The Well-Tempered Ear
The famed International Tchaikovsky Competition has been expelled from the World Federation of International Music Competitions
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By Jacob Stockinger
One of the granddaddies of all international music competitions — probably the best known and most prestigious — has been disowned.
The International Tchaikovsky Competition — the one that catapulted the young American pianist and first winner Van Cliburn (below, during the competition) to worldwide fame during the height of the Cold War, for which he received the only ticker tape parade in New York City ever given to a musician — has been expelled from the World Federation of International Music Competitions, which was founded in 1957 and represents 110 music competitions and programs to help young musicians build a career.
The move comes in response to recent events in Ukraine — including alleged Russian war crimes during its brutal, deadly and unprovoked invasion.
The famed Tchaikovsky Competition — which started in 1958 and is now for pianists, violinists, cellists, vocalists as well as woodwind and brass players — is held in Moscow and St. Petersburg and is financed and organized by the Russian government. It has launched the careers on many great musicians.
It is co-chaired by the discredited Russian conductor Valery Gergiev (below right, in 2014), a close friend and avid supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin (below left) and of the conflict in Ukraine.
The expulsion came about because the Tchaikovsky Competition refused to condemn the Russian invasion, as the federation requested.
Here is a link to the story that was published on the website Classical Music, an online publication of the BBC Music Magazine. It contains background on both the competition and the current state of affairs regarding Russian musicians and the Russian conflict in Ukraine. It has a lot of noteworthy links:
And here is the response from the organizers of the Russian competition, which takes place every four years. The 16th competition was held in 2019, and the 17th is still scheduled for 2023. (The announcement of the 2019 piano winners — by the Russian former piano winner Denis Matsuev, who has been boycotted because of Ukraine — is in the YouTube-Medici.TV video at the bottom.)
The response — which accuses the federation of “persecuting” Russian musicians and promises that it will be held as usual and remain open to contestants worldwide — is posted on the competition’s website:
https://tchaikovskycompetition.com/en/news/415.htm
It makes one wonder what the effects on the next Tchaikovsky competition will be.
Will potential jurors outside Russia boycott the competition?
Will non-Russian contestants — with the exception perhaps on Chinese and Belarusian performers — avoid participating?
And what will be the effect on the inaugural Rachmaninoff Competition for pianists, composers and conductors that is scheduled to take place this June in Moscow?
What do you think?
Is it the right call by the international federation?
Or the wrong call?
Why do you think so?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Ukraine’s most famous living composer is now a war refugee in Germany
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By Jacob Stockinger
He fights and defends his native country with beautiful sounds.
Ukraine’s most famous living composer has had to flee his war-torn country and — like some 3 million fellow Ukrainians in various other countries — is now living as a a war refugee in Germany.
He is Valentin Sylvestrov (below), 84, and has survived both World War II and the Nazi occupation as well as the Soviet rule experiencing democracy and freedom after the fall of the USSR and now the devastating Russian invasion five weeks ago.
The irony is that his music, which The Ear can’t recall ever hearing performed live in Madison — although Wisconsin Public Radio recently featured a beautiful choral work — seems calming and peaceful, even consoling.(Please correct me if I am mistaken.) Many people compare him to the style of Arvo Pärt, his Eastern European contemporary and colleague in Estonia.
Little wonder that his works have found a new popularity in worldwide concerts as the world hopes for the survival and victory of Ukraine — below is Ukraine’s flag — over Vladimir’s Putin’s army and war crimes.
His works have been particularly popular at fundraisers and memorials. They underscore the long history and importance of Ukraine’s tradition of making music, which has been recounted in the news features you find in the press, on TV, on radio and elsewhere in the media including live streams and recorded videos other media, especially the Internet.
As far as The Ear can tell, his most popular work in the concert hall these days is his hauntingly beautiful 1937 “Prayer for Ukraine.” You can hear it, in an orchestra version, in a YouTube video at the bottom.
As background here are two different interviews with the distressed and saddened Sylvestrov in exile.
