Principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Ukrainian maestro Kirill Karabits has been speaking out against the recent killings in his capital, Kiev.
In recent dialogue with The London Times, Karabits contested the Russian perspective in Ukraine, all while President Yanukovych remained M.I.A.
Maestro Karabits had this to say:
"My mother and sister live in the centre of Kiev and now I've been watching what's happening there almost 24 hours a day on television. I never imagined that one day things would go so far that people would be killing each other in the central square of my capital city.
From what I'm hearing, everyone is fed up. It's corruption on all levels in daily life, from being stopped by policemen in your car to trying to get any money from the government for any project--and I know plenty about that.
People cannot go on like this: it's a protest against the whole system.
I was in Russia in December performing at the Bolshoi, and I heard on the news that they were calling the protesters [in Kiev] extremists. They called these students 'trained terrorists!'
Of course, Russia has been trying to suppress these protests. I feel very close to Russia--I'm a Russian speaker from childhood and I'm at home there--but I absolutely disagree with its behavior towards Ukraine."
The London Times is a subscriber site, so thanks to Norman Lebrecht's "Slipped Disc" on ArtsJournal for this sample.
Here is Karabits with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra--doing Dvorak.
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