Just when it seemed that arts censorship might become a thing of the past in Russia, it seems that opposition to new ideas is embedded in the Russian psyche. This Guardian report makes disquieting reading.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1438685,00.html

Thanks for this link, Cassandra. I'm reminded of the controversy surroundng John Adams' opera, "The Death of Klinghoffer". While I can understand the cancellation of the performance of some of the choruses in Boston not long after 9/11, I was surprised at the political nature of the attacks that greeted the more recent film version for daring to put forward information about the plight of the Palestinian refugees as a background to the central drama.

In the UK, there is much controversy over "Jerry Springer, the Opera". A Christian group has promised to challenge any further performances in the courts.

On the broader issue of censorship in Russia, few doubt that the press and TV are much less independent than they were in the Yeltsin era. An article in the excellent Moscow Times highlighted this with reference to the coverage of the two Chechen invasions. In the first, the press had great freedom and were instrumental in bringing about the Russian withdrawal. The situation had changed totally for the second invasion and the Russian press and TV was effectively muzzled. Fingers and everything else crossed that this trend does not continue and that these new official attitudes do not cross over into the sphere of the arts.

What do others think?

<small>[ 17 March 2005, 04:07 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

The contoversial opera "Children of Rosenthal" has now had it's premiere in Moscow and there is a detailed response to the protests that this work is causing on the BBC web site today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4375215.stm

I was very uneasy about the remark that:

This must refer to the single dance critic who claimed he heard booing on the first night of the Bolshoi Ballet's new version of Romeo and Juliet by Declan Donnellan. At the time I questioned whether there was booing as I had heard none, and my opinion was shared by a number of letter writers to the Guardian (including one from the theatre critic Michael Billington) they also maintained that there was no booing, in fact the response to the work from the audience was particularly warm.

I have to say that writing off the Bolshoi's London season as a failure strikes me as both highly irresponsible and totally inaccurate. There is a lot of opposition in Russia to the current Bolshoi management's forward thinking ideas and it looks like a an unsubstantiated claim by an isolated London critic has given the detractors a stick to beat them with.

One last thought, doesn't the action of book burning absolutely chill the heart?

More about the actual opera from the Moscow Times

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/03/18/101.html