The first interview, from The New York Times, is by a professor at Arizona State University who has published a book on postwar Eastern European composers and offers links to more works: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/arts/music/valentin-silvestrov-ukraine-war.html
The other interview is from the German media outlet Deutsche Welle, translated into English and featuring current photos: https://www.dw.com/en/ukrainian-composer-valentin-silvestrov-what-are-you-kremlin-devils-doing/a-61158308
The tragic occasion of the war in Ukraine could be the event that brings the soul-stirring music of Sylvestrov to a larger global public.
He certainly deserves it — along with some live performances here — and The Ear certainly plans on posting more of his music.
Have you heard the music of Valentin Sylvestrov?
Do you have favorite works from his piano music, chamber music, choral music and many symphonies?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #ArizonaStateUniversity, #ArvoPärt, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #DeutscheWelle, #EasternEurope, #EasternEuropean, #EuropeanRefugee, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #JacobStockinger, #LivePerformance, #LiveStreaming, #LivingComposer, #MadisonSymhonyOrchestra, #PianoMusic, #PrayerforUkraine, #SovietUnion, #SymphonicMusic, #TheEar, #TheMedia, #ThePublic, #UkrainianComposer, #UnionofSovietSocialistRepublics, #UniversityofArizona, #ValentinSilvestrov, #VladimirPutin, #WarRefugee, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, academic, Arizona, Arizona State University, Army, arrangement, Arts, Arvo Part, audience, background, beautiful, blog, Blog post, Book, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, colleague, Communism, Communist, compare, composer, Concert, concerto, contemporary, correct, country, deserve, Deutsche Welle, devastating, different, distress, Eastern Europe, English, Estonia, event, exile, experience, Facebook, Facebook posting, fall, famous, Fellow, feratures, fight, flee, forward, fundraiser, German, Germany, global, hear, History, hope, Internet, interviews, invasion, Jacob Stockinger, link, live, live performance, live streaming, live-stream, Living composer, lving, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, media, memorial, million, mistake, Music, native, Nazi, new, news, occasion, occupation, Orchestra, other, photos, Piano, plan, posting, postwar, pray, prayer, Prayer for Ukraine, press, professor, public, publish, Putin, Radio, reader, recounted, refugee, rule, Russian, sad, soul, soul-stirring, Sound, Soviet, Soviet Union, Stalion, subscriber, survive, symphony, The Ear, tradition, Tragic, transcription, TV, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Ukrainian composer, underscore, United States, University of Arizona, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USSR, Valentin Silvestrov, version, victory, video, Vladimir Putin, vocal music, war, war refugee, war-torn, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, work, World War II, WPR, write, WWII, YouTube
Classical music: Superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel counters pianist Gabriele Montero and defends for art’s sake his remaining distant and quiet about the political and social protests in Venezuela.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Perhaps you have been seeing the many news reports about the major student-led political and social protests going on in Venezuela. They concern corruption, poverty, food shortages and the general ineptitude of Nicolas Maduro, the narrowly elected leader who followed the populist and leftist strong man Hugo Chavez after he died a year ago.
Then the protests spilled over into the artistic world.
Take the Venezuela-born pianist Gabriele Montero (below). You may recall that not long ago she played the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15, by Ludwig van Beethoven with the Madison Symphony Orchestra under John DeMain. She is also known for her improvisations, once of which she performed as an encore in Madison.
Montero has voiced a strong protest over the deadly upheaval in her native land.
She also called on her colleague, superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel (below), who now leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as the student Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Venezuela, to speak up about what was happening in his homeland. When he didn’t, she took him to task and protested his silence or his tacit endorsement of the failing government.
Montero compared Dudamel handling of Venezuela to the election endorsements that two well-known Russian musicians with international reputations — conductor Valery Gergiev (below top on the right with Vladimir Putin) and opera diva Anna Netrebko (below bottom on the right with Putin) — gave to Russian President and former KGB agent Vladimir Putin. (Hmm–The Ear wonders how Gergiev and Netrebko stand on Ukraine and the Anschluss or illegal annexation of Crimea.) But that is another issue for another time and another post.
