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Gergiev accused of nepotism


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This is the link to the article

http://top.rbc.ru/spb_sz/14/10/2013/881983.shtml

This is what google translate comes up with, with a few mistakes

"The Emperor of All Russia in the field of arts" was accused of nepotism

The Mariinsky Theatre ocherednyo scandal erupted - the theater's management is accused of violating labor laws. The other day on the Internet, on the website change.org, published a petition to the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medina to demand the release from office of the head of the Mariinsky Theatre Valery Gergiev.

The authors of the message that while a total of 145 people have signed the recall that Valery Gergiev has served as artistic director of the theater for 25 years. Signatory outraged that over the years never held elections for the post of head of the theater. In addition, they express dissatisfaction with nepotism that prevails at the Mariinsky Thus, the older sister takes Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky artistic director of the Academy of Young Singers, her husband's younger sister Valery Gergiev - Director of the Concert Hall Theater.

"The theater violates labor laws - Russia," the authors write angry letters.They note that this is recorded in outstanding trade union leaders Ballet Theatre in the Ministry of Culture, as well as outstanding artist Mikhail Shemyakin in the judiciary.

The letter states that the recent level of professional theater productions falls. And this is due, in the opinion of the signatories, to the fact that he V.Gergiyev is rare, entrusting management is not enough competent people.To confirm his words they give a list of the posts held by Valery Gergiev: artistic director and director of the Mariinsky Theatre (the three halls of the Mariinsky Theatre), the new dean of the Faculty of Arts of St. Petersburg State University, honorary professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Chairman of the All-Russian Choral Society, chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra; Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival, director of the Youth Orchestra's Carnegie Hall, the head of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the head of music festivals in Mikkeli (Finland), Rotterdam (Netherlands), the Easter Festival (Moscow); festival "White Nights" (St. Petersburg), "New Horizons" "Mardi Gras", "New Horizons" and "Brass Evenings" (Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre) and so on.

"State Academy of Young Singers of the Mariinsky Theatre is critical, as a result of mismanagement, the organization brings irreparable losses in the ranks of talented young people who dedicated their lives to the art of opera" - they wrote.

It is worth noting that in recent months the name of Valery Gergiev appears in many scandals. The loudest is associated with the idea to combine the Mariinsky Theatre, the Academy of Russian Ballet, St. Petersburg State Conservatory and Zubov Institute. It turned out that his idea is to create a single "National Centre for the Arts," which evil tongues have already nicknamed the "cultural empire Gergiev," inspires not all of its potential subjects. St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after Rimsky-Korsakov has opposed this proposal. Negative reaction to the proposal and expressed the union representatives of the Russian Institute of Art History (Zubovsky Institute). Then, the press service of the Mariinsky Theatre to comment on the statement of the conservatory and the institution refused.

Another scandal broke out in St. Petersburg, Valery Gergiev due to a conflict with the famous artist Mikhail Shemyakin. The latter said he would sue the head of the Mariinsky Theatre because the theater for eight years, refused to pay his work on the three performances.

"So far, in the eight years since I did not ask how many letters I wrote, I denied payment for my work. Ie choreographer received. People who worked on productions, props, everyone got their money . A major artist has not received a penny "- quoted Shemyakin" Echo of Moscow ". "This is a completely insane situation, but characterizes the nature of the future Emperor of All Russia in the field of arts. Musical and music. Judge for yourself," - he said, referring just to the proposal to combine Valery Gergiev kulutrnye institutions of the city. As for the official position of the Mariinsky Theatre on the conflict with Shemyakin, the comments from the press service of the theater also could be obtained. There previously told RBC that no official information on the conflict with the artist in the theater have been reported.

