UK’s Cardiff winner is now a German

UK’s Cardiff winner is now a German

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norman lebrecht

July 29, 2019

The outstanding mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison, winner of the 2017 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, has announced on her social media that, as from today, she is a German citizen.

‘Whatever happens in the UK regarding Brexit,’ she writes, ‘I now have some security as I now hold dual citizenship.’

Well done, Boris & Co.

 

Comments

  • Gustavo says:

    Congrats to acquiring European citizenship!

    Best way out of Brexit!

    • Furzwängler says:

      There is no such thing as “European citizenship”, as the so-called “European Union” is not a state or a country and as such cannot confer the dubious benefits of its citizenship.

      Roll on the 31st October and with it our exit from the antidemocratic, declining and increasingly irrelevant EU.

  • Alan says:

    My issue is with the supporters of Brexit quietly applying for passports, Irish mainly, so they can stay in the free,Ive entire part of the club. Sickening. Although I am delighted for people who wanted to stay in that some countries are giving them a way to do so.

  • Player says:

    Are we supposed to be happy for, or sad? Who gives?

    • Mike Schachter says:

      Who cares? Virtue signalling. At least she is not from a family, like mine, who came to this country to escape tyrannies over the last 80 years.

  • Andrew says:

    I wish we could strip these disloyal types of their UK passports. I hope she likes her German taxes (which will, delightfully, rise as the UK exits the EUssr.)

    • Paul Brownsey says:

      She’s only disloyal in the eyes of those who adhere to the curious religion of country-worship, going all goo-goo about a historically-accidental artificial entity which is at is it because some royal thug’s gee-gees couldn’t gallop on a wet Tuesday in 1389 or whenever.

      • Diane Valerie says:

        You call it disloyal. I prefer to think of it as practical. As a German, Ms. Morison will be able to travel easily between Schengen countries – quite an advantage for a travelling artist. Since nobody knows what the situation will be with British passports post Brexit, it seems like a sensible precaution. Also, her work up to now has been largely in Germany. Why the indignation?

        • Mike Schachter says:

          Most operatic work in Europe is German, see also Louise Alder. No-one criticises an artist for performing where they want.

    • sycorax says:

      prerogative for a double citizenship in Germany are a) you’ve got at least one parent which is a German citizen or b) you were born in Germany.
      As far as I’m informed Catriona Morison has neither a German parent nor was she born in Germany, hence she can’t have double citizenship. If she wants to become a German citizen she has to give her English passport away.
      Besides: I don’t think our taxes in Germany will raise as much as your ins England after the brexit.

      • Gustavo says:

        No, she can keep her British passport due to EU Regelung §12 Abs II StAG.

        https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stag/__12.html

      • Maurice says:

        And those are not even the conditions for obtaining any German citizenship. I know two Britons who have acquired it: one was awarded it for long service to the State of Thüringen, and the other applied and was granted it on the basis of (I translate) a declared commitment to a free democratic society, [several] years’ law-abiding residence in Germany, proof of financial independence, sufficient knowledge of German, and a citizenship test.

  • sycorax says:

    Well, she became German, in the meantime Benjamin Appl became an English citizen …

    Once I was an optimist and believed our children and grandchildren wouldn’t be Germans, Frenchs, Italians or Englishs anymore, but just Europeans … ‘t was just a dream, me seems now. But what a beautiful one!

    • Gustavo says:

      ‘T is still a more realistic dream than a “United Kingdom” entering a new golden age of postcolonial grandeur (with Pomp & Circumstance playing in the background).

      Let us quickly get back to music!

    • Andreas B. says:

      … and he retains his German citizenship as well – for (at least from a practical viewpoint) the same reasons: to be able to keep working and travelling without restrictions:
      he lives in London, works both in the EU and Britain (and elsewhere).

      (as we can see by now in 2021, a smart move …)

  • Sarah says:

    It’s only a passport. Enables you to travel but you want change your National culture whatever passport you have.

    • Gustavo says:

      Well, you tell that to refugees stranded in the Mediterranean (with Elgar’s “In the South” playing in the background).

      You know, “national culture” can also be a terrible thing (see the mess Uncle Wolf made in Bayreuth).

      • Ellingtonia says:

        The vast majority of those stranded (as you put it) in the Mediterranean are not refugees fleeing persecution but economic migrants, there is a distinct difference. And it is remarkable that those who are asylum seekers choose to cross up to five or six different countries to get to the UK (in contravention of the UN advice that they should seek asylum in the first country they arrive in)………now why do you think that is Gustavo?

        • Mike Schachter says:

          Indeed, all these people who want to come to England despite the alleged racism, xenophobia etc. Amazing.

          • Paul Brownsey says:

            Do you mean England or Britain or the United Kingdom?

          • Mike Schachter says:

            It is the UK but the great majority remain in England.

          • Gustavo says:

            The British Isles?

            This Nation has never been united. Football world championships are the proof.

            Also:

            English Chamber Orchestra

            Scottish Chamber Orchestra

            vs

            Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie

            Chamber Orchestra of Europe

        • Gustavo says:

          The Proms?

  • SamUchida says:

    Interesting she didn’t choose Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal or Spain, despite the far better weather and the better opera (debatable this one I admit)! I wonder why?! Probably she wanted to be a creditor to the tune of 1,000,000,000,000 euros (1 trillion), rising at 15,000,000,000 euros (15 billion) per month, rather than a debtor! I would suggest that any ‘remoaner’ contremplating doing a bunk against democracy, consider poor old Cyprus. It has a rapid extinction birth rate so is in need of new cypriots, even welsh ones!

    I wonder how she will react when she realises that Cyprus et al will never pay up! More generally, how will the real Germans react? It won’t be a pretty sight!

  • christopher storey says:

    I’ve never heard of her, but Good Riddance anyway

  • Robert Groen says:

    This is a subject that has absolutely nothing to do with music. Norman likes to put one in from time to time, to stir up a bit of trouble. He doesn’t seem to like Germany an awful lot (the war, after all, is only 74 years behind us) so a bit of Berlin-bashing is welcome. While you’re at it, if you can slander Putin, Gergiev, Matsuev et al just a little that’ll be fine too. Won’t it, Norman?

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