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Bolshoi Theater: Kremlin criticism forbidden
Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofyev / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO
Moscow's Bolshoi Theater has canceled performances of two works staged by pro-Kremlin artists Kirill Serebrennikov and Timofei Kulyabin.
The world-famous house announced that other works would be shown instead of the ballet »Nureyev«, composed and directed by Serebrennikov, and the opera »Don Pasquale«, staged by Kulyabin.
Both directors had publicly spoken out against the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
The 52-year-old Serebrennikov left for Berlin in early April.
The 37-year-old Kulyabin is now also said to be in other European countries.
The theater did not want to justify the deletions on request.
It announced that instead of the previously planned three performances of »Nureyev«, it would stage a production of »Spartacus« by Soviet composer Aram Khachaturian.
This opera had already been performed at the Bolshoi in early April.
According to the house, the proceeds at the time were used to support the bereaved of Russian soldiers who had died in Ukraine.
The Bolshoi Theater also announced that instead of Kulyabin's staged comic opera Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti, the opera The Barber of Seville by Gioacchino Rossini will be on the programme.
Serebrennikov was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence in Russia in June 2020 for alleged embezzlement of public funds.
However, after serving half of his sentence, the authorities allowed him to leave the country.
The trial against Serebrennikov had been criticized at home and abroad as politically motivated, the director rejected the allegations.
After his arrival in Berlin, Serebrennikov said he felt "only horror, sadness, shame and pain" at the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
Kulyabin had also spoken out publicly against the military operation.
In recent weeks, several dancers have also left the Bolshoi Theater - among them the Russian star ballerina Olga Smirnova.
cbu/AFP