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Renowned Russian musician says his foreign tours not cancelled, but ‘discreetly postponed’

According to Yury Bashmet, "history is repeating itself," as during Soviet times there were also difficulties in cultural relations with the US

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. Russian musician and conductor Yury Bashmet said in an interview with TASS that venues in Germany, Italy, the US, France and Japan are not cancelling scheduled concerts featuring him, but rather are "discreetly postponing" them instead.

"I can only name the countries for you: Japan, Germany, Italy, France are being silent but they are waiting for the US. Right now they are discreetly, clandestinely postponing what had been planned. Yet nothing is being [formally] cancelled," Bashmet said.

According to the musician, "history is repeating itself," as during Soviet times there were also difficulties in cultural relations with the US. "During that time, separate contracts were signed with our legendary musicians: Emil Gilels, David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Vladimir Spivakov, Viktor Tretyakov," Bashmet noted.

In 2022, the directorship of Milan’s La Scala opera house refused to work with Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, requesting that he first publicly condemn Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. The Italian theater has also temporarily suspended working with opera singer Anna Netrebko. Carnegie Hall in New York also cancelled the conductor’s performances as well as a performance by pianist Denis Matsuev in a concert scheduled for February 25, 2022. As the musician himself explained to TASS later, this decision was made jointly by the venue and musicians in light of the current international situation.

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