Even at the height of the Cold War, Russian artists performed regularly in the West. But with the war in Ukraine, Europe is not about to see companies like the Bolshoi or a collection of the size of the Morozov exhibition in Paris.
In less than a week, cascading deprogramming of Russian artists and companies in Western theatres has resurfaced the spectre of cultural isolation. "even at the height of the Cold War, cultural exchanges between Russian, American and European artists continued. Of course, there were always tensions, but it was possible," Peter Gelb, director of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York (USA), told AFP.
"No possibility."
"what is happening today is different, it goes beyond the Cold War, it is a real war," explains Gelb, who was in Moscow discussing a co-production with the Bolshoi a few days before the invasion of Ukraine.
Peter Gelb, 69, knows what he's talking about. In the 1980s, this American, then young agent of the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, had organized his great return to Russia and filmed the concert of the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, also back during the perestroika.
The touring of Soviet artists in the West began in the 1950s, including those of ballet companies, an eminently Russian art and Soviet soft power par excellence.
Travels during which the artists were under surveillance, which entered the annals: the Bolshoi tour in London in 1956 with Galina Oulanova, or the first Kirov tour (renamed Mariinsky) in Paris in 1961, during which a certain Rudolph Nureev defected.
The Americans were not left behind: the American Ballet Theatre first performed in Moscow in 1960, followed two years later by the New York City Ballet, in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis. Despite the tensions, the company completed its tour.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, exchanges intensified, with Russian dancers becoming "stars" in other companies, such as Svetlana Zakharova, the "tsarina" of dance, both a star at the Bolshoi and the Ballet de la Scala in Milan (Italy).
Previously unimaginable nominations had become possible, such as that of David Hallberg, the first American star dancer of the Bolshoi in 2011. But, Mr Gelb points out, "in the current context of brutality against innocent citizens, there is no possibility of exchanges like those during the Cold War".
The Met thus ceased its collaboration with the Bolshoi. The institution will also boycott all pro-Putin artists, a decision also taken by the Paris Opera and other theatres. The visits of the Bolshoi Ballet to Madrid in May and to London this summer have been cancelled.
>> Retrouvez notre dossier spécial Décryptage de la crise en Ukraine
Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, a former director of the Ballet before making a career abroad, abandoned two new productions for the company and the Mariinsky. And the Frenchman Laurent Hilaire slammed the door of the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet, which he has been directing for five years.
Lightning struck two superstars deemed close to the regime: conductor Valery Gergiev and soprano Anna Netrebko, the international queen of lyrical art. Mr. Gergiev was declared persona non grata in many rooms and by his own agent, and "La Netrebko" cancelled several of his engagements, including at the Met.
"3 / 4 of their activity"
"what territory will be left, in the coming months, for Russian artists who are not invited to the American and European continents? China has not yet given any signs of recovery (because of the Covid). They will remain their own country," Laurent Bayle, former director general of the Philharmonie de Paris, told AFP.
"three-quarters of their activities are called into question." If this war "ends with the occupation of a country, it is certain that no one will risk an invitation from Russian artists" who have not distanced themselves, "continues Bayle.
While not all artists will be put in the same basket-some, such as the British conductor Vasily Perenko, who has announced that they will suspend their activities in Russia-the situation is more complex for subsidised institutions.?
"Bolshoi and Mariinsky cannot be separated from the authorities; they have public funding and, in the eyes of the citizens of the world, talking about Bolshoi and the Russian state is the same thing," Bayle said.
Read also:
Ukraine : doit-on craindre une catastrophe environnementale dans ce pays très nucléarisé ?Guerre Ukraine-Russie : comment en sommes-nous arrivés là ?Invasion en Ukraine: quels sont les pays qui soutiennent la Russie ?
