Breaking silence on the backstage Russia-Ukraine opera wars

In 1930s London, German Nazis and German-Jewish refugees sang together at Covent Garden and Glyndebourne and fought bitterly backstage.

In this week’s Spectator, Zoe Strimpel reports a similar situation going on right now between Russian and Ukrainian artists in opera houses around Europe…. only worse. Not only are the Ukrainians trying to have Russians excluded but the Russians are at war among themselves between pro-war and anti.

Two female composers at the same London concert pointedly blanked each other.

One formerly successful singers’ agent has gone to work in medical technology.

A well-known Moscow mezzo, resident in the UK, was told by an opera company ‘we just can’t afford the scandal of having a Russian artist’. Her diary is completely empty for the next yar.

Read Zoe’s important piece here.