2023-09-21 12:03:00
War between Ukraine and RussiadossierThe return to Berlin of soprano Anna Netrebko has relaunched the debate on the reception of Russian artists. Independent in their programming choices, German cultural institutions refuse a rejection of Russian art in principle.
“Shame on you, Netrebko!” “No applause for propaganda!” For her return to the Berlin Staatsoper, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko was jeered on Friday September 15 by 200 demonstrators gathered outside the capital’s most prestigious opera house, located on the historic Unter den Linden avenue. .
Inside, however, the public was on his side. During the first performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth, in the role of Lady, she experienced a triumph with applause loud enough to drown out the few boos from the back rows. Anna Netrebko, who is playing to a sold-out audience until Saturday September 23, walked to the front of the stage, crossing her arms and defying her detractors with a big smile.
The singer, who is criticized for being too close to Vladimir Putin, has become the symbol in Germany of the debate on the boycott of Russian artists, which has emerged since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “He It’s all about music, not politics!” insists Ella, an admirer who came to see the world star. “Should we boycott pro-Trump artists? All this makes no sense,” adds her husband, Rüdiger, pointing to the demonstrators in front of the opera.
Intense debate
After rescheduling it for 2022, the director of the Staatsoper, Matthias Schulz, believes that Anna Netrebko has clearly distanced herself from President Vladimir Putin by condemning the war in Ukraine (the singer no longer performs in Russia). But this turnaround does not please everyone. To demonstrate his disapproval, the Minister responsible for Culture in the Berlin regional government, Joe Chialo, ostensibly accompanied the Ukrainian ambassador the same day to the traveling exhibition dedicated to the war crimes of the Russian army, installed in the hall of Humboldt University, opposite the opera. “But art is free and institutions retain the choice of their programming,” he said.
“We have led an intense debate within our cultural institutions while avoiding drawing too hasty sanctions without consideration of reality,” explains Carsten Brosda, president of the Federation of German Theaters and Orchestras, and Minister of Culture of Hamburg. That said, we maintain an unambiguous position vis-à-vis Moscow. Cultural institutions must re-examine all existing cooperation with Russian public institutions and, if necessary, abandon them.”
Those who say nothing
The Federal State Secretary for Culture, Claudia Roth, opposed the boycott in principle from the start of the war. “It’s true, there is a lot of uncertainty about how to approach Russian culture,” she admits. But it would be a mistake, in his eyes, to make it an intangible principle because it would affect precisely the artists who are fighting to preserve the last spaces of freedom. She sums up: “I refuse to let Putin deprive me of Chekhov.”
Russians who support the invasion of Ukraine have been permanently banned from concert halls in Germany, such as conductor Valery Gergiev, dismissed from his position at the Munich Philharmonic in March 2022, for having refused – after a ultimatum from the leadership – to speak out on the war started by Vladimir Putin. But for everyone else, discernment prevails. How to read the minds of those who say nothing? “It is not conceivable for me to audition each artist before an engagement, in order to know their position on Ukraine,” insists Carsten Brosda.
For Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, there can be no half-measures vis-à-vis Moscow. “You are able to choose between being Leni Riefenstahl [cinéaste propagandiste de Hitler, ndlr] ou Marlene Dietrich [comédienne antinazie partie aux Etats-Unis en exil]», Illustrated in an interview with AFP the artist based in Berlin, in the crosshairs of the Russian authorities even before the war in Ukraine.
“Presenting Tolstoy as an enemy”
“Living the Russian language does not make you a friend of Putin. Why should we boycott it? Half of Ukraine speaks Russian,” says writer Vladimir Kaminer, a sort of media spokesperson for Russian artists in Germany, who has never been in greater demand than since the invasion of Ukraine. “I have even more work, even more invitations. People want to know what I think about the situation,” he explains. He only regrets that many Ukrainians refuse to share the stage with Russian artists. “They themselves are victims of Putin’s regime. They are also fighting against this murderous regime. But presenting Tolstoy as an enemy? The equation is too simple,” he says.
The Germans avoid inflaming the debate. “They tend to stay away as much as possible,” notes Vladimir Kaminer. Also for historical questions: exile is part of German history. Thousands of German-speaking artists fled the Nazi regime to live a painful exile abroad, like the writer Thomas Mann, who tried to explain in his writings how Germany had fallen into barbarism. “The fact that he spoke German placed him in the same situation as Russian writers today,” notes Carsten Brosda, Hamburg Minister of Culture. He used the language of the aggressor to oppose barbarism.”
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