The Ukrainian Embassy, local activists, and Michigan State University professors are calling for Vadim Repin’s masterclass to be canceled.
On November 6–7, Putins violinist Vadim Repin was scheduled to perform at Maryland Hall with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra. However, following protests by local activists, a petition with more than 900 signatures, and an appeal from the Ukrainian Embassy, the musician’s invitation was withdrawn. Instead of Repin, young American violinist Francesca Anderegg took the stage at Maryland Hall. But Russian cultural propaganda is not giving up.
After his performances were canceled twice in the U.S., Vadim Repin reached out to his old friend Dmitri Berlinsky, a professor of violin at Michigan State University, to arrange a virtual masterclass at the university’s College of Music. The American professor himself has toured Russia repeatedly, and in 2024 he held a virtual masterclass in Moscow as part of the youth program of Vadim Repin’s Trans-Siberian Art Festival.
That program received a grant of USD 135,581 (₽12,450,040.00) from the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives. This is what you might call a typical quid pro quo—you give me a masterclass in Moscow, and I’ll give you one in Michigan.
Arts Against Aggression activists, the university’s Center for European and Eurasian Studies, and the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States have opposed holding Repin’s masterclass in Michigan. The university president has not yet responded. However, College of Music Dean James Forger stated that the masterclass would proceed as planned, citing the “principles of academic freedom, open discussion, and the exchange of ideas.”
At the same time, the college’s Facebook post about the upcoming masterclass—which had attracted numerous negative comments—was deleted. It is deeply disappointing that an American college is adopting Russian practices in which opposing views are simply silenced.
Russian propaganda is highly contagious—yet another reason to cancel its Michigan masterclass.
It is not too late to write to the university’s leadership and the student-run newspaper:
- Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., MSU President — president@msu.edu
- James Forger, Dean, College of Music — forger@msu.edu
- The State News, the independent student-run newspaper — feedback@statenews.com
Author: Dmitry Smelansky
