The call of the famous Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky to end support for Ukraine and to cut off electricity to accelerate its siege has sparked outrage in the musical world. “I understand that we take pity on them, that we do things delicately, but couldn’t we stop caring about them, besiege them and cut off the electricity?”, said this world piano star during a talk show on the pro-Kremlin federal channel Pervy Kanal on March 10, which was about the people of kyiv. A soldier who participated in the television program replied that“we cannot create a humanitarian catastrophe with our own hands”.
I cannot believe these statements of my former friend Boris B. But I hear them coming from his mouth. This friendship is officially over. https://t.co/ZfkT03X42g
— Lars Vogt (@lars_vogt) March 14, 2022
Pianist and conductor Lars Vogt, musical director of the Orchester de chambre de Paris, reacted strongly on Twitter: “I can’t believe these words from my ex-friend Boris B. I hear them from his own mouth. Our friendship is officially over.”
Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montera spoke “a huge disappointment” on Twitter, adding that “Musical greatness and empathy don’t always go hand in hand”. “It’s beyond cynicism”reacted for her part the Finnish-Ukrainian conductor Dalia Stasevska.
Boris Berezovsky, 53, regularly invited to festivals and concert halls in France, such as the International Piano Festival of La Roque-d’Anthéron (south of France) or the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, in Paris, has as asserted as “what the Western media say is a pure lie”.
“We need to win this war and then build something good and nice at home, in this country (…) In the end, the truth will reach the people, I am convinced of it, a year will pass and the truth will prevail”said the winner of the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition.
Since the beginning of the invasion, artists considered pro-Putin, such as the conductor Valéry Gergiev or the soprano Anna Netrebko, have been declared persona non grata in the majority of Western cinemas. Another leading Russian musical personality, Tugan Sokhiev, clearly opposed to the war, resigned from his posts as musical director of the Bolshoi and the Orchester du Capitole de Toulouse, to denounce the ostracization of which Russian artists, “disrespectfully treated and victims of cancel culture”.