Vienna Art Festival Cancels Greek-Russian Composer…UPDATE
Mr. Currentzis is Greek and had received his Russian citizenship on top of it
Reference is made to the the recent posting:
I must make amends here for in that piece I editorialised that the ‘cancelled’ individual, Mr. Teodor Currentzis would be a Russian citizen because one of his parents would be Russian.
Turns out that isn’t the case; both of Mr. Currentzis’ parents are, in fact Greek.
He accepted Russian citizenship in 2014, which caused quite a stir; here’s the official version (via Wikipedia; references omitted; translation and emphases mine):
In 2014, Currentzis was criticised by foreign media because he accepted the Russian citizenship granted to him by decree by President Vladimir Putin in addition to his Greek citizenship.
Currentzis publicly criticised the house arrest imposed on director Kirill Serebrennikov in 2017. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he announced a benefit concert in Vienna for Ukrainian refugees, which ultimately did not take place for reasons for which Currentzis was not responsible. Currentzis does not comment publicly on the Russian invasion. Various organisers cancelled his performances as a result. In his Crescendo column, music journalist Axel Brüggemann repeatedly criticised Currentzis for the financial dependence of his ensemble MusicAeterna on Russian patrons and state-affiliated companies such as VTB Bank.
So, loads of things to unpack and little time.
I shall not amend the original item, for in the translated news item was clear:
SWR programme director Anke Mai expressed her understanding that ‘Oksana Lyniv and the members of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra would have liked Teodor Currentzis to make a public statement against the Russian war of aggression. However, in view of the consequences that such a statement would have for Currentzis in Russia, we never asked him to do so.’
Mr. Currentzis did not comment on the conflict, hence he was cancelled.
Here’s a bit more detail from a piece that appeared in Van in early October 2022 [archived version]:
It was soon discovered that the orchestra and choir, which Currentzis founded under the name MusicAeterna, are supported by the sanctioned, semi-state-owned VTB Bank, whose chairman Andrei Kostin sits on the orchestra's board, as does Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Russian Central Bank. A tour of Russia was recently sponsored by Gazprom, whose CEO Alexei Miller was in turn spotted at a concert by Currentzis in St Petersburg on 2 September [I’m shocked, shocked, that sponsors attend whatever the sponsored person does]. MusicAeterna resides there in the former broadcasting centre, which is owned by a media company whose board of directors includes Alina Kabaeva, Putin's alleged mistress [I’m sure this is highly relevant here, right?]. One thing led to another [what is implied here?]. And because Currentzis himself still refused to comment, some journalists and commentators on social networks soon began to see Currentzis as a kind of second Gergiev. It's a scandal that he is still allowed to perform in Dortmund, Salzburg or Hamburg!
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I’ll close this out by a statement: freedom of speech includes the right to remain silent.
Mr. Currentzis has the same rights.
Those who demand—coerce—him to state whatever are the bad people here.
Thank you for adding further information!