The Bolshoi’s music director says he was pressured to speak out against Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Music director and chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater Tugan Sokhiev has announced his resignation, saying he feels pressured by calls to take a stand on the war in Ukraine.
In a statement on Sunday, the Russian said he was “immediately resigning” from his post at the Moscow Theater and his equivalent position at the French National Orchestra of the Capitole of Toulouse.
Sokhiev, 44, was nominated by the Bolshoi in 2014. He was brought in as part of efforts to improve the theater’s image following scandals, including the 2013 acid attack on then-artistic director Sergei Filin.
Since the Russian invasion on February 24, world-famous Russian performers have been pressured to take a stand.
The war caused a negative reaction in the world of art and culture: theaters, film festivals and other events canceled Russian screenings and performances.
On Tuesday, star conductor Valery Gergiev, a Kremlin partisan, was stripped of his position at the Munich Philharmonic for failing to denounce Russia’s actions.
Sokhiev comes from the same North Ossetian region of Russia as Gergiev and is considered his henchman.
Sokhiev said in a lengthy statement that “many have been waiting for me to express myself and hear from me my position on what is happening at the moment,” referring to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.
He said he decided to retire after “being forced to face an impossible choice between my favorite Russians and my favorite French musicians”.
He cited the Toulouse authorities’ resistance to his planned Franco-Russian music festival there, saying they “want me to express my opinion in the name of peace”.
Sokhiev became musical director of the Toulouse Orchestra in 2008 and continued to work with the orchestra after joining the Bolshoi Theatre.
Sokhiev did not say directly whether he supports or opposes Russia’s actions in Ukraine, but said he “never supported and will always be against any conflict in any form and form.”
He said that musicians were “victims of the so-called ‘cancellation culture'” and suggested that Russian music could be under threat.
“Soon I will be asked to choose between Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy,” he warned.
The general director of the Bolshoi Theater, Vladimir Urin, told state news agency TASS that he was saddened by Sokhiev’s decision.
“I am very sorry. His departure is a serious problem for the Bolshoi Theatre. It is not clear how the situation will develop further.”