ANTONOVICH CALLS ON LA OPERA TO RECONSIDER CELEBRATION HONORING NAZI COMPOSER

 

PRESS RELEASE	Contact:  Tony Bell, Communications Deputy Office:     (213) 974-5555   Cell: (213) 215-5176 E-mail:     tbell@bos.lacounty.gov
July 14, 2009		For Immediate Release
ANTONOVICH CALLS ON LA OPERA TO reconsider CELEBRATION HONORING NAZI COMPOSER
LOS ANGELES COUNTY – In a letter to Los Angeles Opera Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Marc Stern, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich questioned Los Angeles Opera’s decision to produce the 2010 Ring Festival LA celebrating Richard Wagner.    “To specifically honor and glorify the man whose music and racist anti-Semitic writings inspired Hitler and became the de facto soundtrack for the holocaust in a countywide festival is an affront to those who have suffered or have been impacted by the horrors of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialistic Worker Party,” Supervisor Antonovich said.   To provide balance, historical perspective and a true sampling of operatic and musical talent,   Antonovich implored LA Opera to reevaluate and rearrange the festival’s programming to delete the focus on Wagner and incorporate other composers as headliners including Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Schubert, Schumann, Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn and others.   A motion by Supervisor Antonovich next Tuesday will ask the Board to send a five-signature letter to LA Opera requesting that the Festival shift the focus from honoring Wagner to featuring other composers as headliners.
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