Putin propagandist gets US orchestra date
NewsWe’re informed that the pianist Valentina Lisitsa, a vociferous supporter of Putin’s Ukraine invasions since 2014, has a concert booked in Pasadena, California, at the end of the month.
Details here.
We have not been able to verify if her Paris recital at the Theatre de Champs Elysees went ahead this weekend.
Disgraceful. Are the management here completely clueless? I’d like to hear a statement from “Maestro” Keitaro Herada and the Board President Bob Michero on why they think her engagement at this time is at all appropriate.
Before anyone labels me as a proponent of cancelling Tchaikovsky, I’m not at all. Quite the contrary, in fact. However, stages in countries that enjoy freedoms with respect for human rights should not be made available to artists that support atrocities and war crimes. Lisitsa is in a similar realm to Gergiev, Netrebko, and Matsuev. But even worse, in a way: Lisitsa is a Ukrainian ethnic-Russian. A simple Google search will return a load of information that demonstrates her support of this invasion. She’s given pro-Russian concerts in the Donbas region, among other things.
The board and conductor either didn’t due their due diligence, or don’t care. They ought to give some clarity to the situation with immediate effect.
You do know Herada is a guest conductor and had no say in her engagement? Maybe think before you talk.
Doesn’t matter. He has a choice to appear. Maybe think before you assume I’m not aware.
There’s must be something missing from the article. I can only read that a female pianist with certain political views are playing concerts. Surely, something must be missing? Or are we back in 1930’s Germany and Soviet Union, where it was unheard of for dissidents to work and live freely?
Send her back to Russia and keep her there.
I believe she lives in Moscow.
Awesome! Thanks for promoting this. I’ll definitely go see her.
lol
And that Trump aligned LoLa is STILL not censored by YouTube… do your part and report every video of hers!
If she were actually good I would perhaps feel more conflicted about whether she deserves a platform. She is aggressively mediocre, however, and it is utterly confounding how she’s still getting booked in the West at all. Let her go to Moscow, permanently stay there and concertize to her heart’s content.
Thank you, Gabriel Parra Blessing, for your posting.
Lisitsa IS a terrible “pianist” – a pure banger with no musical imagination.
Even if I lived close to the Ambassador Auditorium (a very nice venue for classical music, BTW), I would skip this concert.
You described her well in the title, why did you have to drop the word “pianist” in the text?
Cue the virtue signalers and those who crow about cancellation and censorship. I suspect most of them in the US voted for Biden, who is also working to destroy a country.
Please give details regarding how President Biden is working to destroy a country.
Working at it may have been the wrong choice of words. He hasn’t he brains or the energy to do that. But his reckless policies weaken the country on a daily basis. Where shall I begin? Unchecked illegal immigration policies that favor cartels trafficking people and drugs? Systematically dismantling domestic energy production? Aimless, feckless management of the pandemic? Aimless, feckless foreign policy? Making appointments based on identity politics without regard for achievement or qualifications? Social policies that pander and undermine values the majority of the country holds dear? The man is little more than a sock puppet who can’t string together a cogent thought or sentence. Fifty years in public office with nothing to show for it except repeated failures and being on the wrong side of history with his racist, divisive rhetoric. But the leftist media will continue to cover for him and his family of criminals.
Hilarious, Greg. Watched Fox news and vomited it all back here. Every Republican and Democrat can say the exact same thing about everyone who wasn’t ‘their’ guy. Then clutch their pearls about how the country is being destroyed. Makes ya feel good , huh?
Talking about Cadet Bone Spurs???
I almost choked on my tea when I read “aimless, feckless management of the pandemic.”
What a wonderfully apt assessment of the previous administration!
I hold Trump personally responsible for the death of my beloved mother.
Another sore MAGA loser….The twilight of the sods….
How did US politics get into this discussion? Valentina, who lives in the states, is certainly able to voice her opinion (ironically people are not able to do this in Russia), and we, in the US, have a right to agree or disagree with her. She hasn’t been cancelled in Pasadena, that I’ve read, but who knows if the audience/community there is ready to defend or ignore her very outspoken pro-Putin opinions as much as the symphony directors and its board seem to.
