One writer in New York thinks Gergiev is blameless

Kelly Jane Torrance, op-ed editor of the New York Post, has written a paean of praise to Gergiev and Netrebko, along with an appeal to reverse the bans on Putin’s artists.

Here’s the nub of a very weak argument:

…canceling some Russian musicians can easily lead to canceling them all. “Someone tell my why @WQXR has been playing #Russian music this afternoon?” tweeted a University of Maryland prof this week about New York’s classical station. Would she object to hearing Rachmaninoff, who escaped to America after the Communist revolution?

It was during intermission at the Carnegie Hall Rachmaninoff concert that I realized some blame all Russians for Putin’s provocations. Popping into the Russian Tea Room for a drink — Carnegie’s bars are still closed post-COVID — I chatted with a manager and learned the legendary restaurant has been getting threatening calls.

Even innocent animals are being punished for Putin: The International Cat Federation has banned Russian felines from its competitions. Yet Beijing’s killer regime was allowed to profit off an international Olympic Games, and its reps travel freely through the West.

Even at the height of the Cold War, Russia and America shared the common language of music. Texas-bred Van Cliburn did much for art and peace when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 — a shock to the Russians. Gergiev now chairs that competition. Art is always essential to human life, but cultural exchange becomes even more crucial at times of political tension.