MEMETERIA by Thomas May

The Berlin Philharmonic’s choice of the Russian conductor Kirill Petrenko, a native of Omsk, as the new chief conductor to replace Sir Simon Rattle is the biggest piece of orchestral news this week.

Here’s an interview in English from Maestro Petrenko’s visit with the orchestra in 2009:

And here’s one from a visit to Israel (start at 4:50):

On a side note, FAZ reporter Eleonore Büning denounces some media commentators for marring the news with ugly anti-Semitic innuendo. But William Osborne, in the comments section here, suggests this may be a case of irony gone wrong rather than nefarious intentions.

Or does it come down to a repugnant example of clickbait? I’ve now learned a new term for that in German: Quotenjägergerüchteküche, which Osborne translates as “unappetizing quota-hunting-insinuation-kitchen.”

Filed under: Berlin Philharmonic, conductors, music news