Currentzis tenor poses triumphant pic on a Putin tank

For his last concert as music director at SWR in Stuttgart, the Putin conductor Teodor Currentzis chose Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. Nothing controversial about that.

Until a Russian tenor in the SWR Vokal-Ensemble, Alexander Yudenkov, posted a pic of himself dancing with a Russian flag on Putin’s birthday, adding a prayer ‘ Lord give his servant (Putin) a successful life and preserve him for many yeats.’

The SWR press office has responded to BackstageClassical: ‘The SWR is aware of Alexander Yudenkov’s contributions. Mr Yudenkov made his comments on his Facebook page as a private person and not on behalf of the SWR. Nevertheless, the SWR clearly distances itself from these contributions. We also expressed this to Mr Yudenkov in a personal conversation. Mr Yudenkov has now taken his account offline.’

SWR is having so much picture trouble these days. One conductor departs with a Putin-glorifying pic, the next is suspended over a penis glorifying pic. Must be something in the Stuttgart mineral water.