Just yesterday morning, when the Ukrainian rescue services were extracting the bodies of 24 people, including 3 children, from the rubble of a residential building in Kyiv, Putin’s violinist Valim Repin was still listed as a guest artist in the program for the annual grand-scale commemorative concert celebrating Hungary's Day of National Unity, scheduled for June 4.
By the evening, when Bulgarian activists protested Vadim Repin's performance with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra at Bulgaria Hall, holding a large poster that read: “Putin - Killer, Repin - Accomplice,” Vadim Repin's name had disappeared from the grand-scale commemorative concert in Budapest and was replaced by the young Hungarian violinist Zoltán Bácsy-Schwartz.
In March, the Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra in the U.S. did the same, replacing Putin’s artist with a local violinist Valentin Mansurov.
The Center for Countering Disinformation, a working body of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, once warned:that “through cultural events, Russia is trying to weaken international isolation and use classical art as a cover to hide the true face of the terrorist regime.”
Substituting a Kremlin propagandist with a local talented musician sets a commendable precedent that should be adopted by Maryland Hall in the U.S., where Vadim Repin is set to appear with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra on November 6-7.
Author: Dmitry Smelansky
