Ukraine invasion & the arts: Gergiev fired by his agent, etc.

[Drew]

4 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

So the situation is peculiar to say the least, with Pisarev working in occupied Donetsk, lining up his corps de ballet in Z formations, touring Russia and toeing the party line on Russian television, while his family was living and working in Ukraine proper--and being bombed by the Z army.

Thank you for filling out the story. There seems to be a lot we still don't know/can't know--and may never know or at least never understand.

[volcanohunter]

This raises the question of why Anna Netrebko became so problematic (well, saying different things in different languages is part of it), but Hibla Gerzmava flies under the radar, notwithstanding her associations. 

https://operawire.com/editorial-the-curious-case-of-hibla-gerzmava/

While Norman Lebrecht notes that Alexei Navalny's team has been investigating Valery Gergiev's fortune.

https://slippedisc.com/2022/04/first-with-the-news-gergievs-massive-wealth-is-exposed-by-navalny-report/

[Helene]

Re: posts that cite "insiders" have been removed, as they had no links to official sources about what insiders have known or not known.  Same as it ever was.

[volcanohunter]

The article is mostly about Olga Smirnova, but it also addresses a broader issue.

"Nicole Cornell, the director of the George Balanchine Trust, which holds the rights to the choreographer’s work, said in an email that it had 'paused all future licensing conversations' with Russian companies. And Jean-Christophe Maillot, a French choreographer and director of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, said in an email that he had asked the Bolshoi to suspend performances of his 'The Taming of the Shrew,' but that its general director, Vladimir Urin, had refused. 'These conditions obviously make it difficult to resume a collaboration with the Bolshoi,' Mr. Maillot said."

(As for the photo directly underneath that paragraph, I guess it's too early to speculate whether Larissa Lezhnina can do something about Smirnova's horrible hands. )

Edited April 15, 2022 by volcanohunter

[pherank]

When Classical Music Was an Alibi
The idea that musicians and their work are apolitical flourished after World War II, in part thanks to the process of denazification.

"Musicians slipped through the denazification process with relative ease. Many rank-and-file artists had been required to join Nazi organizations in order to remained employed, and the correlation of such membership to ideological commitment was often ambiguous. Individuals tended to lie on their forms to obtain a more advantageous status. And artists such as the eminent conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler referred to music’s apolitical status as a kind of alibi, even when they had performed on occasions, and as part of institutions, with deep ties to the regime."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/arts/music/classical-music-nazi-world-war-ii.html

 

War Brings New Iron Curtain Down on Russia’s Storied Ballet Stages
Ballet has long been a symbol of Russian culture. Now it is becoming a symbol of Russian isolation.

"The departure of Ms. Smirnova is a blow to the pride of a nation where, since the days of the czars, ballet has had an outsize importance as a national treasure, a leading cultural export and tool of soft power. Her move is one of the most visible symbols of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upended ballet, as prominent artists shun Russia’s storied dance companies; theaters in the West cancel performances by the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky; and dance in Russia, which had opened up to the world in the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, seems to be turning inward again."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/arts/olga-smirnova-ballet-bolshoi-ukraine-war.html

Edited April 15, 2022 by pherank

[Buddy]

"I went to Amsterdam to meet her [Olga Smirnova] and found someone still far from finding a home."

(Alex Marshall quote posted by Volcanohunter)

Just totally my personal sort of musing. Solely from an artistic point of view, not a cultural one which may also be very important to this quote, she's a remarkably talented individual who seems to need to find a voice of her own, like many artists. For me, she made a very impressive change from her Mariinsky background to her Bolshoi one. I'm hopeful that she can continue to do this. 

Edited April 15, 2022 by Buddy

[pherank]

Citing Ukraine War, an American Resigns From Russia’s Mariinsky
“There’s no way I could ever be in denial of what is happening,” said the conductor Gavriel Heine, a fixture at the prestigious Russian theater.

'Mr. Heine, 47, had been increasingly disturbed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “There’s no way I could ever be in denial of what is happening in Ukraine,” he said during a series of interviews over the past week. “Russia is not a place where I want to raise my son. It’s not a place where I want my wife to be anymore. It’s not a place I want to be anymore.”'

