“Valery Gergiev is considered a lock to conduct. The Russian diva Anna Netrebko is widely suspected to be singing. And a host of top Russian ballet stars are expected to dance,” writes Michael Cooper in Wednesday’s (2/5) New York Times. “The Winter Olympics in Sochi are expected to give Russia, a country that still takes its opera and ballet very seriously, a chance to showcase its classical talent to a broader global audience.… The details of exactly who will be performing at Sochi’s opening ceremony on Friday and the closing ceremony on Feb. 23 are being tightly held.… When a furor erupted in the West last year over gay rights in Russia … [there were] demonstrations at several of Mr. Gergiev’s performances…. As Russia has invested in the arts—renovating the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and opening a new Mariinsky II theater in St. Petersburg—its artists have become closely associated with their patron, President Vladimir V. Putin,” under whose government anti-gay-rights legislation was passed. In an interview on Sunday, Gergiev stated, “I myself question very much why the country needed something like this law.” A Tuesday (2/4) segment by Elizabeth Blair at NPR’s “All Things Considered” examines Gergiev’s controversial role in Russian culture and politics. Symphony magazine’s in-depth article about Valery Gergiev appeared in the Fall 2013 issue.
Posted February 6, 2014