Here is an open letter that Montero wrote to Dudamel, as it was reprinted in British critic Norman Lebrecht’s blog “Slipped Disc”:
Dudamel has been silent or timid at best, and many have said it is because Hugo Chavez (below top, on the left with Gustavo Dudamel) and his successor Nicolas Maduro (below bottom) have both been generous to “el sistema,” the national music education program out of which Dudamel emerged. Many observers speculated that Dudamel was watching out for the interest of his young followers and successors.
Here is his letter response to Montero, also as it appear on Lebrecht’s blog:
But now Dudamel has spoken out forcefully and more at length, defending himself and saying that he intends to keep politics and arts separate.
Except that his removing himself from the controversy is itself political enough, and getting more so. The Ear recalls the saying of the 19-century Romantic French novelist Stendhal that speaking of politics in things of the imagination (like art) is like firing a gun in the middle of a concert.
Anyway, The Ear recently stumbled across a story by The Boston Globe that provided a very good wrap-up of Dudamel’s current position and also included an excellent chronology and summary of the background including Montero’s point of view and accusations.
Here is a link:
What do you think?
Should Gustavo Dudamel speak up about the protests and government killings in Venezuela?
Or should art and politics be kept separate?
Does this controversy change what you think of either pianist Gabriele Montero or conductor Gustavo Dudamel?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Anna Netrebko, Arts, Beethoven, Chamber music, Classical music, conductor, diva, Dudamel, Gabriele Montero, Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Hugo Chávez, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maduro, Monrtero, Montero, Netrebko, Nicolas Maduro, Norman Lebrecht, Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, Piano, President, Putin, Russia, Valery Gergiev, Venezuela, Vladimir Putin
Classical music: The Oakwood Chamber Players will perform rarely heard Russian chamber music on this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Oakwood Chamber Players have a well-deserved reputation not only for quality performances but also for innovative and inventive programming.
This season the group (below) has been exploring the chamber music of diverse cultures around the globe.
This weekend will see the ensemble turning to Russian culture, which is suffering these days from black eye over the Anschluss engineered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to take away the province of Crimea away from the sovereign post-Soviet state of Ukraine.
But politics is politics and music is music.
Here are the details in an official press release.
OAKWOOD CHAMBER PLAYERS PRESENT “RUSSIAN RADIUS”
Join the Oakwood Chamber Players of Madison as they continue their season’s exploration of musical cultures with “Russian Radius,” a concert featuring the characteristic sounds of Russian music.
The ensemble will demonstrate an array of pieces from many Russian composers who interpreted the grandeur and breadth of Russian culture through their music.
Performances will include the spirited “Trio Pathetique” for clarinet, bassoon and piano by Mikhail Glinka (below), who is recognized as the founder of Russian classical music. (You can listen to Glinka’s “Trio Pathetique” in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
The group will also perform the energetic Quintet for flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; the melodically compelling “Elegy” for viola and piano by Alexander Glazunov (below top); an arrangement for piano quartet the captivating “Polovtsian Dance” by Alexander Borodin (below middle); a Trio for flute, violin and cello by Alexander Tcherepnin (below bottom); and Waltzes for flute, clarinet and piano by Dmitri Shostakovich.
The Oakwood Chamber Players will present Russian Radius on Saturday night, March 22, at 7 p.m. in the Oakwood Center for Arts and Education (below top), 6205 Mineral Point Road, on Madison far west side; and on Sunday afternoon, March 23, at 1:30 p.m. at the Arboretum Visitor Center (below bottom) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, on the city’s near south side.
Tickets are available at the door. They are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.
This is the fourth concert in the Season Series titled “Origination: Exploring Musical Regions of the World.” The final remaining concert is titled Down Under, and will be held May 17 and 18.
The Oakwood Chamber Players is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who perform with other well-known local groups and who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for 30 years.
Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.
The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation, in collaboration with Friends of the Arboretum, Inc.
