Teodor Currentzis: Democracy means a lot to me

The Greek-Russian conductor, whose Putin-backed MusicAeterna ensemble, plays a leading role in this summer’s Salzburg Festival, has refusd to answer questions about his links with the regime or his views on its Ukraine invasion.

The most he is prepared to say, in a soft Ioan Holender TV interview is ‘Democracy: This word means a lot to me.’

And this: ‘It means that every person can decide for themselves. And I have to accept and respect this decision. Only if we think like this can we move forward and improve the future. If we don’t accept each other’s ideas , we fall into a trap and end up in another system. And we know this system very well from the past.’

The Great Sphinx at Giza could not put it better.