Classical Music Still Plays in the Theater of War
There is a trope often heard in discussions about culture that classical music is irrelevant — an elite and moribund art form disconnected from contemporary life.
If the trope were true, however, would Russian soldiers have assassinated a Ukrainian conductor in his home after he refused to conduct a concert celebrating Russia’s “improvement of peaceful life”? That is the claim of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, which issued a statement on the recent death of Yurii Kerpatenko, an active and influential leader of theaters and orchestras in the occupied city of Kherson. (One wonders what would have been on that program.… Seguir leyendo »