“We demonstrate the free world’s ongoing cultural resolve to defend Ukraine’s liberty in the face of brutal oppression,” said Met general manager Peter Gelb during intermission.
Milan’s famed Teatro alla Scala has announced the celebration of next season’s gala premiere; the company’s 2022-23 calendar was set long before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The prestigious orchestra says its 2022-23 season will perform works that address the tragedies of armed conflict, racial injustice, civil rights, and gender inequity.
When Oksana Stepanyuk, an award-winning soprano with the Japan Opera Foundation, performs “Melody,” composed by Myroslav Skoryk, a Ukrainian, her voice turns into a wail of mourning.
Dancers who have fled Ukraine — and Russia — due to the war have found a new temporary home in Berlin’s top ballet company, which helps with practice space, housing, even shoes.
One of Europe’s major opera houses is canceling a set of upcoming performances by Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet over the war the country is waging on Ukraine.
Peter Gelb, Met Opera’s general manager, says it’s “a great artistic loss for the Met.” But with what’s happening in Ukraine, Gelb said there was ”no way forward.”
The festival says it made the change as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; Gergiev, a Russian conductor, is a friend and supporter of Vladimir Putin.
Gergiev’s former manager called him “the greatest conductor alive and an extraordinary human being with a profound sense of decency” but said that in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was “impossible” to defend his interests.
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter has threatened to remove Valery Gergiev as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic unless Gergiev publicly says by Monday that he does not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Carnegie Hall says Valery Gergiev, a conductor who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, will not lead the Vienna Philharmonic in a five-concert U.S. tour that starts Friday night in response “due to recent world events.”
Netrebko withdraws from a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Metropolitan Opera that is among seven new stagings the company announced for its 2022-23 season.