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/arts/music/gavriel-heine-resigns-mariinsky.html

 

[volcanohunter]

Probably largely a symbolic move, but the Tchaikovsky Competition has been expelled from the World Federation of International Music Competitions. The Strad notes that a "statement from Russian president Vladimir Putin is found on the competition’s homepage, as well as a comment from Putin supporter Valery Gergiev. The competition counts the Government of the Russian Federation, the Russian Federation Ministry of Culture and the Mariinsky Foundation among its organisers."

[volcanohunter]

On 3/22/2022 at 10:52 AM, volcanohunter said:

On May 5th there will be a benefit performance of Swan Lake, during which Lauren Cuthbertson, Sarah Lamb, Marianela Nuñez and Natalia Osipova will share the role of Odette-Odile, while Vadim Mutagirov will be Siegfried to them all. 

Gavriel Heine, who resigned from the Mariinsky in protest, conducted this performance. And in the end there were multiple Siegfrieds.

[California]

2 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

Gavriel Heine, who resigned from the Mariinsky in protest, conducted this performance. And in the end there were multiple Siegfrieds.

I hope Royal Ballet can figure out how to stream this as a fund-raiser for Ukraine. It looks like great fun!

[volcanohunter]

8 hours ago, California said:

I hope Royal Ballet can figure out how to stream this as a fund-raiser for Ukraine. It looks like great fun!

Yes, it appears everyone had a grand time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdNshs_IJOi/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[pherank]

Tonight's 60 Minutes episode  (05/08/22) has a segment on how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is affecting  the ballet world. Alexei Ratmansky is one of the people interviewed. When a link becomes available I'll post it here.

[Drew]

56 minutes ago, pherank said:

Tonight's 60 Minutes episode  (05/08/22) has a segment on how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is affecting  the ballet world. Alexei Ratmansky is one of the people interviewed. When a link becomes available I'll post it here.

Thanks for the information. I had no idea and am sorry I missed it. I will try to find it online and will look out for the link...

[Marta]

  1 hour ago, pherank said:

Tonight's 60 Minutes episode  (05/08/22) has a segment on how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is affecting  the ballet world. Alexei Ratmansky is one of the people interviewed. When a link becomes available I'll post it here.

Here's the link, starting at 28:30

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/60minutes-2022-05-08/#x

[Drew]

5 minutes ago, Marta said:

  1 hour ago, pherank said:

Tonight's 60 Minutes episode  (05/08/22) has a segment on how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is affecting  the ballet world. Alexei Ratmansky is one of the people interviewed. When a link becomes available I'll post it here.

Here's the link, starting at 28:30

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/60minutes-2022-05-08/#x

Thank you....

[pherank]

Here's a link that is currently working (fingers crossed)
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/russia-ukraine-ballet-60-minutes-video-2022-05-08/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h

[abatt]

Thanks for posting the 60 Minutes piece. 

[volcanohunter]

I really felt for Ratmansky when he described the feeling of sand castles crumbling behind him as he made his departure from Moscow. Under any circumstances knowing that months of heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears have suddenly come to naught is extremely painful. But the haunting feeling that ballet doesn't really matter a whole lot in the face of such cataclysmic circumstances must have been eviscerating.

[Marta]

1 hour ago, volcanohunter said:

I really felt for Ratmansky when he described the feeling of sand castles crumbling behind him as he made his departure from Moscow. Under any circumstances knowing that months of heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears have suddenly come to naught is extremely painful. But the haunting feeling that ballet doesn't really matter a whole lot in the face of such cataclysmic circumstances must have been eviscerating.

I also felt sad listening to him and thinking about all the dancers who spoke in that film.  Both Smirnov and Potomkin were very touching.

[pherank]

On 5/9/2022 at 5:53 PM, volcanohunter said:

I really felt for Ratmansky when he described the feeling of sand castles crumbling behind him as he made his departure from Moscow. Under any circumstances knowing that months of heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears have suddenly come to naught is extremely painful. But the haunting feeling that ballet doesn't really matter a whole lot in the face of such cataclysmic circumstances must have been eviscerating.

The Arts can be healthy and healing, for both creator and audience, but that is often a slow process. I can't think of any examples of Art acting as an immediate fix for social troubles. However, we'd be a whole lot worse off without it. The Ukrainians certainly understand that. And the Russians have, wait for it... "Spartacus".

[Mashinka]

The irony of it!  Spartacus!  A slaves struggle for freedom against oppression while the Ruzzians round up Ukrainian civilians and deport them to remote regions for who knows what purpose.

