Posted at 12:00 p.m.
While thousands of Ukrainian civilians are perishing under the fire of Russia, it is immoral to offer the Quebec stage to the descendants of the aggressor regime of Russia, and even more to justify this staging as Mario Girard did. in his column of April 151. The Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM) is fueling Russia’s culture war against Ukrainians by labeling Ukrainian music “Russian” and allowing Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov to perform in Montreal.
Stop allowing the appropriation of non-Russian composers
How can we continue to refer to Ukrainian and Jewish-German composers as “Russian” when they are not? Neither Schnittke nor Prokofiev are Russian. The appropriation of these composers as “Russians” is an affront to the identity and history of Ukrainians who, for centuries, saw their culture destroyed and monopolized by the Russians. The OSM is also guilty: after promoting a “Russian” concert for months, the OSM finally caved under pressure from many speakers and removed the term “Russian” from the title of a concert that had no composer. Russian on the program… However, for some reason, the term “Russian” was kept in the description of the concert on the OSM’s website. Is it negligence, or insensitivity to the crimes against Ukrainian culture and lives destroyed by Russia?
Demand a strong condemnation of war
The Ukrainian community asked Daniil Trifonov, pianist, to make a strong statement against the crimes of Russia. He never made such a statement. His only comment came in a weak Instagram post: “It is truly heartbreaking to witness what has happened over the past few days. Every war is a tragedy. As a musician, I wish I could bring comfort and peace in these difficult times. I pray for a solution that will bring lasting peace. Many people responded to his weak comment with sentiments pointing out that as a Russian artist in the West, he has a responsibility to be clearly anti-invasion and anti-genocide.
Instead of condemning the genocide against the Ukrainians, Mr. Trifonov speaks vaguely of “comfort and peace”, which is insufficient and diminishes the importance of the current war, while thousands of Ukrainians are massacred.
Even before 2022, the OSM has always been Russophile and despite the annexation of Crimea, the war in Donbass, the war in Georgia, and Chechnya, the OSM has not distanced itself from clear supporters of the regime of Putin. On the contrary, the OSM has courted and welcomed on stage musicians like Matsuev and Gergiev on several occasions between 2011 and 2020. The same Matsuev and Gergiev who both signed Putin’s letter supporting the annexation of Crimea by Russia . Both have also benefited from open support from the Putin regime, including state promotion, awards, and government positions.
Give the stage to oppressed groups
Worse still, the OSM has rarely, if ever, explored music from countries previously oppressed by Russia. How about expanding an extremely biased repertoire of “high Russian culture” to learn more about artists from oppressed groups?
By choosing not to amplify the voices of the oppressed, the OSM engages directly in the cultural censorship of groups targeted by Russia. I invite you to read this letter in La Scena2 to better understand the postcolonial perspective.
It’s time for Western music organizations to stop perpetuating the myth of Russian cultural superiority and to require Russian artists in the West to be unwaveringly against Russian invasion in order to be considered on a Western stage. This is the least the world of culture can do for its Ukrainian friends and colleagues.