But all this did not prevent the European officials headed by Ursula von der Leyen from visiting the theater. What political notes sounded this evening, the correspondent heard REN TV Alexander Tuzikov.
There is a grand celebration in Milan: the start of the opera season. But this time it’s special. For the first time in 43 years, La Scala begins with a special Russian accent: again, as in the distant 1979, on the stage of Boris Godunov.
Broadcast of the performance around the world. Thousands of Italians watch the performance on street screens.
And this is despite pressure from Kyiv. The Ukrainian consul in Milan called “Godunov” Russian propaganda and demanded a ban, but was refused.
“This is not propaganda of the Russian authorities, there is a difference between the momentary political situation and real Russia with its richest cultural heritage. “Godunov” is among the greatest masterpieces of operatic art. I don’t want to hide when I read Dostoyevsky or Pushkin“, – said the managing director of the opera house “La Scala” Dominique Meyer.
Pro-Ukrainian activists and anarchists who joined them nevertheless tried to make themselves known and staged a semblance of a theatrical performance. The police carefully pushed a few hundred demonstrators away from the entrance so as not to interfere with the art festival.
And before that, eco-activists staged their production, also in front of television cameras. The “greens” doused the facade of the neoclassical monument with paint, declared that humanity should give up gas and coal, and not listen to opera. The police did not appreciate the performance.
The theater was quickly put in order. The musical director and conductor of La Scala, Riccardo Chailly, says: “The culture of cancellation” is not a culture, a surrogate. He claims to have penetrated the secret of the creative laboratory of Modest Mussorgsky.
“During one of the rehearsals with the orchestra, I experienced a deep inner shock. I was amazed to the depths of my soul how much Mussorgsky’s genius was ahead of his time, what intuition he possessed a century and a half before our time.“, said Shay.
Italian artists are declaring more and more loudly: Pushkin and Mussorgsky are brilliant creators of poetry and music of the 19th century. Rejection of them is tantamount to the abolition of Dante or Shakespeare.
“Boris Godunov” and, according to Ukrainian diplomats, his “imperial meaning” for some reason did not bother the head of the European Commission at all. Ursula von der Leyen, in an evening dress with lurex, made her own performance: she was the prima at the photo shoot for a little less than a minute.
And she went to listen to Mussorgsky together with the President of Italy and her political opponent, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni. All reconciled Russian music.
“I love good opera. Mussorgsky is phenomenal, Tchaikovsky is also phenomenal. We must respect her“Von der Leyen said.
Boris Godunov is not the only production of Russian classics at La Scala. This season, the “Pearl of Italian Opera” is also going to show the ballets “The Nutcracker” and “Swan Lake”.