Conductor Teodor Currentzis.
In Wednesday’s (2/14) Greek City Times, an article by the journal’s Athen Bureau states, “The Vienna Festival has cancelled the participation of the Greek-Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis and the symphony orchestra of Southwest German Radio SWR because the internationally renowned conductor has yet to take a clear position against Russia’s war on Ukraine. The new director of the Vienna Festival, Milo Rau, had planned two concerts on the theme of the war, one by the SWR Symphonieorchester under Currentzis and the second by the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra under Oksana Lyniv, who expressed her dissatisfaction with the participation of her Greek-Russian colleague. ‘During discussions over the past few days, it has become clear that the presentation of both concerts as part of the Vienna Festival is currently not feasible,’ the organizers said … According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Ukrainian artists did not want to appear in the same space as an artist who remains silent about what is happening in Ukraine, continues to give concerts in Russia, and whose group, ‘MusicAeterna,’ is financed by Russian companies which are on the sanctions lists of the European Union and its members mock the Western sanctions policy on social media.”