Tags: Alexander Borodin, Alexander Glazunov, Anschluss, Arboretum, Arts, Bassoon, Cello, Chamber music, clarinet, Classical music, Crimea, Dmitri Shostakovich, flute, Horn, Jacob Stockinger, Lutheran, Lutheranism, Madison, Mikhail Glinka, Music, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Oakwood Chamber Player, Oakwood Chamber Players, Oakwood Village, Oakwood Village West, Piano, Piano Quartet, post-Soviet, Russia, Sunday, trio, Trio Pathetique, Ukraine, University of Wisconsin Arboretum, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Vladimir Putin, Waltz, YouTube
Classical music: Is it payback time for Russian musicians at the Winter Olympics in Sochi? Conductor Valery Gergiev is the official maestro of Vladimir Putin’s big show that opens tonight with grand ceremony.
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By Jacob Stockinger
If you have been waiting for the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics (below is the official logo), tonight is the night it all begins for real –- at least officially because some preliminary rounds of sporting events like figure skating and snowboarding have already been held — even amid the terrorist threats, corruption, unfinished construction, dog roundups, authoritarianism and homophobia.
Many of us here in the U.S. will be tuning in at 8 p.m. EST to NBC-TV and streaming the games on-line. Here is a link to a schedule, to background stories and to other links.
For a complete schedule of events, check out:
And tonight is the opening ceremonies, the March of Nations, where all the athletes will march into the main stadium.
Could it also be payback time for Russian superstar musicians?
The maestro of music for the Olympics is the ever busy, often unshaven and always critically acclaimed conductor Valery Gergiev (below), who guest conducts around the world and holds his own podium at the Mariinsky Theatre in St.Petersburg.
But ironically, the maestro is a very close friend and political supporter – as is superstar soprano Anna Netrebko (below), who may or may not show up at Sochi — of the heavy-handed and thuggish Russian President, and former KGB agent, Vladimir Putin. (Below is a photo of Vladimir Putin pinning a state decoration on Valery Gergiev.)
The combination of the two V-Men — Vladimir and Valery — creates certain ironies and some wariness or even dissatisfaction.
Here is a link to a fine story about Gergiev, Putin and the Olympics that aired in NPR. It also has links to some music.
And The New York Times has also published a story about Gergiev that focuses on his role as an ambassador and defender of Russian culture’s rebirth under Putin, whom Gergiev endorsed in the last presidential election (both are below), despite the foreign political fallout.
So, will Anna Netrebko (seen below in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin”), who also endorsed Putin, show up to sing?
Will some of the famous ballet dancers from the famed but beleaguered Bolshoi company in Moscow also perform?
Tune in and see.
But while we wait for the Winter Olympics to reveal themselves and for their many cultural contradictions to surface — and to help warm you up in this cold, cold Midwest winter -– here is some of the best music ever composed for the Olympics or sports events: A YouTube video of Milwaukee-born composer Michel Torke’s “Javelin” written for the 1996 Summer Olympics Games in Atlanta, Georgia:
Tags: 2014 Winter Olympics, Anna Netrebko, Arts, Atlanta, ballet, Bolshoi, Classical music, conductor, corruption, dog, figure skating, gay, Georgia, homophobia, Jacob Stockinger, Javelin, Madison Opera, Mariinsky Theatre, Metropolitan Opera, Michael Torke, Moscow, NBC, NBC-TV, New York Times, Olympics, Russia, Russian culture, Saint Petersburg, snowboarding, Sochi, Sports, Summer Olympics, terrorism, The New York Times, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Putin, Winter Olympics, YouTube
Classical music: The new “LIVE From The Met in HD” season starts this Saturday. Will anyone boo or protest the Putin supporters singer Anna Netrebko and conductor Valery Gergiev during the satellite broadcast of the opera “Eugene Onegin” by the gay composer Tchaikovsky? Here are links to the full season and its background.
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By Jacob Stockinger
You know the new concert season is well underway when the major opera houses rev up.
And this weekend marks the start of the new “Live From the Met in HD’ series. It features 10 new productions, including some very well-known work operas and some lesser-known one.
