Italian Culture Minister Sandro Bondi has officially apologized to Russian musicians from the Bach-consort classical music band for last month’s scandal during a concert in Rome’s Pantheon.
The February 28 concert of the well-known band, specializing in performing baroque and late Renaissance music, in the Pantheon, was coming to an end, but a woman, apparently a Pantheon keeper, got onto the stage and said the concert was over, requesting everyone to leave the building.
She said the hall should be closed at 18:00. The audience of several hundred did not believe their ears and asked the musicians to continue performing, but another Pantheon employee, a man, stopped the concert again and told everyone to leave the building to the audience’s indignant cries “Disgrace!”
“I sent a letter with apologies on my behalf and on behalf of the Cultural Heritage Ministry to the Russian musicians for the impermissible behavior by some Pantheon keepers who vulgarly interrupted the concert because the visiting time was over,” Bondi said in an official statement distributed Sunday.
The video of the incident was posted on RIA Novosti’s Russian-language website and on YouTube. The YouTube recording shows the woman appear on the stage at the time of 5:00.
Many Italians condemned the Pantheon keepers for the incident, writing that they were “ashamed to be Italian.”
Bondi also said: “This behavior was insulting to our foreign guests. it represented an unbearably odious image of our country,” adding that he ordered an investigation into the scandal.
On Saturday Bondi’s deputy Francesco Giro apologized to Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno and all residents of the Italian capital for “the absolutely irresponsible act” that “inflicted incalculable reputational and economic loss upon Rome.”
Initially dedicated to pagan gods, the Pantheon was converted to a Christian church consecrated to the Virgin Mary and all the martyrs in 609. it is presently open for tourists and is used as a venue for classical music concerts.
ROME, March 8 (RIA Novosti)
Italian minister apologizes to Russian musicians for Pantheon scandal