4/2/2023 0 Comments Vienna gambitIt’s a difficult situation, and one can sympathise with their dilemmas.īut beyond the tricky question of what can reasonably be expected of individuals who work in the west lies the knottier problem of how we should showcase Russian music. (Smirnova has since announced a move from the Bolshoi to Dutch National Ballet.) Other Russian artists, principally expatriates, have been more circumspect, ready to call for peace but stopping short of outright condemnation of Putin’s aggression. In marked contrast, ballet stars living in Russia like Olga Smirnova have displayed astonishing courage with public declarations of horrorĪt the Ukrainian invasion that expose them to official reprisals. ![]() The price they will both pay is high: it’s unlikely either of them can ever resume their lucrative careers in the west-and no great loss, some might add. ![]() Based in Vienna and cushioned by Austrian citizenship, Netrebko has tried to have it both ways, but is certainly not very astute. Gergiev has shown open and consistent support for Putin and his pan-Slavist obsessions. Loans to and from Russian museums have been stopped the Bolshoi Ballet’s European summer tour has been cancelled and two of Russia’s most prominent classical musicians, the conductor Valery Gergiev and the soprano Anna Netrebko, have in effect been blacklisted alongside the oligarchs. ![]() In order to starve Vladimir Putin’s regime of anything that might bolster its diplomatic prestige, sanctions have been applied to the cultural as well as the sporting sphere.
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