The opening production by the world-famous Metropolitan Opera (below, the interior seen from the stage) in New York City is Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin,” which the Madison Opera staged to critical acclaim last season.
The new production stars singers Russian soprano Anna Netrebko (below) and the Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien.
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra will be conducted by Russian globe-trotting conductor Valery Gergiev (below, in a photo from Getty Images), which is sure to give sparkling account of the tuneful Waltz, probably the most famous and popular moment in the entire opera (at bottom in a popular YouTube video) by that Melody Master of a composer.
It is a curious and sure-fire musical combination that may also be controversial, given how both Anna Netrebko and Valery Gergiev have been outspoken supporters of Macho Man Russian President Vladimir Putin (below), despite his oppositional defense of Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad and despite his human rights record, especially fostering the oppression of gays and lesbians in Russia. And how ironic it is that they will perform in an opera by Tchaikovsky, who was himself gay,
Here are two popular posts I recently did about that issue, posts that drew some great reader comments you should check out:
One wonders; Will the singer or conductor hear any boos or jeers as they start the production, which the Met’s general director Peter Gelb has refused to dedicate to Russia’s gays and lesbians? It could be interesting. But given the cost of seats at the Met, The Ear suspects not. Art will probably win out over politics, at least on the expensive Mother Ship – though the reception might be more vocal and dissenting in local and more affordable cinemas.
But who knows? Still, one can hope.
Anyway, the “Met LIVE in HD” shows will be screened by satellite at the Point Cinemas on Madison’s far west side and the Eastgate Cinemas on the city’s far east side. The opera starts at 11:55 a.m. CDT and runs just over four hours.
Tickets are $24 for adults, $18 for children.
Below are some links with more information about this opening production and about the full season.
Here is a link to the complete season on 10 productions so you can check for conflicts, set aside dates (encore performances are usually the following Wednesday evening) and buy tickets in advance.
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx
Here is a useful link to the notes with a synopsis of the plot of “Eugene Onegin”:
Here is a link to some videos (below is the ball scene) that may whet your appetite to see and hear the production:
http://www.metoperafamily.org/video/2013-2014/eugene-onegin?src=hdpage
And here are links to two detailed an dwell researched stories in The New York Times that give the history of the Met Live in HD series and offers insightful critiques of what the series means for live opera and the opera scene in general in the U.S. and around the world.
Here is the link to the story with historical, demographic and economics background:
Here is the analysis and critique:
If you go, let us know what you thought of the production and whether something unusual happened -– be it a boycott or protest, jeers or boos.
The Ear wants to hear.
Classical music: Which opera villain would Vladimir Putin be? Plus, the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s last performance of its acclaimed opening concert is TODAY at 2:30 p.m.
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A REMINDER: The last performance of the season-opening concert by Madison Symphony Orchestra (below in a photo by Greg Anderson) takes place at 2:30 p.m. today in Overture Hall. The program of Aaron Copland’s dance suite “Appalachian Spring,” Richard Wagner‘s “Love Death” (Liebestod) from the opera “Tristan und Isolde” and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov‘s symphonic tone poem “Scheherazade” celebrates the 20th anniversary of conductor John DeMain‘s tenure. And the performances have received rave reviews. Here are links to reviews by John W. Barker of Isthmus and Greg Hettmansberger of Madison Magazine:
http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=41041&sid=7853c5de52499cbd8d735576acaa10e0
By Jacob Stockinger
You may recall that last weekend I asked whether we should boycott the performances and recordings of superstar soprano Anna Netrebko (below top) and globe-trotting conductor Valery Gergiev (below bottom) because they supported the election of Vladimir Putin, the thuggish former KGB agent who is the scheming and vicious President of Russia.
There is a lot to complain about Vladimir Putin (below, pictured on a poster in a pro-=gay rights protest) and his record of injustice, human rights and political intrigues. In particular, putting aside questions of Syria and internal Russian dissent, I chastised Netrebko and Gergiev for not standing up to and not speaking out about Putin’s support of extremely harsh and oppressive anti-gay laws in Russia, especially both musicians no doubt work with and depend on gay and lesbian colleagues in performing artists.
