Talking about music as a link between peoples is easy in times of peace. In times of war everything changes. In Poland, the Government has vetoed not only the interpreters of the country led by Putin but also the Russian repertoire. Concerts by pianist Arcadi Volodos, who were to have performed at the beginning of the month, and the opera ‘Boris Goudonov’ scheduled for April were cancelled. However, the acclaimed Russian conductor Andrzej Boreyko remains as head of the Warsaw Philharmonic. His family’s origins are in the Ukraine, as he took pains to explain in a condemnation statement just after the Russian invasion. Since the conflict broke out, he opens his concerts conducting the Ukrainian national anthem, wherever he is. “The mission of every artist is to express themselves through art,” he says.
They are going to leave out great composers and they don’t deserve it
Alexei Volodin, Russian pianist
The comprehensive veto by the Polish government has left the music community in awe. “They are going to leave out great composers and they don’t deserve it,” says Alexei Volodin, a Russian pianist living in Madrid who was among the first to criticize Putin’s invasion. “Musorgski, whose ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ I recently performed in Austria, was a man incapable of harming anyone. He refused to fish because he did not want to make a living being suffer.” And he adds: “I don’t know what’s the point of banning Russian music. Culture should unite us.”
Hitler’s Germany
The last case of banned music in Europe dates back to Hitler’s Germany. He is remembered by Franco Panozzo, from the AMC artist agency, representative of the violinist Sergej Krylov and pianists such as Arcadi Volodos, Grigory Sokolov or the young Alexandra Dovgan, who will perform at the Palau de la Música Catalana at the end of this month. Just put it well visible on your website an announcement where he makes clear his position before “this madness”. In it he says: “We cannot remain silent about what is currently happening in the world and we are obliged to make a clear statement of our feelings. We stand united against this incomprehensible and unjustifiable war, and strongly condemn aggression, war and all dangerous political decisions that destroy the world and peace”.
Poland has banned Russian works and artists, without distinction, including Shostakovich, who used his symphonies as a weapon against Stalin’s tyranny. He too has been silenced. Panozzo fears that the Baltic countries and Finland will join the veto. “It is something that is on the table, it is incredible that this happens. It reminds me of the Second World War. Any prohibition of art is insulting. Culture and politics should be separated. We are living through a hard time, I just hope that this war ends as soon as possible” . The music community is in shock.
Illicit
The concerts of Denis Metsuev, the Moscow Virtuosos and the Moscow Philharmonic have been canceled in Spain due to the current uncertainty. The promoter Ibermúsica is looking for new dates but it is complicated. There are no direct flights and no one knows when the war will end. For Llorenç Caballero, co-director of Ibermusica, forcing Russian artists to position themselves is not lawful. “We must bear in mind that Russia is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship. We should not make their existence more complicated.” And to veto the music of his composers seems ridiculous to him. “It’s terrible. I would never promote a boycott of a musical tradition with centuries of history. Putin is one thing, Russian culture is another.”
Russia is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship. We shouldn’t make life more difficult for them.
Llorenç Caballero, co-director of Ibermusica
The Philharmonie de Paris and the Cité de la Musique have modified their programming “in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.” On Monday, February 28, he canceled the concerts of the Mariinsky Theater orchestra with Valery Gergiev, scheduled for April 9 and 10. But most Russian artists keep their performances. Although the Royal Theater of Madrid has dispensed with the Bolshoi Ballet, Peralada of the dancers of the Mariinski and the Liceu has been left without Netrebko. Culture unites, war separates.
Jordi Martí, Deputy Mayor for Culture of Barcelona City Council, asked those responsible for cultural centers to demand that artists commit to peace. Volodin, who this Friday begins a tour in Tarragona with the Franz Schubert Filharmonia that will stop at the National Auditorium in Madrid on Sunday and on Tuesday at the Palau de la Música Catalana, did so on his own initiative before. “I never thought we would see something like this,” says the pianist.
He was one of the first to speak out against the invasion. “As a Russian musician, I feel the need and responsibility to make it clear to my audience and to the world that I strongly repudiate Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine and am against the war,” he said in a statement. “No one asked me. It came from my heart,” he says. “I am sorry to see that many see the Russians as an evil force. We are not all the same! Most of my compatriots are terrified of what is happening in Ukraine.” He believes that forcing artists to speak out against the war is a mistake. “In a democracy, everyone is free to ask whatever they want, but one must be free to answer or remain silent.”
dilemma
Volodin understands that there are those who opt for the latter. “Musicians need to play to be able to live. If they don’t speak out they will be banned here but if they do they will have problems in their country. People cannot be forced to speak. Another thing is to separate them because they support the Putin government”, he says without quoting Valery Gergiev, an acclaimed director who has been banned everywhere. Ukraine already did this years ago, following its support for Russia’s annexation of Crimera in 2014.
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Volodin understands that with the current situation there are those who,Faced with the dilemma of having to signify themselves in favor of Russia or the West, they choose to distance themselves from the stage. This has been done by the soprano Anna Netrebko and the director Tugan Sokhiev, who led the Bolshoi Orchestra and the Capitole de Toulouse. “I cannot see my colleagues threatened, treated without respect and made victims of cancellation culture. I am forced to face an impossible choice between my dear Russian musicians and my dear French musicians, so I have decided to resign,” he explained. the teacher in a statement.