Toulouse: the moving declaration of the Orchester du Capitole to Sokhiev
Last Friday evening, before the concert given at the Halle au Grains, the musicians of the Orchester du Capitole made a statement in warm support of their musical director Tugan Sokhiev, who has not been since March 6…
On March 6, following a request from the Town Hall of Toulouse to express its position on the war in Ukraine, Tugan Sokhiev “forced to face the impossible option of choosing between my Russian and French musicians”, as he wrote it himself, chose to resign from his two posts as Music Director of the National Capitol Orchestra and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
Yesterday evening, Friday March 25, during the concert initially planned under the direction of Sokhiev, and therefore replaced by the Azerbaijani conductor Fuad Ibrahimov, the representatives of the musicians of the Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse. made the following statement, excerpts from which we provide.
“Ladies and gentlemen, good evening
Before evoking the particular situation in which this concert is taking place, we felt, on behalf of all our colleagues, to show all our emotion at the violence and atrocities committed in Ukraine and all our support for the Ukrainian people (.. .)
The concert on March 25 should have been conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.
Tugan Sokhiev is Russian. Its history, its family, its culture are intimately linked to this country. It is this identity and this attachment to his roots that allowed us, that allowed you for many years to enrich us with what he had to pass on to us.
We shared with him so many musical moments but also so many moments of personal human exchanges, that we know, without the shadow of a doubt that he cannot in any way be suspected of the slightest complacency towards live with this warrior madness. We didn’t need him to tell us, but that’s what he thought he had to say in a statement he made public. And that’s probably why his concerts scheduled for the next few weeks in Salzburg (…), Vienna, Munich or Rome have not been canceled.
“Music is not the enemy”
The musicians of the Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse are deeply saddened by the resignation of their Musical Director, but even more by this injunction which is made to Russian artists to have to justify themselves, they who are, like all their compatriots , hostages of a totalitarian regime and a policy for which they cannot be held accountable. (…) In 1916, when the First World War was devastating Europe, Maurice Ravel had publicly refused to take part in a campaign which aimed to silence German artists and music.
Because she was not the enemy.
Today it is up to us to rise up solemnly against such a defeat of thought (…)
Because they have a universal scope, music, culture and the arts are powerful antidotes against hatred between peoples and against all forms of totalitarianism.
“Contrary to what has been said, we had plans for the future months and years with Maestro Sokhiev”
(…) We have also come to say publicly that we cannot bring ourselves to see our musical journey with Tugan Sokhiev come to an end in such a brutal way. (…)
Contrary to what has been said here or there, we had many joint projects for the months and years to come with Maestro Sokhiev, no longer as Musical Director, but as guest conductor with a privileged link with our orchestra.
We feel that the book of this common history has unfortunately been closed prematurely.
We have therefore decided to express publicly and with a little solemnity, on behalf of the unanimous musicians, but also the members of the technical and administrative teams, our desire to be able to rediscover, as soon as circumstances permit, the pleasure of sharing musical under the direction of Tugan Sokhiev.
We would like to send him our warmest regards at this time.”