The conflict in Ukraine places in a more than uncomfortable position Quebec artists who had planned to give shows in Russia in the coming weeks and months. As the country of Vladimir Putin continued to be targeted by major international sanctions on Monday, a thick blur persisted as to the maintenance or cancellation of these representations.
For the time being, the Montreal collective The 7 Fingers is still supposed to resume its residency at the Moscow Musical Theater on Saturday, but the circus troupe let it be known on Monday to Homeworkthat she was “distraught” by the war in Ukraine, to the point of questioning her presence in Russia. “Note that the situation in Moscow is different for us than for a touring show. […] These are not teams that we send from Montreal, but local artists, ”we nevertheless took care to specify, indicating that the reflection was continuing and that no final decision was made. was still taken.
Director Robert Lepage has been on the bill since December in Moscow with The Master and Margarita, an adaptation of the work of the same name, by Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov. The artistic director of the Ex Machina company spent several months last year in Russia with Quebec collaborators to stage the piece, before returning to the country in December.
According to his team, Robert Lepage has no intention of returning to Moscow any time soon. It was not possible to know if Quebecers were still in the technical team, as other performances are on the calendar for the whole month of March.
Stars in the land of the tsars
All over the world, Russian culture is paying a heavy price for the invasion launched last week in Ukraine. In France, the 26and Russian Festival in Marseille has been canceled, just as the Royal Opera House in London canceled the performances of the Bolshoi Ballet scheduled for this summer.
Russia has also been excluded from Eurovision, which will take place in Italy in May, while the conductor Valery Gergiev, known as a close friend of Vladimir Putin, has been replaced by Quebecer Yannick Nézet-Séguin for a series of concerts in New York.
If Russian artists have become in the space of a few days undesirable in the former Western bloc, Westerners are not so quick to ignore the Russian public.
The Quebec singer Garou must also begin a tour next April that will take him from Vladivostok to Saint Petersburg. Asked by The duty on the possibility that the Ukrainian conflict upsets the plans, his entourage did not respond to our request.
Garou enjoys a certain notoriety in Eastern Europe thanks, among other things, to Notre Dame of Paris, like another headliner of the musical, Bruno Pelletier. The latter had planned to perform in Russia in the fall, and his team specified Monday that it was still too early to decide.
The interpreter of Times of the cathedralsalso popular in Ukraine, was sorry last week for the escalation of the conflict, having a thought for his admirers on both sides of the border.