Vasily Petrenko
Photo: Mark McNulty
When Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko told the Oslo newspaper ‘Aftenposten’ that orchestras respond better to male conductors because men « often have less sexual energy and can focus more on the music », adding that « a sweet girl on the podium can make one’s thoughts drift towards something else », he raised a worldwide storm of protest. Now the British newspaper The Gurdian asked him to resign: » Both of his orchestras (Oslo and Liverpool, note of the editor) have a high global profile and he is a role model for musicians around the world. For this reason, he should be forced to resign from both positions over these archaic and damaging comments. »
