Salzburg, we have a problem

The people in this picture are board members of Teodor Currentzis’s MusicaEterna orchestra, based in St Petersburg and funded by the sanctioned, Putin-linked VTB bank.

The people you see are: Andrey Kostin (Chairman of VTB’s governing board), Alexander Beglov (Governor of St Petersburg), Elvira Nabiullina (Governor of Russia’s central bank) and Currentzis himself.

All are direct beneficiaries of the Putin regime, which has illegally invaded Ukraine and is daily responsible for the massacre of civilians.

Salzburg’s artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser is determined to engage this Putin ensemble as a limelight of this summer’s international festival.

Where, in all conscience, does that leave the Salzburg Festival?