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This would be terrible for artistic life in Russia. What good is a one-size-fits-all artistic institution? All this does is augment the influence and power of Gergiev - it does not serve the best interests of all these institutions. They all need to be completely autonomous and only in that way can they best serve their *own* interests free from outside interference. Gergiev knows nothing about ballet, and the open letter on the Vaganova site shows clearly their opposition to this artistic umbrella. If Gergiev really wanted to serve the best interests of the ballet world, he would look into the terrible mismanagement of Mariinsky Theatre, instead of trying to denigrate Vaganova Academy and high handedly take it over.

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This isn't a surprise. This is a very sad situation. The Mariinsky Theatre is a fiefdom. Maestro Gergiev has absolute power. We know the saying about absolute power. The Maestro has both the political class and the money behind him. The only way that the Maestro will be officially sanctioned, rebuked, let alone removed, is if his best friend President Putin is deposed. The odds of that happening are slim and none. El Presidente has no interest whatsoever in the performing arts. V.P. is more interested in the upcoming Sochi Olympics than in intramural backstage politics of the nation's major theatres. As for the Ministry of Culture, it is comprised of United Russia Party members from top to bottom. Also, the major (native) donors of the Theatre are enthusiastic Gergievites, and that invariably means they're Putinites as well.

The letter states that the recent level of professional theater productions falls. And this is due, in the opinion of the signatories, to the fact that he V.Gergiyev is rare, entrusting management is not enough competent people.

That's an understatement.

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ITA, Cygnet. Don't be surprised if Gergiev makes an appearance in Sochi. Maybe even light the Olympic flame? I put nothing past V.P. At the very least, I bet that Gergiev will be 'in da house' (Sochi Stadium) conducting the Olympic Anthem or something else.

This whole situation would be hilarious if it were not so sad.

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Anna Netrebko said in an interview with "Opera Lively" that she would be performing in one of the cermeonies.

In the interactive video about the Sochi Olympics shown at the Closing Cermonies at the Vancouver Olympics, Gergiev conducted and Mariinsky dancers were featured. ( Uliana Lopatkina performed a short, four-character version of "Carmen," with Yuri Beshmet conducting his chamber orchestra onstage during the Cultural Olympiad.) It would be no surprise were he to be prominent in the cermonies for the Sochi Olympics.

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For now it appears the Russian government has put the kibosh on Gergiev's grand plan to merge the Mariinsky Theater, the Vaganova Academy, the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the Russian Institute of the History of the Arts. However, Gergiev continues to push for the merger of the Mariinsky and the Vaganova Academy.

According to Gergiev's press secretary, he is unhappy with the dancers being trained at the Academy and believes that the school is not meeting the theater's needs. "Today the Mariinsky company includes stars of the first magnitude, such as Diana Vishneva and Ulyana Lopatkina; this is not about them, but rather about a systematic approach and forming a sound basis for the emergence of new names in the future. This requires serious work, on which Valery Gergiev insists."

The Vaganova Academy counters that Gergiev has not specified the source of his dissatisfaction and notes: "Our graduates make up 98% of the Mariinsky Ballet. This means that Valery Gergiev is dissatisfied with his entire ballet troupe. If our graduates are so badly trained, why are they taken into the company in such numbers?"

The school believes this is really about something else, namely that the Mariinsky-2 is poorly equipped with ballet studios, and in the event of the closure of the main theater for renovations, the Mariinsky Ballet will wish to commandeer the Vaganova Academy's studios for its own use.

http://izvestia.ru/news/559481

The Academy has published a long open letter on the matter. Among other things, its signatories object to the fact that consultations on the issue are being conducted with Nikolai Tsiskaridze, whose connection to the Mariinsky is minimal, and Irina Kolpakova, who has lived and worked abroad for more than two decades. They note with concern the tendency of many Vaganova graduates to choose to work in companies other than the Mariinsky, and also the falling standards of the Mariinsky Ballet. But that, they say, may be a result of the difficult conditions in which the Mariinsky's repetiteurs work.

http://www.vaganova.ru/page.php?id=265&pid=265&level=1

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