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Bill Browder

Michael Berkeley鈥檚 guest is businessman and campaigner Bill Browder. With Vivaldi, Verdi, Puccini and Sviridov.

Bill Browder describes himself as Vladimir Putin鈥檚 number one enemy. When Putin came to power, Browder was the most successful international businessman in Moscow, seizing the opportunities offered by the collapse of communism to build up a multi-billion-pound investment fund. But then he uncovered what he calls serious corruption at various state-backed companies. In 2005, he was detained by the authorities and was kicked out of Russia. His tax adviser Sergei Magnitsky was arrested, and died in prison in Moscow in 2009.

In his memory, Browder has spent the past decade leading a global campaign against Russian corruption 鈥 Magnitsky Acts have now been passed in America, Britain and Europe 鈥 legislation freezing the assets, and banning travel, of officials guilty of human rights violations. Browder鈥檚 exciting account of his time in Russia, Red Notice, has become a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic.

In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Browder tells his extraordinary and compelling personal story. He now lives in a secret location somewhere in London and lives in fear of his life. He talks about the guilt he felt when Magnitsky died, and how he found a new meaning in life afterwards, by campaigning for the laws which bear Magnitsky鈥檚 name.

Browder鈥檚 music choices reflect the high drama of his life, with excerpts from operas by Verdi and by Puccini which he discovered when he went to the Bolshoi in Moscow. He includes too music by the Russian composer Sviridov, a setting of a Pushkin short story. And he ends with Jessye Norman singing 鈥淎mazing Grace鈥 鈥 a hymn which reflects his belief that he has been helped, and sustained, by powerful forces outside his control.

A Loftus Media production for 成人快手 Radio 3
Produced by Elizabeth Burke

Available now

35 minutes

Last on

Sun 28 Feb 2021 12:00

Music Played

  • Georges Bizet

    Votre toast... (Toreador Song - Carmen)

    Orchestra: Toulouse Capitole Orchestra. Singer: Thomas Hampson.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Flute Concerto in G minor (La Notte)

    Performer: Bruno Cavallo. Orchestra: La Scala Philharmonic. Conductor: Riccardo Muti.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Va, Pensiero... (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, Nabucco)

    Choir: Berlin Opera Chorus. Orchestra: German Opera Berlin Orchestra. Conductor: Giuseppe Sinopoli.
  • Giacomo Puccini

    Un bel di vedremo (Madama Butterfly)

    Singer: Angela Gheorghiu. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.
  • Gyorgy Sviridov

    Troika and Waltz (Snow Storm - music for the film)

    Orchestra: Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Fedoseyev.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Libiamo (La Traviata)

    Singer: Montserrat Caball茅. Singer: Carlo Bergonzi. Orchestra: Orchestra della RCA Italiana.
  • Trad.

    Amazing Grace

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Alexander Gibson. Singer: Jessye Norman.

Broadcast

  • Sun 28 Feb 2021 12:00

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