Breaking: Currentzis players are suspended in Germany over pro-war acts
OrchestrasBR reports that a number of players in the Russia-based MusicaEterna have been suspended after making offensive gestures about the war.
One filmed himself turning the heating up to make Germans freeze. Another sang a nationalist song and proclaimed his praise of the murderous Wagner Group mercenaries. Others waves Russian flags in support of the war on Ukraine.
The players were suspended after the management of the Dortmund Concert Hall said it would not tolerate such actions. ‘We’ve always said: Anyone who clearly speaks out in favour of the war or the Kremlin can’t get a stage with us,’ said Raphael von Hoensbroech, the hall director.
Currentzis himself has been personally cancelled by Cologne. The Greek-Russian conductor is compromised by his close links to Gazprom, the Putin energy company.
Their behaviour is about as loathsome as their music making
Currentzis is one of the most overrated conductors anyway!
If the Germans don’t tolerate a pro-Putin stance, why don’t they cancel the whole project? In what way is the noise the social media any worse than Currentzis’ dependence on Gazprom?
It’s interesting that the Philharmonie in Cologne (the city’s major concert hall) cancelled a performance by the Stuttgart radio orchestra because Currentzis was conducting. A major German institution opposed to C. canceled a performance by a major German institution that supported him.
It is a poor indicator for the future that so many other-wise educated Russians are just fine with the misery they are causing and want to cheer it on.
Indeed.
Do U.S. Americans worry about the misery that various administrations caused by its military ?
Yes, myself and many others do.
Oh, the trolls will be here in a moment to explain how it doesn’t matter. And that the bloodied sledgehammer that Prigozhin sent the European Parliament in a violin case was an inoffensive piece of action art.
Fortunately, Gerhard Schröder doesn’t play in any orchestra …
no surprise as he is a nowadays socialist and they love money most – he is no exception though his behavior is just more embarrassing than most and very German indeed. Just read what the most prominent German philosopher said in the only serious newspaper left published yesterday – I may quote him:
Hände weg von der Verwirklichung, zumal was deutsche Ideen angeht. Deutschland ist, als Heimat von Karl Marx, die grösste Exportnation für Irrtümer, die die Welt bewegten. Das möchte man kein weiteres Mal riskieren. Deswegen wäre es mir nicht recht, wenn gesagt würde, ein deutscher Philosoph habe die Helvetisierung der Welt gefordert. Ideen, die aus Deutschland kommen, haben eine gefährliche Neigung zur Verwirklichung.
What happened to free speech, and the right of musicians (or any person) to hold and profess any political view, however controversial or contentious, in a personal capacity? Or do such freedoms not exist in Germany, a country where the media are still legally required to adopt a pro-NATO stance (a law that was imposed in West Germany during the Cold War and that has yet to be rescinded)?
You’ve clearly misunderstood “free speech” to mean “speech free of consequences” — something I very much doubt has ever existed, anywhere.
Germany passed a new censorship law in 2017.
As long as you go along with the state narrative, you can have as much freedom of speech as you want.
Hope this helps.
That’s sensational news. What was the date and title of that law?
That right exists. But the Dortmund Concert Hall has every right to decide who performs (or doesn’t) on its stage.
Please, answer those interesting questions for us, person without s name!
The state-controlled media in Russia is filled with state-paid pundits advocating the complete destruction of civilization in Ukraine and and the killing of all the people in it because… it’s Russia’s right to do so! And the Russian citizens seem eager to agree.
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1594146245337288705
Here in the western world, I’m free to say whatever I want at my place of employment… However, I can expect my employment to be terminated for making racist, homophobic, sexist statements, or statements that induce or condone violence while in the workplace…After which, I can continue have as much freedom of speech as I want, sitting at home, unemployed… I don’t really have a big problem with behaving in a civilized manner at my place of employment, and at no point do I feel my freedom of speech has been impinged by following the rules of my employer. Maybe people should be operating under the assumption that their actions may have repercussions? In this specific case, one wonders how much freedom of speech one would have, working for a Russian orchestra, if one didn’t toe the current party line… Termination of employment may have a different meaning there…
I never allowed political opinions, or religious opinions, dominate my love of music. Example: I love Wagner’s music BUT hate his antisemitism & that he probably DID influence Hitler’s Nazis. Or hate Leonard Bernstein making a party to militant Black Panthers in 1970 YET I admire Bernstein as a great conductor & a fine composer. But sometimes you are forced to play ‘the devil’s advocate’.
german nazis will stay nazis. disgusting banderite supporters. stupid liberal dements.
Currentzis is a joke brought to us by the music business world!! He and his orchestra are the epitome of non-musicianship and incredibly bad taste.
HOW MUCH MONEY IS LAUNDERED THROUGH MUSIC?
People should have a good look at the music world and see how many artists could potentially be financed by dirty money in the same manner that money is often laundered through art. When you go and watch opera and you hear singers massacring the pronunciation and the music , you ask yourself “Why is this happening?”, then you think about the wider picture and it all starts to make sense.
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2019/09/the-art-of-money-laundering-and-washing-illicit-cash-mashberg