Gergiev is welcomed in Moscow as a patriot and hero
NewsRussian state media are extolling Valery Gergiev as ‘a hero, the rare exception that takes a stand, and not because he is privileged… he acted like a citizen (when) the Fatherland is in danger.’
Gergiev has taken over programming at Moscow’s Zaryadye concert hall, where his Mariinsky ensemble will stage the four-night Wagner Ring on 11, 23 and 24 March and 17 April.
The cast, which is all-Russian, features Yevgeny Nikitin as Wotan and Elena Stikhina and Tatiana Pavlovskaya as Brünnhilde.
It begins to look exactly like the nazi collaborations. And it will end exactly like Götterdämmerung.
And the Western media was wringing their hands over the great injustice of politely sending him back home where he belongs, while the trolls on this site were whining about “stripping him of work and income”. The Russian Fatherland is in danger. Yeah. Tells one everything one needs to know about the state of Russian media, read propaganda.
Perhaps people will now stop announcing the impending Western Cultural Apocalypse because a few Putin supporters, and even a few Russian artists, innocently caught in the inherent dirtiness of war, were sent back home. At least they were sent home alive. Have you people ever considered there are Westerners working in the arts in Russia too, who had to leave Russia? I know of at least six cases, but hey, let’s wring our hands only over the Russians. By now I am pretty sure all this hand-wringing is engineered by Putin trolls.
Well said.
You really think sending back home Russians while Russians are fleeing Russia en masse right now is a good idea? Would you advocate sending Germans/Soviets that fled back home too?
I didn’t say anything about Germans or Soviets, kindly abstain from putting words in my mouth. The Russians are fleeing Russia _en masse_ right now? Strange, I thought it was the Ukrainians, but Putin insists they are all one big happy nation, this may explain your confusion.
Aren’t you Russian champions tired of trying to take the SD readership on periodic guilt trips? It’s so utterly boring and unoriginal. Don’t you realize it doesn’t work?
Maybe research first what’s happening on Russian-Finnish border now.
And that’s exactly what you said that there is nothing wrong if some innocent were sent back home, at least they were sent alive. Oh, thanks J.
I didn’t say there was _nothing wrong_ with sending innocents back. It is the second time I tell you are putting words in my mouth.
The 1 million refugees streaming out of Ukraine in the last week didn’t bother you? The hundreds of children shelled on the streets didn’t bother you? But the moment the Russians begin to feel the pain of economic sanctions inflicted on them because the leader they have _elected_ has gone bonkers, now this is a great injustice, let’s start complaining. Yes, it is a great injustice. But not greater than the injustice of invading Ukraine, and killing Ukrainian civilians, which has started this terrible situation in the first place. You will not like it but I’m going to repeat it, the Russians leaving the country are _alive_, and the European Union will do what it can to offer them shelter, as it does for the Ukrainians. And if we are talking injustices, there’s also the economic injustice inflicted on the European Union, who has how to support financially millions of people, build them homes, and so on. Yes, I stay to my previous comment, the periodic guilt trips Russian champions are treating the SD readership are unoriginal, repetitive, and undeserved. The West isn’t guilty of what’s happening now. The West will have to pay for the economic disaster. And instead of thank you, the West is treated to guilt trips. For shame.
They are leaving because they are afraid that if they don’t leave soon, they won’t be allowed to leave.
(… NOT like what is happening in Ukraine right now!)
Please stop with the “maybe research first” nonsense. Most people who are posting on this topic on SD are paying attention to the news and are aware of the evolving situation. You’re not as righteous as you think.
I have already told here I am not a wagnerian operagoer. Nevertheless I should say the cast is brilliant for Wagner and the Zaryadye hall is one of the best in the world. The Met and Covent Garden might eat their hearts.
PS … keep sending peace and love to the world and especially to the areas of high turbulence. if someone understands me, please do the same. Warning to all who is disturbed – hatred doesn’t work now.
You are not a wagnerian operagoer yet you feel perfectly confident in trumpeting the upcoming performance as “brilliant” while dirtying both the Met and Covent Garden in the next sentence.
Hatred doesn’t work now. Not does love work. What may work is sanctions and negotiations on high level, though I am not very confident.
P.S. I know a Putin troll when I see one. Next time think twice before painting the sanctions applied to Gergiev as “hate.”
drug store with sedative is the next door on the Net 😉 … and yes, you are right, I love Donizetti more.
PS this disturbing time Mozart is the best cure for soul (unless you don’t listen to vibrations higher than 528 Hz) … vibrate high….
An all-Russian Ring?
Can’t quite see the point.
Maybe Gergiev will tour China and India next.
What a surprise!
I wish there was more concrete, documented information about how much support the war in Russia has. And how much support there is for Gergiev in Russia.
War? What war??