The comments led to some pretty heated responses from various readers.
Here is a link so you can see for yourself:
Then a god friend and loyal, knowledgeable reader of the blog, who is on a bicycling tour of Hungary, checked in and sent on a link to a piece about how opera houses – including the famed Metropolitan Opera in New York City — have been asked to sign petitions and at least dedicate their opening night performances against Putin and his supporters.
The Met’s general director Peter Gelb (below) refused, pleading that the arts are separate from politics, and some other opera leaders agreed with him. Well, what do you expect from management?
Here is a link to that fascinating story in the Wall Street Journal:
The whole idea of Vladimir Putin (below) as an opera villain got me thinking: Which villain in the opera repertoire best parallels or embodies Vladimir Putin, seen as a parody of himself as a real-life bare-chested macho man in the photo below top? (The beef-cakey baritone Nathan Gunn, below bottom) would be an ideal choice to cast int the role no?)
Could Putin be the infamous Scarpia (below, as sung by Dmitri Hvorostovsky in a popular YouTube video) who tortures and kills opponents in Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca”?
Could he be the notorious Duke of Mantua who betrays his friend in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto”?
Or maybe Mephistopheles in Charles Gounod’s “Faust”?
Perhaps Modeste Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov as leader who runs astray of the law and the people?
And there many other villain who kill, torture and betray.
In fact, to help you decide here is a list – by no means complete – of the Top 10 opera villains as provided by the famed radio station WQXR FM in New York City.
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/167716-top-10-opera-villains/
Maybe you can think of others?
And just maybe we will see a contemporary opera composed that is based on Putin. Why not, The Ear asks, since recently world premiere of a commissioned opera ‘”Anna Nicole” based on the glittery and totally superficial life of the trashy Anna Nicole Smith recently took place at the Royal Opera in London?
Anyway, which opera villain do you think best embodies Vladimir Putin?
And could the real Vladimir Putin himself serve as a villainous role in a new and contemporary opera?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Aaron Copland, Anna Netrebko, Appalachian Spring, Charles Gounod, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Faust, gay, Gay Lesbian and Bisexual, gay rights, Giuseppe Verdi, human rights, John DeMain, lesbian, Liebestod, Love-Death, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, Modeste Mussorgsky, Nathan Gunn, New York City, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Overture Center, Peter Gelb, protest, Putin, Richard Wagner, Rigoletto, Russia, Syria, Tosca, Tristan und Isolde, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Putin, YouTube
Classical music: Let’s boycott them if music superstars Anna Netrebko and conductor Valery Gergiev don’t try to enlighten Vladimir Putin about gays and lesbians.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Like everybody else, I am pretty angry, disappointed and frustrated about Russia and the spoiler role it continues to play in defending Syria’s genocidal actions and in blocking justified moves by the United Nations against President Assad and his murderous regime.
But I am also very irritated, annoyed and angered by the way that Macho Man Russian President and former KGB agent Vladimir Putin (below) and the Russian right-wing politicians have stigmatized gays and lesbians and passed laws against the LGBT community.
Which is also why I was so proud of U.S. President Barack Obama for openly meeting with LGBT advocates in Saint Petersburg when he recently went there for the G-20 summit of economically powerful nations.
So why can’t other important figures speak out about gay rights, as I bet the famous late cellist, conductor and outspoken dissident and defender of human rights Mstislav Rostropovich (below) would have done.
How about the opera superstar soprano Anna Netrebko?
And how about the globe-trotting and critically acclaimed Russian orchestra conductor Valery Gergiev?
You may recall that in the Russian election both of those artists supported the strongman Vladimir Putin as their candidate. (Below top is a photo of Valery Gergiev, on the right, with Vladimir Putin, below bottom, Vladimir Putin greets Anna Netrebko with flowers)
Isn’t that special? as The Church Lady used to say on “Saturday Night Live.”
