Conductor responds to inflammatory blog
mainThe Austrian conductor Gustav Kuhn has gone on Austria radio Ö1 to defend himself against claims of authoritarianism, exploitation and abuse raised by an anonymous blogger whom he says he will sue for defamation.
Kuhn, 72, admits to making harsh comments in rehearsal and promises to be milder in future.
Since the blog’s appearance, the lobby group ‘art but fair’ has said it will investigate Kuhn’s Erl Festival in the Tyrol for ‘modern slavery’ over allegations that performers were paid neither wages nor expenses.
Read on here.
Looking at the linked article, the statement by Kuhn could be construed as a feeble attempt at damage limitation because it only specifically addresses the alleged verbal abuse (presumably in an attempt to reduce it to harmlessness). The meaty stuff will likely be addressed in court. In that respect, it remains to be seen whether there will be one or two lawsuits.
Incidentally, Ö1 is an Austrian radio station, the equivalent to BBC Radio 3, not television.
thank you.
Since when is calling a conductor an abusive authoritarian “inflammatory”?
I’m so glad Solti and many other greats from the past are not alive now to face charges of abuse and exploitation. We only have their great music-making as testament to that kind of horror.
Think of what could happen to Toscanini or Stokowski nowadays…