I pondered
in this blog several weeks ago whether I should sign an online petition
asking the Metropolitan
Opera House to dedicate its opening night—a more-champagne-than-beer night
out—to the cause of LGBT rights.
There were good reasons
to sign the petition. First of all, Anna Netrebko, the
Russian-Austrian soprano at the top of the field, and Valery Gergiev, the
Russian conductor, were singing and conducting. And both, to some degree, were
supporters or perhaps friends with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who
signed into law draconian
laws against even speaking about homosexuality. More to the point,
neither artist had condemned these laws. Oh, and the opera to be performed on
opening night? Eugene
Onegin, by that most lavender composer, Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky.
There were good reasons
not to sign the petition. First of all, it was mere coincidence that the two
Russian artists were appearing in a gay Russian composer’s opera that opening
night; the Met was hardly endorsing or even acquiescing to homophobia. Second,
the opening was in New York, not in Moscow—the Russians weren’t making any
money off this one. Third, the Met has never endorsed any cause in its 130
year-plus history. And, look guys, we’re not the only game in town. In the last
130 years, there have been a LOT of atrocities. The Met could have devoted
every performance to a different cause, and still not be done with them….
So I didn’t sign, but
9,000 others—including Mr. Fernández—did. And yesterday evening, the opening
night took
place. And was Netrebko in good voice? Did Gergiev conduct with a
toothpick, as he has been known to do? How was the staging, or the lighting?
Well, readers of The
New York Times this morning won’t be
able to tell you. What they will find is the story with the headline:
Gay Rights Protest Greets Opening Night. Here’s
the Times’ description of the
event:
 |
| Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times Sister Lotti Da, passing out leaflets, was among the demonstrators in front of the Metropolitan Opera on Monday. |
After the
lights dimmed for the Metropolitan Opera’s Russian-themed opening night gala on
Monday evening, the first solo voice that rang out in the house was not of a
tenor or soprano, but of a protester criticizing the recent antigay laws signed
by President Vladimir
V. Putin of Russia.
“Putin, end
your war on Russian gays!” a man shouted in the vast auditorium, which was
packed for the black-tie gala opening of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin,” before
turning to two of the evening’s Russian stars: Anna
Netrebko, the popular Russian diva, and Valery
Gergiev, the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater in St.
Petersburg. “Anna, your silence is killing Russian gays! Valery, your silence
is killing Russian gays!”
Was it true? I had
looked it up, and discovered that Netrebko had issued a watery statement
of support—not mentioning the laws or Putin or homosexuality, but valiantly coming
out and stating that she supported equality for everybody! Wow, talk about
living on the rim of the volcano! Brave move, Anna!
OK, so what about
Gergiev? Here, the water is murkier; in an article
from March of 2009, The New York Times said:
“I don’t know of any case in musical history, except maybe for Wagner
and mad King Ludwig of Bavaria, where a musician has been that close to a
powerful ruler,” Richard Morrison, the chief classical music critic of The
Times of London, told me.
And it may be that, in
Russia, you have to be a politician to be a musician. Gergiev’s passion was to
rebuild the Kirov—which had a fabled history—into a glittering opera house. And
to do that, he needed swagger, and the nerve to say to politicians what he said
to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Here’s The New York Times again:
Gergiev
arrived with Irina Arkhipova, a great singer already advanced in years.
Representing the Bolshoi, she had one overriding mission — to obtain financing
for the Glinka competition for young singers.
Recalling
the meeting, Gergiev emphasized his persuasive bluntness. “The prime minister
had 15 minutes, in between Chechnya war meetings,” he recalled. “Arkhipova ate
10 minutes talking about the Glinka competition. She wanted $10,000. I saw that
the next person was waiting outside the door for his meeting. It was my turn. I
said, ‘Viktor Stepanovich, if you don’t give $10 million now to each theater,
both will be lost.’ The most upset person was her. She thought she would lose
her $10,000. I said, ‘You don’t know that the salaries are so pitiful that the
only ones who can survive are those who work in the West.’ He said, ‘Where am I
supposed to get $10 million?’ I said, ‘It’s the money you spend in one hour in
Chechnya.’ He said: ‘It’s nothing to do with Chechnya. Why do you speak of it?’
I said: ‘The money disappears. It wasn’t you who built these opera houses. It
is a glory of the nation. You should come see. And maybe first the Bolshoi —
they are in even worse shape.’ He at some point shockingly realized that I was
telling him directly and openly what was going on. We spent one hour extra
there. The prime minister immediately gave $10 million together to the two
houses. A very Russian story.
In the same
interview, Gergiev says that Russia is a big country—you need a loud voice to
be heard. And you need to get into bed with some unsavory characters, because
an enemy in the Kremlin is far worse, and more powerful, than an enemy in
Washington. In short, that $10 million for the Kirov—now called the Mariinsky—doesn’t get
given to a guy who protests human rights abuse.
According to
Anthony Tommasini,
the Times’ music
critic, it was not the best of nights at the opera—not the least because the
director pulled out at the last minute, and was replaced by Fiona Shaw, who had
never directed at the Met, and who anyway was directing elsewhere at the time.
Tommasini
points out that street protests are one thing—protests within a theater
another. Very true—if the protests had lasted long, the Met could have gone
into overtime, and that, dear Reader, is something you don’t want to do.
But the protesters left gracefully.
So let the
Met off the hook on this one, guys. But the Sochi Olympics?
No frigging way….
