s Russia is very worrying and Gergiev is very foolish playing along with this – especially in the middle east.

    • Ha ha ha…….
      Yeah, pretty stupid black&white picture of the world, it’s characteristic for autistic children. “We are good and very smart… because we are western people. Russians are evil and blind…. because they are Russians”.

  • pooroperaman says:

    Isn’t that Michael Berkeley in the photo?

  • Marg says:

    Nothing like using culture to promote your propaganda at home. Putin is a master of it.

  • Marked Pollo says:

    More? Weren’t 4 things on this enough? Goodness, Norman, I’d think you work for John Hammond or something.
    Seriously, though, Roldugin used to be good; he’s certainly not the cellist he used to be; but I like that it’s a giant middle finger to everyone that tells Putin what to do. I mean, he’s not my favorite. But…
    Love or Hate the man… he doesn’t care. That I can respect.

    And the Chaconne was good. And it was a good thing to do, overall, even if I’m not the biggest fan of Putin.

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