World tours by Russian state companies or Kremlin-linked artists are deemed impossible by venue managers in Europe and America as long as guns speak.
Even at the height of the Cold War, Russian artists performed regularly in the West. But with the war in Ukraine, America or Europe are not about to see companies like the Bolshoi again or a collection of the magnitude of the Morozov exhibition. In less than a week, the cascading deprogramming of Russian artists and companies in Western theaters has raised the specter of cultural isolation.
Read alsoCan the French State confiscate the Morozov collection?
“Even at the height of the Cold War, cultural exchanges between Russian, American and European artists continued. Of course there was always tension, but it was possible“, told AFP Peter Gelb, director of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. “What is happening today is different, it goes beyond the Cold War, it is a real war“says Peter Gelb, who was in Moscow to discuss a co-production with the Bolshoi a few days before the invasion of Ukraine. Peter Gelb, 69, knows what he’s talking about. In the 1980s, this American, then a young agent of the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, had organized his great return to Russia and filmed the concert of cellist Mstislav Rostropovitch, who also returned during perestroika.
In the current context of brutality against innocent citizens, there is no possibility of making exchanges like those during the Cold War
Peter Gelb, director of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York
Nureyev’s Defection
Tours of Soviet artists in the West began in the 1950s, especially those of ballet companies, eminently Russian art and Soviet “soft power” par excellence. Trips – during which the artists were under surveillance – which have gone down in history: that of the Bolshoi in London in 1956 with Galina Oulanova or the first tour of the Kirov (renamed Mariinsky) in Paris in 1961, during which a certain Rudolph Nureyev defected. The Americans were not left out: the American Ballet Theater first performed in Moscow in 1960, followed two years later by the New York City Ballet, in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Despite the tensions, the company completed its tour.
Read alsoLaurent Bayle: “To exist, Russian musicians need the West”
After the collapse of the USSR, exchanges intensified, with star Russian dancers becoming “stars” in other companies, such as Svetlana Zakharova, the dance “tsarina” who was both a star at the Bolshoi and the Ballet of the Scala in Milan. Once unimaginable nominations had become possible like that in 2011 of David Hallberg, the first American prima ballerina of the Bolshoi.
Gergiev thanked by his artistic agent
“In the current context of brutality against innocent citizens, there is no possibility of making exchanges like those during the Cold War“, judge however Peter Gelb. The Met thus ceased its collaboration with the Bolshoi. The institution will also boycott all pro-Putin artists, a decision also taken by the Paris Opera and other venues. The Bolshoi Ballet has seen its visit to London this summer canceled. The Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, a time director of this Ballet before making a career abroad, gave up two new productions for this company and that of the Mariinsky. And the Frenchman Laurent Hilaire slammed the door of the Stanislavski Ballet in Moscow, which he has been directing for five years.
Lightning fell especially on two superstars considered close to the regime: the conductor Valery Gergiev fired by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the soprano Anna Netrebko, international queen of opera. Gergiev was declared persona non grata in many venues and by his own agent, and “the Netrebko” canceled several of his engagements, including at the Met.
You cannot detach the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky from the authorities. They have public funding and, in the eyes of the citizens of the world, talking about the Bolshoi and talking about the Russian state are the same
Laurent Bayle, former director of the Philharmonie de Paris
“What will be, in the coming months, the territory that will remain for Russian artists who are not invited to the American and European continents? China has yet to show signs of recovery (due to Covid). They will still have their own country“, told AFP Laurent Bayle, former director general of the Philharmonie de Paris. “Three-quarters of their activity are called into question“, he added. If this warwas to end with the occupation of a country, it is certain that no one will risk an invitation of Russian artists“Having not distanced themselves, continues Laurent Bayle.
If all artists are not put in the same basket – some like the conductor Vasily Petrenko based in Great Britain having announced to suspend their activities in Russia – the situation is more complex for subsidized institutions. “You cannot detach the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky from the authorities. They have public funding and, in the eyes of the citizens of the world, talking about the Bolshoi and talking about the Russian state are the same“, according to Laurent Bayle.
SEE ALSO – “On stage, I have to dance well”: far from the fighting in Ukraine, the dancers of the Grand Ballet of Kiev affected by the war