Great conductors still collaborate with great dictators
mainIn my new essay for Standpoint magazine, I assess the present strategies of Valery Gergiev and Gustavo Dudamel in the context of the past lives of Willem Mengelberg and Wilhelm Furtwängler.
Sample:
The Venezuelan government subjects its citizens to starvation and mob rule. It is represented on the world stage by a conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. The Russian state, headed by Vladimir Putin, has invaded Ukraine and commits war crimes in Syria. It can call on the conductor Valery Gergiev to justify its actions by affirming cultural superiority. There are obvious parallels to past collaborationists.
Read the full essay here.
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