Breaking: Vienna sacks Putin bass

Breaking: Vienna sacks Putin bass

Opera

norman lebrecht

December 27, 2023

Message received:

In response to an inquiry from OPERN∙NEWS, the Vienna State Opera has said that it has “mutually agreed with Mr. (Ildar) Abdrazakov” that “there will be no performances by him until further notice.”

His only western engagement in 2024 is with Santa Cecilia in Rome.

He does, however, still have some old friends.

Comments

  • Tiredofitall says:

    Boy, when even Vienna sees the light, you know it’s all over.

  • Lothario Hunter says:

    Oh yess! yess! Not only Domingo is an old friend!! Muti is more than an old friend, he is a High Protector of the Great Putin Bass!!! And who needs Paris, Vienna and Zurich when Muti is protecting you?? (By the way, we are still researching why Muti’s protection failed to shield the Great Putin Bass in these cities; ostensibly they did not get a Muti memo or it’s -more simply- a case of insubordination, which Muti will punish at a time and in a manner of his choice).

    There is an intriguing chain of thoughts connecting: MUTI, PUTIN, THE GREAT PUTIN BASS, DEPARDIEU, MACRON, WEINSTEIN, THE LEGION OF HONOR, GERGIEV, IRAN, THE NAZI PARTY, HAMAS, DOMINGO, AND THE ME2 MOVEMENT.

    Pay attention:

    According to many reports, the Great Putin Bass (aka Abdrazakov) was Muti’s star of choice for the gala concluding in glory the Ravenna Festival a couple of days ago. https://operawire.com/ildar-abdrazakov-will-sing-at-the-ravenna-festivals-verdi-gala/
    Reports say it ended with OVATIONS!! Who’s to say the Putin Bass is banned in the West? He sings with Muti and they receive OVATIONS together!!!

    Muti has the power and moral authority to legitimize the Putin Bass (aka Abrazakov), we all agree with that. Who cares if Muti made a skit condemning the Ukraine invasion some time ago? No serious person I know believed that, and it’s water under the bridge anyway. Muti makes Putin’s singer sing in the West, that’s what counts, not some bloody Chicago skit! In addition, the Italian Maestro has won the RUSSIAN ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP, conferred to him by Putin. This fantastic Putin award has always been one of Muti’s favorite awards and he wanted his fans to know about it: it was printed on the CSO program books for years (between the Queen award, and the Pope award); it was reported in this great Muti profile article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8386177/Riccardo-Muti-a-profile.html

    Here is a nice pic of Muti and Putin: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vladimir_Putin_with_Riccardo_Muti-1.jpg

    Muti has also been nominated honorary member of the RUSSIAN ACADEMY FOR THE ARTS, presided by the sublime artist who sculpted the statue of Putin dressing in a kimono: Zurab Tsereteli. A nice pic of of the Putin statue should be viewed here:

    https://www.alamy.com/aggregator-api/download/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fc8.alamy.com%2Fcomp%2FR5ED6M%2Frussia-moscow-presnya-area-studio-of-zurab-tsereteli-russian-super-artist-sculpture-of-premier-vladimir-putin-in-karate-costume-R5ED6M.jpg

    According to reports, in March 2014 Tsereteli signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia’s military first intervention in Ukraine. Tsereteli was supporting the Ukraine invasion even back in 2014! He’s a nice guy, his awards are to be treasured! I, for one, would love to get an award from Tsereteli.

    Nice pic of Muti with the Russians here, at the Russian embassy in Vienna, at the end of 2021, just a couple of months before the war started, when the award was conferred!!

    https://newsrnd.com/life/2021-10-28-riccardo-muti-honorary-academic-of-russia.r1m3Ux_LF.html

    Who can boast to have received awards from both Putin and Tsereteli? As far as I know, our beloved Muti!

    Muti also famously invited Gergiev to conduct his shiny toy, the Cherubini orchestra!! Muti and Gergiev were quite the couple in the Ravenna Festival! (It is really not my fault if Muti is involved with the Russians, I am not making it up and I am just a messenger.)

    From the Russians to the French-Russians: Muti gave work to Gerard Depardieu, they performed Berlioz Lelio together. A nice video of Gerard – a recipient of the Legion of Honor which some Me2 fanatics (most are probably Americans) unjustly say should now be taken away from him – having dinner with Putin here after getting Russian citizenship:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JDSNxgLRAM

    French authorities have brought preliminary charges against Depardieu for allegedly raping the actress Charlotte Arnould on two occassions in August 2008. He has denied those allegations and all accusations of assault by other women. He is a Russian citizen now, he’s not going to get prosecuted for rape!

    Harvey Weinstein, the target of accusations that fueled the #MeToo movement in 2017 and led to his conviction, received the Legion of Honor in 2012 from President Nicolas Sarkozy. Macron said he wanted to withdraw the award from Weinstein after the accusations against him became public, but that had yet to happen as of 2019. Criminal charges have been brought against Weinstein and he is has been found guilty of rape and sentenced to 23 years of imprisonment.

    Muti and Depardied not only collaborated in classical music; they received the Legion of Honour (a jolly big deal!!) But wait – the current President of France Macron has gotten into big trouble presently for strongly praising Depardieu. President Macron rejected the suggestion by his own culture minister that Depardieu should lose the Legion of Honor, one of France’s highest awards, arguing it is merited for great artists who might be bad people. (Does Muti agree with Macron? We don’t know, though I could make an intelligent guess)

    On the other hand, we do know what Muti thinks of MeToo: “With MeToo, Mozart would be in jail” (though there is no documentary or anecdotal evidence that Mozart ever raped anyone). What does Muti think of his buddy Depardieu rape charges? The rape allegedly happened two years before they collaborated on Berlioz and hung out in Chicago. Did Muti and Depardieu discussed Charlotte Arnould and similar topics in Chicago? We don’t know.

    (Note: Muti is also a buddy of Domingo, another man accused of assaulting women and having phone calls with sex traffickers. I am not saying it’s a pattern let’s be clear, I am just laying out the facts!)

    From France to the Middle East: Muti, so active internationally, has not spoken to condemn Hamas and support Israel, but he loves peace and in my opinion should win the Nobel Prize. He visited Iran with the Cherubini orchestra; before him only Karajan (a member of the Nazi parti) visited the Iranian anti Zionist nation! We have also learned from another SD reader that Muti is wondering why the Israel Phil is not called Palestinian Orchestra :-((((

    Long live Riccardo, Gergiev, Putin, Abdrazakov, the Iran theocracy, Depardieu, and Russia!

    (and, Metoo sucks, something that Muti, Weinstein, Depardieu, Domingo and all of us fighters for Culture are in violent agreement with, right?)

  • Save the MET says:

    Shockingly Roscic actually has a spine.

  • Dixie says:

    Vienna, wonders never cease!!! And Rome???

  • Harry Collier says:

    Strange. I thought that Abdrazakov was a singer, and that Vladimir Putin was a politician. But I agree that, in the current climate, Putin should not sing in Vienna.

  • Serge says:

    Berufsverbot macht frei. Austrians know this! And like last time, they can say “we do it only because someone asked us to…”

  • Pierre says:

    I’m very sorry for Ildar, he’s an excellent singer and a nice man. No explanation about why he is so tied up in this. Other Russian artists are performing in the West, why is he singled out for cancellation?

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