 |
Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums
Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments.
Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
|
|
|
|
67 members (amc252, brennbaer, accordeur, antune, anotherscott, AndyOnThePiano2, benkeys, 9 invisible),
1,790
guests, and
317
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,946
3000 Post Club Member
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,946 |
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Award-winning Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnev has been arrested at a Thai beach resort, accused of raping a boy, police said Wednesday.
Pletnev, 53, an acclaimed pianist and conductor of the Russian National Orchestra, was arrested in Pattaya charged with raping a 14-year-old Thai boy and appearing in compromising photographs with several others.
"We received a tip-off from a detained Thai man who is involved in a prostitution ring. And we received more information from the child's parents, the child himself and other witnesses," Police Lieutenant-Colonel Omsin Sukkanka said.
Omsin said Pletnev denied the allegations.
Pletnev was served with an arrest warrant while having dinner at a restaurant Monday evening. He was released on 300,000 baht (5,965 pound) bail Tuesday but will have to ask for court permission to leave the country.
He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Police said Pletnev had a house and several businesses in Pattaya, a popular tourist destination 150 km (90 miles) from Bangkok.
The resort town has been known for its vibrant nightlife and sex trade since the days of the Vietnam War, partly due to its proximity to an American air force base at the time.
Pletnev is a member of the Russian president's advisory board on culture and holds the title of "people's artist," the highest state merit conferred on people in the arts.
He founded the Russian National Orchestra, whose recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Beintus's Wolf Tracks, conducted by Kent Nagano and narrated by Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev, received a 2004 Grammy Award.
In 2005, he won a Grammy Award for his own arrangement of Prokofiev's Cinderella.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,338
1000 Post Club Member
|
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,338 |
Oh no - as if we pianists don't already have a bad enough reputation, now we have to add this to the bunch. Groan..
What's really ironic, is that upon opening my composers book this morning to a random page, it fell upon Saint-Saens. Then this news.
Last edited by Mattardo; 07/07/10 07:46 AM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,162
1000 Post Club Member
|
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,162 |
I didn't know we pianists had a bad enough reputation. I remember reading about a Russian teacher accused of inappropriate behavior towards his students. I don't think there are too many other similar cases.
Fazioli 228.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 212
Full Member
|
|
Full Member
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 212 |
I am not surprised. If you are in the field, you would have realised many male pianists are homosexuals and some have 'peculiar taste'. In general we just turn a blind eye to this, although personally I am not very sure if it is a moral thing to do.
Singapore based private teacher specialising in accelerated ABRSM course. Author of Visual Guides to Scales and Arpeggios. Visit my website at www.wunadymusicstudio.com
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,946
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,946 |
Well, I don't think that pianists necessarily have a reputation for being homosexuals and certainly don't think that they have a reputation for being pedophiles (unless the pianists are also Catholic priests). Horowitz did famously say however that as far as he was concerned there are only three kinds of pianists: gay pianists, Jewish pianists or bad pianists.
The story here is in my mind not about homosexuality, which in most civilized countries is well understood as being a normal form of human sexuality and quite accepted as normal, but the fact that he has been accused of sexual molestation of minors which is a taboo and illegal almost everywhere in the world. As you probably know, this is a big problem in Thailand and other Asian countries, but primarily it is a problem of straight, often married white men from America and Europe coming to Thailand to abuse underage girls. Recently there have been increased efforts to stop this kind of crime.
Let us hope for Pletnev that this was all a misunderstanding or setup or this will likely be the end of his career and the end of his freedom.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 758
500 Post Club Member
|
|
500 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 758 |
The majority of child-abusers are heterosexual.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,741
4000 Post Club Member
|
|
4000 Post Club Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,741 |
If it's true, I hope they lock him up for life.
"The eyes can mislead, the smile can lie, but the shoes always tell the truth."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 25
Full Member
|
|
Full Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 25 |
If it's true, I hope they lock him up for life. Just as long as they let him continue to play and conduct the Bang Kwang Prison Philharmonic Orchestra. PS I wonder if the "bang" part is named as such because that's what most of the prisoners are in there for.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,741
4000 Post Club Member
|
|
4000 Post Club Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,741 |
Is that name for real? Haha wow.. No they should lock him up in a small cell and leave him there for endless years.
