Thank you Gulbenkian for playing Tchaikovsky instead of war drums

I never stop to think of the great fortune that has come to Portugal with the Gulbenkian, an institution that is among the largest in Europe and which divides its activities between culture, science and social work. And yesterday was one of those days when the institution that owes its name (and its fortune) to the Armenian Calouste Gulbenkian showed how special it was: at 7 pm, in the Great Hall of the Headquarters, in Lisbon, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, under the wand of Andres Buga, translated the works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Dmitriy Shostakovich, two One of the biggest names in Russian music. I had already done so the day before, but Friday’s gala can also be seen on the institution’s Facebook, a showcase of high culture for those who live outside the capital or find it more difficult to pay a ticket.

Despite numerous biographies, including Jonathan Cullen’s story titled The Richest Man in the World, the mystery about the Portugal magnate’s choice to spend the last years of his life remains. It is understood that he stayed in Lisbon during World War II, surrendering to go to the United States, but after 1945, when the end of the conflict ended the magic of Portuguese neutrality, he did not return to his palace in Paris or after settling in England, home of the Armenian-born subjects of the Empire Ottoman, inexplicable. What the hills of Lisbon and the Tagus did not really remind him of his native Istanbul. Others will say that lawyer Azerido Berdigao made the man see the advantages of Portuguese taxation and the possibility of having a home for his art collection, and thus also managed to set up the institution in Lisbon. The end result, that’s what matters, just think how, until April 25, Gulbenkian was the real “Ministry of Culture”, even supporting talents that were the opposite of dictatorship. And how it continues to this day amazes us.

Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, Russia, one from the nineteenth century, the other from the twentieth century. One of the subjects of the Tsars, another who for most of his life was a Soviet citizen. Both prominent representatives of Russian culture, which cannot and should not be confused with rather ephemeral rulers or regimes. If in New York or Zagreb there were those who believed that the abolition of the music of Russia helped alleviate the suffering of Ukrainians, in Lisbon, fortunately, this was not the thought, because at another concert, at the beginning of the month, it was the same. The Gulbenkian Orchestra played the Ukrainian anthem, warning of the horrors of war. Thank you, Gulbenkian, thank you also CCB, for tomorrow’s concert of the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the National Theater of São Carlos with works by Shostakovich, once again, and Igor Stravinsky, another great Russian, later naturalized.

Calouste Gulbenkian’s fortune came from oil. And in Baku, and then in the borders of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus, a young newly graduated engineer began to learn the secret of trade. Today, as a modern option, the Gulbenkian Corporation no longer invests in oil, but rather prefers green energies. But he will never give up on culture.