Well, The Ear wonders why the two world-renowned classical musicians don’t go to their favored candidate and enlighten him about gays and lesbians? About gay rights as human rights?
I mean is it is not as if they are personally ignorant of or uninvolved in the important role that gays and lesbians play in the world of classical music and opera, and in the performing arts in general.
It is impossible to believe that both Anna Netrebko and Valery Gergiev don’t count gays and lesbians among their closest friends and collaborators.
Why are they holding back?
What are they afraid of?
They are being hypocritical and should be ashamed. (Below is a YouTube video, with almost one million hits, of Anna Netrebko singing the famous aria “Sempre Libera” — Always Free — from Giuseppe Verdi‘s popular opera “La Traviata.)
Or could it possibly be that they actually support Putin’s oppressive and repressive policy – now official law – that makes it a crime even to speak about homosexuality openly for fear of spoiling and recruiting young people?
Why don’t they speak out against the violent and thuggish beatings that the intolerant Russians have inflicted on gays and lesbians? Why don’t they support gay rights protests and protesters in Russia? And if they have, who don’t we know about it?
It would sure be news, even if it meant bad box office in their native land.
And if it is the case that Netrebko and Gergiev have remained silence and uninvolved, then The Ear says: It is time to boycott their productions, concert appearances and their recordings. It would be similar to the boycott of Russian vodka that gay rights advocates have called for (below).
What do you say?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music enters controversial politics in some unexpected ways through Republican blowhard Newt Gingrich, leftist Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Well, it is just a few weeks or more before a lot of some major political events, all of them quite polarizing, contentious and controversial, get decided.
And curiously enough, classical music – which is normally left out of such major social events and political discussions – seems to be playing an important role right now.
In the US, for example, the Republican presidential primary (see the candidates, below, in a CNN South Carolina debate) turns this week to Arizona and Michigan, then moves on to Super Tuesday.
Then of course there is the reelection campaign of populist but controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (below).
And then there is the upcoming election in Russia where Vladimir Putin (below, riding brazenly beefcake and defiantly bare-chested) – often accused making his opponents “disappear” — hopes to return as President.
Of course music creeps into politics now and then. Recently, President Obama made headlines and videos that went viral when he crooned a few bars of Al Green and then later some blues with B.B. King and Rolling Stone Mick Jagger.
But classical music and opera?
How do they figure all of a sudden in politics?
Could it be because so many of these extremist-type candidates turn to something more artistically traditional for validation and mainstream cultural acceptance?
Here are some stories to consider:
Mr. Blowhard Speaker Newt Gingrich isn’t doing very well in the polls and primaries. But his former aide, mistress and now third wife, Callista (below), is using music education as the theme she says she would champion as First Lady the same way that Michelle Obama is promoting healthy food and fighting childhood obesity:
Hugo Chavez is so anxious to have good press to retain almost dictatorial power that he is willing to co-opt the superb music education program in Venezuela – the same “el sistema” that brought us superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel (seen below with Chavez) and the system’s famous founder Juan Antonio Abreu – and thereby to neutralize opposition from all the grateful young performers and audiences who benefit from the system he didn’t even start.
Here is a great New York Times story about him and them:
And here is a backgrounder about the success of El Sistema and the loyalty it inspire among its participants:
And then there are the mass demonstrations against former Russian president and KGB secret police agent Vladimir Putin, who seems about to pull off a shady return to power. But that doesn’t seem to prevent him from getting endorsements from some pretty big classical music stars including conductor Valery Gergiev (below top, shaking Putin hand at the recent Tchaikovsky competition) and sexy opera diva soprano Anna Netrebko (below bottom with Putin), who denies rumors that she had an affair with Putin (how operatic that would be!):
http://anna-netrebko.blogspot.com/2012/02/anna-netrebko-and-valery-gergiev.html
For background, try this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/09/25/anna-netrebko-opera-diva-to-die-for.html
I’ll bet there is more as elections draw closer and the American Presidential Election draws closer.
Do you have any more tips or ideas, suggestions or comments about music and current politics here or elsewhere?
The Ear wants to hear.
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