According to Russian propaganda, there is no war going on…
And do you think anyone over there (except for Putin, of course) really cares about Gergiev & Co.? The population, IMHO, have more pressing things to worry about right now — like the fact that the ruble is next to worthless, and where their next meal is coming from — and about their relatives who are stuck in Ukraine and being shelled by the Russian army when they try to leave (and otherwise, just the same).
When they see people like Gergiev returning to Russia and being glorified by Putin et al., it should make them think. But “documented information” is getting rarer every day, now that it is a crime over there to say that there is a “war”. All of the major news agencies are leaving Russia, you know.
All true, but it doesn’t answer the question. How much support does the war (yes, called a conflict by the Russian government) have among the Russian people? I see reports about protests but it isn’t possible to determine the overall attitudes of the populace from them. Is there really no way of knowing to some reasonable degree? I fear there might be more support than we know.
Does it really matter? There is unquestionably a lot of support by some people, and those are then showcased by the government propaganda.
The ones who don’t support it are either too afraid of being put in jail; or if they do manage to speak up, are either ignored or silenced by the police.
Then again, we can only surmise how well-informed (or misinformed) the people are who support Putin and his war. I imagine that they are kept in the dark about too many things to make their opinion worth worrying about.
Finally, there are still those who are vocal in their support because they think it will earn them some favors at some point, but are secretly against it, or just don’t really care.
And how much support Putin really has among ordinary Russians. The official polls are probably not a reliable indicator. Just imagine getting a call from the government asking how you feel about the dictator. Unfortunately the Russian people have been afraid of their leaders for generations now. Many of them probably can’t even imagine that things could be different.
“Just imagine getting a call from the government asking how you feel about the dictator.”
You don’t get a call, you get a visit. It’s happening right now.
A young Russian woman left for Poland. A day later she got a call from her former roommate that the police came for her.
Another one of the same circle: Police trashed his place, took his phone and electronic devices. But he’s ok.
Another young woman I know of decided to leave for Turkey.
Activists are targeted now more than ever.
Their only hope is for ordinary people to rise.
Well, I meant in terms of regular polling, which I assume is not usually done in person, but yes. Either way, the respondent should probably assume that the government knows how each person answered the questions!
I can assure you personally that almost none of the young generation support the war.
They are the ones getting arrested for protesting.
Already a decade ago Putin lost the entire young generation.
It will be the same young people are going to kick his ass out of the Kremlin very soon.
As happened in Romania, you don’t have enough bullets to kill us all, and not enough police to arrest us all.
When that moment comes, the fear transfers from the general population up to now, to fear in the pants of the all the OMON stooges, and Kremlin hacks like Lavrov etc cos they know they are the next in line for a mass lynching and/or general clean-out.
It’s coming soon, and none too soon.
You’re naive. Russians elected Putin, supported Putin and most of them are perfectly comfortable with the “special operation”. I know that because – being born and raised in so-called “communist country” – I had to learn Russian at school and I’ve been looking at Russian websites for a few years now, So I’m not deluded. Russians deeply despise not only the “rotten West” (yes, they still use that expression on regular basis) but everyone who is not Russian. They don’t care that Ukrainians are dying. Those who do not want war do not want it because “our boys” are being killed. That’s the famous “Russian soul” in a nutshell.
I wonder if he has opened the score yet. Or another sightreading concert? Usual Gergiev practice. Banished to Russia, with his disgusting BO.
It’s always been a case of holding your nose when Gergiev’s involved.
If you’ve ever played for him or (God forbid) shared an elevator with him, that’s very true. Lucky for Gergiev that body odor is not a criminal offense.
Terrible.
Not suprising: https://van-magazine.com/mag/valery-gergiev-putin-ukraine/
Good to see that people were protesting in Almaty, Kazakhstan at the weekend with posters saying “Putin is a dickhead”.
Indeed! On „Last Week Tonight“ John Oliver showed footage of a woman standing by a highway with a sign:
ПУТИН
ХYЙΛО
Interesting: Google Translate doesn’t know the second word at all.
Try this translation site:
https://context.reverso.net/translation/russian-english/%D1%85%D1%83%D0%B9%D0%BB%D0%BE
Gergy can go serenade Putin under his billion dollar balcony.
Hope he likes it there! He’s going to be conducting a lot in Russia for quite a while. Well, maybe the odd guest conducting gig in Brazil or North Korea?
And in Eritrea, Syria, and Belarus.
He might as well get used to it: He’ll never conduct in the West ever again. The Russians love lazy drunkards, too.
Sure, the Fatherland is in danger, occupied by Ukrainians threatening the world with nuclear weapons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgRy5NNi0K8
Link to Katia Buniatishvili playing “The Great Gate of Kyiv”.
Composed by one of Russia’s most nationalistic composers, he is today also well known for his “Hopak”, which is the Ukrainian national dance.
Nikitin and Stikhina sang regularly at major western opera houses. Will they be back ?
Valery Gergiev’s international career is over. Vanessa Benelli Mosell is on the rise as a great conductor and she will eclipse Gergiev.