Salzburg provides cover for Putin’s propagandists
OrchestrasThe fiction of Teodor Currentzis’s ‘Utopia’ orchestra has been exposed in Salzburg this week.
At least 40 of its musicians have been drawn from Currentzis’s Musicaeterna, which is funded by Gazprom, an active participant in the Ukraine war. One of the musicians, trombonist Andrei Saltanov, has publicly endorsed a pro-war song.
The Salzburg Festival is knowingly providing cover for this enterprise. It is no longer neutral or apolitical.
Judge for yourselves. Here’s the player list.
Austria and fascism: not exactly strangers to one another. No surprise that they’re willing to look the other way again in the name of “high art”.
Salzburg bleibt Wien.
Plus the German car industry as one of the main sponsors of the “festival”.
Listen, Salzburg is not only supporting Gazporn-artist but is knowingly receiving support from a company that has developed and sold fake soft-ware to hide their “war against nature”!
The entire industry provides cover for – and makes a fortune from – Venezuela’s propagandists! Same team as Putin, in case you haven’t joined the dots yet! Edinburgh Festival welcoming the regime-owned Simón Bolívar this summer. It’s like rejecting Hitler while welcoming Mussolini! Utter hypocrisy and willful ignorance of the world’s interconnections.
So I assume you also fume against the hypocrisy of festivals and theaters who invite artists from Israel, a country that has been occupying another nation’s land for more than half a century, against international law, the Geneva Conventions and Security Council resolutions? Or are only lefties hypocritical?
I, for one, am happy to state I wouldn’t want either ensemble sponsored by lawless states to perform near me. Perhaps Venezuela is a nominally less evil state because it largely confines its crimes to its own people rather than wars of aggression, but neither should be welcomed outside their own country. Currentzis dubbing his oil, gas, and blood soaked group “Utopia” is rather ironic.
When will it be the Last Night of the GazProms?
We need hackers who change the orchestra’s name on the festival website into ‘Dystopia’.
The Kennedy Center Honors tv special on PBS has been produced in the past by defense contractors, which is proudly proclaimed in the credits, so does it then mean the Kennedy Center is acquiescing in the abuses these defense contractor’s bombs have in killing innocent people? Let’s not have a double standard here.
Yes that is what it means. But the US rules the world, and the hegemon is always right, his deeds are always justified. Please remain where you are, we will be with you shortly. You will be assimilated.
Biden just sent cluster bombs to Ukraine. Does anybody on the other side of the conflict complain about American musicians? Would be curious to see a link.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the ultimate sources of money turned out to be the same, just somewhat in disguise.
Salzburg never cared for such and its motto this year is ‘Die Welt ist aus den Fugen geraten’ which fits the current management
A disastrous Figaro, a totally overrated Macbeth with a miscast of Grigorian as Lady who is hyped in Salzburg like Currentzis and Netrebko who isn’t doing a Netrebko show this year though
The audience is a different there and paying astronomical prices for mediocrity seems one is obliged to say how great it is – it’s a very much run down institution funded by the government and firms with an ambiguous reputation – Salzburg only thinks of money and nothing else – you hear nice statements and a hideous opening ceremony but the execution is worse than ever and has been Bas for long – Bayreuth isn’t better Sieger but after it’s ludicrous opening you find at least real aficionados though not sold out any more – in Salzburg just call the box office as always tickets available too! The reviews internationally at least wrote how bad it has become ‘Jedes Ding hat seine Zeit’ – an anachronism nearly unbeatable
Correntzis clearly agrees with indoctrinating kids.
He has never ever spoken up against it.
He hasn’t even the guts of a school teacher.
See below.
….Along with the mandatory raising of the Russian flag, the school week in Russian schools starts with a class called “Conversations about important things.” The Education Ministry specifies what these important things are.
Sometimes the class focuses on official holidays like ……on Teacher’s Day, students were told why the occupation of Ukrainian territory by Russian troops is a “historical justice”: because it was “originally Russian territory.”
The schoolchildren often hear about Ukraine…
…… director and teachers all say Ukraine was carrying out attacks…
“‘Russia is constantly attacked by someone and everyone wants to destroy the country’,” a high school student from Kaliningrad says the head of his school told their patriotism class last month….
….classes seek to indoctrinate children as young as six…
the need for students as young as eight to understand that loving one’s country means a readiness to “bear arms in its defence” in dangerous times.
By 10, students can be taught about Russia’s “special military operation”, for its war in Ukraine, and the importance of eastern Ukrainians’ “return to Russia”.
In later classes, students should be taught that patriotism includes a willingness to enlist to fight for Russia in the military..
A long drawn-out dispute between Rauschan Valiullin and the management of a school in Naberezhnye Chelny, a large city in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, ended with the termination of the history teacher’s employment.
In August, Valiullin attended a teachers’ meeting on the topic of “Specifics of Ideological Educational Work with Children and Educators” — which includes “Conversations about important things.”
The teacher criticized the state’s interference in his work as a violation of Article 13 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which prohibits a coercive ideology.
Valiullin was fired.
In court, he was able to prove that the dismissal was unlawful and that he should be reinstated as a teacher.
He did not wait around for the verdict. He said he could not reconcile a return to the school with his conscience — threatened with having a camera installed in his office to monitor his statements, he would have been required to lead “Conversations about important things.”
Hi, Norman Lebrecht!
You should give up all this shit/trash/crap, etc., i.e. PUTIN PROVIDES COVER FOR PUTIN’S PROPAGANDISTS, HITLER BURNED BOOKS, THE TALIBANS BURN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. Stick to classical music and give up politics, man… Serious people are (still) interested in classical music, not in “political correctness”, “wokism”, “cancel culture”, “black lives matter”, “metoo” and all this shit, crap and trash… You are all the same: UK, USA, FRANCE, etc. classical music sites/magazines… Shame on you! Come to reason!
Sadly,
HORIA GANESCU, BACHELOR OF ARTS (B.A.)
PS The only answer will be for you to completely change all this shit (you and all your “colleagues”: journalists, experts, critics, etc.). You are no longer doing your job(s), i.e. you don’t exist any longer…
You must be very proud of your B. A.
I agree.
I expect Mr Ganescu’s BA came from the same institution that showered Madame Ceaușescu with so many spurious academic accolades.
The University of Self-Delusion, Vanity, Mediocrity and Bog Ignorance.
Suggest you switch to Classic FM.
In Salzburg haben immer politische Mitläufer agiert.
Norman has managed to make his perceived enemies wealthy beyond anything he ever imagined (In RUSSIA) by boosting their fees into the stratosphere. Norman imagined he was going to get their careers canceled by labeling them “Putin Pianist”, “Putin Violinist”, “Putin Conductor” in the headlines of his articles. But in reality, many of these people have new homes, new cars, and enjoy luxurious lifestyles thanks to his idiotic articles. If you want to see the who the beneficiaries of Norman are , just search for “Putin” on this site:
https://slippedisc.com/?s=Putin
While Norman imagined he was destroying their careers, these articles are considered the ultimate endorsement (In RUSSIA)! I have many credible reports of booking agencies paying TRIPLE and sometimes QUADRUPLE the fees of any artist that Norman has labeled as being associated with Putin.
Way to go Norman!