"The eyes can mislead, the smile can lie, but the shoes always tell the truth."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,093
1000 Post Club Member
|
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,093 |
I know it is off topic, but where I am from, there is a reputation for pianists to be gay, or feminine. Sometimes it is just assumed. Not going to comment on it, just saying it is there, and a lot of people, at least where I have been, think this way. It has rarely brought any trouble and in nearly all cases has not led to any discrimination.
Funny side note, I have several people I went to Jr. high and High school with who are still waiting for me to come out of the closet, in their minds they are convinced that I have to be gay. I have even gotten very thoughtful emails about how they would still accept and love me for who I am.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 746
500 Post Club Member
|
|
500 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 746 |
This whole thing if it turns out to be true is very sad. I hope he'll be punished according to the law. I don't think I am entitled to cast aspersions on him, though. The problem is that we want great musicians to also be great people and then we're disappointed when they are not.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,746
6000 Post Club Member
|
|
6000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,746 |
Horowitz did famously say however that as far as he was concerned there are only three kinds of pianists: gay pianists, Jewish pianists or bad pianists.
He forgot Franz Liszt.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,941
2000 Post Club Member
|
|
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,941 |
This whole thing if it turns out to be true is very sad......The problem is that we want great musicians to also be great people and then we're disappointed when they are not. Much like many of my heroes in bicycle racing turned out to be dopers.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 13,837
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 13,837 |
When I was teaching at a university, I asked one of the grad students (who had also become a good friend) what the "rumor mill" was saying about me. Apparently, depending on who you asked in 2003, I was: Jewish Gay Dating all of the 3 single female music faculty members Had a long-distance marriage/girlfriend I let the rumors be, didn't deny any of them, and occasionally made comments that suggested all were true. I just didn't have the heart to disappoint everyone. (In reality, I spent all my free time practicing or playing golf and video games.) Funny side note, I have several people I went to Jr. high and High school with who are still waiting for me to come out of the closet, in their minds they are convinced that I have to be gay. I have even gotten very thoughtful emails about how they would still accept and love me for who I am.
"If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him." (John Holt) www.pianoped.comwww.youtube.com/user/UIPianoPed
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 359
Full Member
|
|
Full Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 359 |
The majority of child-abusers are heterosexual. That is true, but unhelpful, given the vast differences in the numbers of homosexuals and heterosexuals.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,741
4000 Post Club Member
|
|
4000 Post Club Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,741 |
Horowitz did famously say however that as far as he was concerned there are only three kinds of pianists: gay pianists, Jewish pianists or bad pianists.
He forgot Franz Liszt. Or any female pianist.......... Or the really, really good straight male pianists - and I've met at least two like that =)
"The eyes can mislead, the smile can lie, but the shoes always tell the truth."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,093
1000 Post Club Member
|
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,093 |
They were very nice written out notes, so in most cases, I take them as compliments either way. That one, they would go out of their way to let me know that stuff did not matter. And two, that they thought enough to send a note. No need to ever get upset over those things, I have curly hair, and I let it grow out for a time, during this time people assumed I was Jewish. When I go fishing, in t shirt jeans, and baseball cap, people just assume bad. 
Last edited by jdhampton924; 07/07/10 12:55 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 26,906
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 26,906 |
This is sad news, indeed, but sad as it is, Pletnev must bear the consequences of his actions.
Regards,
BruceD
- - - - -
Estonia 190
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 9,392
9000 Post Club Member
|
|
9000 Post Club Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 9,392 |
The coverage in the Huffington Post reports that Pletnev claims he's being blackmailed. Interesting...
Jason
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,093
1000 Post Club Member
|
|
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,093 |
The coverage in the Huffington Post reports that Pletnev claims he's being blackmailed. Interesting... Doesn't that mean they have something to blackmail him with?
|
|
|
|
Forums43
Topics223,390
Posts3,349,244
Members111,632
| |
Most Online15,252
Mar 21st, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