[Buddy]

On 5/10/2022 at 8:45 PM, pherank said:

The Arts can be healthy and healing, for both creator and audience, but that is often a slow process. I can't think of any examples of Art acting as an immediate fix for social troubles. However, we'd be a whole lot worse off without it.

I think that most everyone here would agree with that, Pherank. Thank you.
 

[Drew]

On 5/9/2022 at 8:53 PM, volcanohunter said:

I really felt for Ratmansky when he described the feeling of sand castles crumbling behind him as he made his departure from Moscow. Under any circumstances knowing that months of heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears have suddenly come to naught is extremely painful. But the haunting feeling that ballet doesn't really matter a whole lot in the face of such cataclysmic circumstances must have been eviscerating.

I was thinking about this the other evening. Ratmansky has a number of productions in Russia that may never be revived and not all of them have also been performed--or are likely to be taken up--outside of Russia.  I am thinking, for example, of Little Humpbacked Horse, which I enjoyed and would be sorry to see lost from the ballet repertory, but which obviously carries associations for a Russian audience that it could never have outside of Russia...

It has been a long time since the Bolshoi revived Lost Illusions, but that's a ballet I have always been very curious about. It was likely a lost cause anyway, but now, seemingly for sure....(Ratmansky himself talks about The Bolt as a failure--so, another lost cause--but I LOVE the video that exists of it.) I assume a western company might at some point be interested in his historically informed Giselle, but who knows?

Bright Stream has been done by non-Russian companies but seems as if it should be done by a Russian company and has a more natural home at the Bolshoi than it could ever have in the U.S. or even in Latvia...(What was always the troubling irony of the operetta-ish plot set on a 1930's collective farm  when that period of collectivization was, shall we say, not at all operetta-ish might now, in the wake of the war in Ukraine, rule it out-of-bounds anywhere other than Russia anyway.)

I have found myself wondering if the Bolshoi might keep Ratmansky's Flames of Paris on the (not completely absurd) grounds that it's really their ballet and, indeed a chunk of the choreography is Vainonen's...

Anyway, a lot of Ratmansky's legacy in Russia is pretty much sand castles now, not just the two ballets he was working on....However little that legacy weighs or seems to weigh "in the face of such cataclysmic circumstances" -- it is still a real loss that ballet lovers who admire Ratmansky can feel and mourn.

I'll add that the losses of "The Art of the Fugue" for the Bolshoi and the Pharoh's Daughter revival for the Mariinsky seem enormous to me at both ends of the Ratmansky spectrum: new, music-inspired, non-narrative choreography and historically informed revivals of much older narrative ballets.... 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Drew
grammar

[pherank]

1 hour ago, Drew said:

I was thinking about this the other evening. Ratmansky has a number of productions in Russia that may never be revived and not all of them have also been performed--or are likely to be taken up--outside of Russia. 

The Bolt is a fascinating ballet. I enjoyed The Little Humpbacked Horse as well (on video). I've never seen Bright Stream though.

[California]

I saw Bright Stream at few times at the Met long ago, but it's not the sort of ballet that makes you yearn to see it again and again. Interesting, cute, historically significant because of its creation in the 1930s with a Shostakovich score. I have Bolt on a DVD, but can't imagine a western company wanting to stage it. Historically interesting, but something of an oddity.

I wonder who owns the rights to the Giselle restoration, which I would love to see staged by a western company. But most already have their own Giselle, so even if Ratmansky has rights to it, who would stage it? I saw the "live" stream in January 2020 and wish Bolshoi had released it on DVD or streaming, but that never happened. Olga Smirnova was Giselle in the broadcast and she has now defected to the Netherlands.  Perhaps they could stage it? That would be worth a plane ticket, for sure!

Flames of Paris is another historically interesting piece from the 30s, made in response to Stalin's request to show the decadence of the west, and I suspect Bolshoi will continue to show it. It also is chock full of flashy choreography and bits of it keep showing up in gala shows in the west. It will survive for that reason alone, if not others.

This might be a nice time to revive Ratmansky's Trilogy -- either ABT or San Francisco, as it was a co-production. So much history there with Shostakovich, the trauma of growing up in the USSR, etc., etc. And great ballets choreographically. I would love to see all three again.