We are grateful to the city of Ravenna and to the Ravenna Festival Foundation for their solidarity with the people ofUkraine, and with all those who fight against the aggression of the Putin regime. A week of concerts and events at the Taras Shevchenko National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv in 2022,organized by the honorary president of the Ravenna Festival Cristina Mazzavillani Muti, was an emotionally moving expression of compassion and support for the Ukrainian people. We also want to express our gratitude for her April 2022 rescue of 60 chorus singers, dancers, and technicians from the Kyiv Opera House during russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Opera singer Ildar Abdrazakov is one of the top acolytes of the regime of Vladimir Putin, a war criminal currently under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Mr. Abdrazakov has been, on multiple occasions, lavishly paid by Putin’s government to take part in the Kremlin’s extravagant propaganda spectacles. Mr. Abdrazakov is also presently scheduled to perform at the 2023 Ravenna Festival. 

Every dictator of a totalitarian state craves external validation, as well as the popular perception that he is a player on the international stage. Every public expression of foreign support for Vladimir Putin’s “approved” artists is seized as fodder for domestic propaganda by Russia’s ruthless state-run “news” outlets. 

As an artist with various international engagements that have not yet been canceled, Mr. Abdrazakov has been an especially valuable asset to Putin. Mr. Abdrazakov’s presence on stages outside of russia lend legitimacy to the Kremlin’s war policies, and also provide content — in the form of international news coverage of his performances — for its domestic propaganda outlets.

Many cultural institutions in the West, and elsewhere, have realized that they can show their opposition to Europe’s largest conflict since WWII by denying Putin’s allies the opportunity to represent russia’s interests at international performance venues. By banning Putin’s artists from these forums, distinguished cultural outlets effectively withhold from Putin’s propagandists what they desire most: the international legitimization of his regime.

Several articles published by the Austrian-based “Opern.News” reported on Mr. Abdrazakov’s performances in russia during thefull scale invasion of Ukraine, and detailed his close professional and financial ties to Putin. Opern.News also detailed Abdrazakov’s high-profile cancelation on Dec. 29, 2022, at the Teatro alla Scala.  After performing at the opening of the season in front of the political, artistic and business elite of Italy and satisfying the interests of the Kremlin’s propaganda, Ildar Abdrazakov canceled his final performance of “Boris Godunov” in order to sing at an oligarch’s party in Moscow. (see list of publications attached). 

Allowing Mr. Abdrazakov, a Kremlin proselytizer and a supporter of a war criminal, to sing on some of Italy’s most iconic stages is simply morally reprehensible. Mr. Abdrazakov’s upcoming Ravenna Festival engagement is particularly deplorable as Maestro Riccardo Muti was already forced to cancel Abdrazakov’s March 2023 performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in fear of protests from Chicago’s Ukrainian community. Maestro Muti is well aware of Mr. Abdrazakov’s role in Putin’s propaganda machine. 

It is our hope that cultural institutions in Italy will follow the examples set by the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Bavarian State Opera, and will not endorse nor condone the regime of Vladimir Putin by offering their stages to his propaganda artists. 

Arts Against Aggression