(Moscow) The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow announced on Friday that a “heroic” ballet would be presented on Saturday in support of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, with all proceeds from the show to be donated to the families of Russian soldiers killed in this offensive. end of February.
Posted at 2:42 p.m.
” Ballet Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian will be presented on April 2, 2022 on the historic Bolshoi stage,” the theater said in a statement.
“The Bolshoi will donate the proceeds from this legendary show directed by Yuri Grigorovich to the families of soldiers killed during the Russian military operation in Ukraine,” he said.
According to the statement, the performance will mark the start of a large charity campaign “Riding up the curtain” launched by the Russian Ministry of Culture to support “those who help our army”, as well as to provide assistance to people evacuated from Donbass. (Eastern Ukraine).
Several Russian theaters will present performances within the framework of this campaign for youth organizations, volunteers, veterans, as well as for the inhabitants of the Ukrainian separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DNR and LNR), the statement said.
The premiere of the ballet glorifying the exploits of Spartacus, at the head of the slave revolt against the Roman Empire, took place in December 1956 on the stage of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater (now the Mariinsky Theater Petersburg), with choreography by Leonid Jacobsen.
Yuri Grigorovich presented his version of Spartacus at the Bolshoi in 1968.
“Spartacus for us is not only courage and bravery, but also an amazing inner strength of freedom,” the Bolshoi said in the statement.
“These are not ‘scenes of Roman life’, but a heroic masculine ballet”, he underlines.
Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev announced in early March that he had left his post as musical director of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse, saying he was under pressure to take a stand on events in Ukraine.
Russian artists, athletes and celebrities have been in a delicate situation since the start of the Russian operation in Ukraine on February 24.
Summoned in Russia to display their patriotism or, failing that, to remain silent, they are on the contrary under pressure in Western countries to publicly distance themselves from the military operation and the Russian regime.