The
Metropolitan Opera said Sunday that it
would no longer engage with performers or other institutions that have voiced
support for President Vladimir Putin of Russia, becoming the latest cultural
organization to seek to distance itself from some Russian artists amid Putin’s
invasion of Ukraine.
اضافة اعلان
Peter Gelb, the
Met’s general manager, said the Met, which has long employed
Russians as top
singers and has a producing partnership with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, had
an obligation to show support for the people of Ukraine.
“While we believe
strongly in the warm friendship and cultural exchange that has long existed
between the artists and artistic institutions of
Russia and the
US,” Gelb said
in a video statement, “we can no longer engage with artists or institutions
that support Putin or are supported by him.”
Gelb added that the
policy would be in effect “until the invasion and killing has been stopped,
order has been restored, and restitutions have been made.”
The Met’s decision
could affect artists like superstar soprano
Anna Netrebko, who has ties to Putin
and was once pictured holding a flag used by some Russian-backed separatist
groups in Ukraine. Netrebko is scheduled to appear at the Met in Puccini’s
“Turandot” beginning on April 30.
Netrebko has tried to distance herself from the
invasion, posting a statement Saturday on Instagram saying she was “opposed to
this war.” She added a note of defiance, writing that “forcing artists, or any
public figure, to voice their political opinions in public and to denounce
their homeland is not right.”
It was unclear if
her statement would satisfy the Met’s new test.
The company’s
decision will also likely mean the end of its collaboration with the Bolshoi,
including on a new production of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” that is scheduled for
next season. The Met was relying on the Bolshoi for the staging’s sets and
costumes, but now it might have to change course.
“We’re scrambling,
but I think we’ll have no choice but to physically build our own sets and
costumes,” Gelb said in an interview Sunday evening.
He added that he
was saddened that the Bolshoi partnership, which began five years ago, would
likely come to an end — at least for the moment.
“It’s terrible that
artistic relationships, at least temporarily, are the collateral damage of
these actions by Putin,” he said.
The Met’s decision
comes as performing arts institutions grapple with the ongoing fallout from
Putin’s invasion. In recent days Russian artists, long ubiquitous in classical
music, have come under pressure to condemn Putin’s actions or face the prospect
of canceled engagements.
Carnegie Hall and
the Vienna Philharmonic last week dropped two Russian artists, conductor Valery
Gergiev and pianist Denis Matsuev, from a series of planned concerts because of
the two men’s ties to Putin. Gergiev is also in peril of losing several key
posts, including as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic and as honorary
conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
On Sunday,
Gergiev’s manager announced he was ending his relationship with his client.
“It has become
impossible for us, and clearly unwelcome, to defend the interests of Maestro
Gergiev, one of the greatest conductors of all time, a visionary artist loved
and admired by many of us, who will not, or cannot, publicly end his
long-expressed support for a regime that has come to commit such crimes,” the
manager, Marcus Felsner, who is based in Munich, said in a statement.
The
Royal Opera House in London said last week it would cancel a residency by the Bolshoi
Ballet planned for this summer.
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