Naive are bringing out Listsa’s Chopin Scherzo’s album on 15th April, following on from her 1908 album featuring Rachmaninov and Ravel last month.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Valentina-Lisitsa-Chopin/dp/B09TFXWWXB/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1P2MTDLHW6F3T&keywords=valentina+lisitsa&qid=1649698597&s=music&sprefix=%2Cclassical%2C67&sr=1-9
Pierre-Antoine Devic, Head of naïve classique, said: “Valentina has a very special status in the international music world. I have admired her trajectory since the beginning of her career”.
https://imgartists.com/news/valentina-lisitsa-begins-long-term-collaboration-with-naive-a-believe-group-label/
I have listened to it and it is very good. Her Andante Spinato rendition rivals that of Hofmann (and has modern sound). I plan to give a thorough review on Amazon.
People calling her an inferior pianist (banger? b.s.) apparently know more about music than her over half a million followers. Surely they are letting their political passions override their ears. (Advice: political passions are worth as much as passions for your favorite corporate-owned football team).
Yes, her concert in Paris happened. Full house.
Does NL realize that when he does this he exposes himself to a lawsuit for “interference with contract?” It’s a real thing. If he’d ever been sued he’d know how expensive it can get. In any event, it’s totalitarian mentality.
I’m pretty certain Norman HAS been sued for defamation, haven’t you Norman? In fact, in fact someone should put up a web site with all the details. Also, didn’t BBC fire Norman following that lawsuit? Maybe someone should create a real discussion forum where Norman doesn’t have the power to block the responses from artists that he harasses.
Somehow I don’t think Norman even has any skills to play an instrument. Just an angry angry old curmudgeon who stalks and artists with actual musical skill.
Can we please stop this neo-McCarthyist conflation of the artistic and the political? Leaving aside the issue of double standards (how many American artists have condemned their country’s illegal bombing of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, &c., I wonder?), the principle remains that artistic work should not be conditional upon political views (especially in the land of the First Amendment).
When I go to hear the Jerusalem Quartet in London (as I do regularly), I go because they are one of the world’s great quartets playing some of the greatest quartet repertoire; I may disagree with the players’ political views (to be honest, I have no idea whether this would be so, because I remain blissfully ignorant thereof), and I may disapprove of the behaviour of the Israeli government (again, I am not an expert thereon), but such considerations are immaterial.
Music is something that unites us despite any political, national, or socio-economic differences.
Unfortunately, SVM, the First Amendment is routinely discarded these days. Big tech censorship is real. Question anything leftist or liberal and the social media overlords simply delete your posts or shut down your account. Attacking free speech has become de rigueur. Comply or suffer the consequences.
Did the wars in those countries involve bombings on kindergartens and maternity wards? Civilians being tied up with cloth over their faces and shot point-blank in the back of the head? Civilians being shot while waiting in a bread line? A teenaged girl being raped by 3 tanks full of enemy men – every single one of the men? Land mines being planted by retreating armies?
This is an honest question, because I don’t know. The press did not seem to mention these taking place.
For her concert in Paris on April 8th, one can find the following statement by Lisitsa on the website of the Théâtres des Champs Elysées:
It is hard to think of anything more painful and horrific than war. Being born in Ukraine and having spent most of my adult life in the US, this tragedy is very personal to me, as I have family and friends in Russia and Ukraine. I believe that any war is against human reason and human nature, especially when this war is between neighbours. With this message, I share my deepest concerns and condolences to all the people involved in this horrible conflict. Nothing can justify the violence and death of innocent people. I hope that this conflict ends as soon as possible, and both Russian and Ukrainian people go back to their families in peace.
So maybe that should satisfy her critics, if she has had a genuine change of heart.
She doesn’t seem to be specifying that the Ukrainians are innocent people. She is making a vague statement and hoping we will assume what she means. I want her to denounce Putin or else to say the Ukrainians are innocent.
I wonder – what kind of an “event” THAT will be? We shall see…
What does this mean? Valentina Lisitsa is a great pianist. That’s all. She can have her political ideas, ok let’s discuss the ideas. Art is beyond politics IMHO. Do you agree with those who forbid Wilhelm Furtwaengler to conduct after WW2? I Don’t but these are opinions.