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Church triumphs over opera

DIRECTOR OF NOVOSIBIRSK THEATER FIRED BECAUSE OF "TANNHAUSER"

Ministry of Culture stated that Mezdrich did not heed the call to change the production

Interfax-Religiia, 30 March 2015

 

Vladimir Kekhman, who is the director of the Mikhailov Theatre of St. Petersburg, was appointed director of the Novosibirsk Theatre of Opera and Ballet in place of Boris Mezdrich, V. Kekhman himself told Interfax. "I will combine the two positions, director of the Mikhailov and director of the Novosibirsk theatres," he emphasized.

 

B.Mezdrich was fired by order of Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky in connection with the outcry over the production of "Tannhauser."

 

"My contract states what procedure is provided for, not only for me but for any other director of a federal institution. A founder can be dismissed without cause. And that is what he did. There is no provision for how many days. The first deputy minister handed me the order at the airport. I will not (challenge—IF). Everything was done properly from a legal point of view," B. Mezdrich noted live on radio station Moscow Speaking.

 

In his turn, the deputy minister of culture Vladimir Aristarkhov declared live on TV Russia—24 that some time back, on the basis of results of public hearings, the ministry issued a statement that it considers "productions on budgetary money of this kind, which introduce division in our society and offend a large mass of residents of the country, are not acceptable."

 

He said that B. Mezdrich "was shown the insufficiency of supervision over what was happening in the theatre, what was being staged, and it was suggested that he take a number of measures." "It was suggested that the controversial poster be removed and certain other changes be introduced into the scenario in order to remove the moments that were offending people and that he apologize to all who were offended intentionally and unintentionally, and also that he explain the purpose of the production and what was Wagner's purpose, which did not have anything blasphemous in mind," V. Aristarkhov noted.

 

He said that of all of this only one item was fulfilled: the poster was removed. "In two recent performances it actually was not there, but there were no apologies, there were no explanations, and there were no changes that we had asked to be introduced," the deputy minister emphasized.

 

In V. Aristarkhov's view, "the wildest interpretations of classics are possible, but they should not be blasphemous and offensive." "But we also do not consider it proper when disputes in the area of creativity are resolved in courts by means of mass rallies. This is improper," he added.

 

On his part, the deputy director of the Russian presidential administration, Magomedsalam Magomedov, stated at a conference in Novosibirsk on Monday that the decision on the firing of B. Mezdrich was a forced step. He said that the conflict connected with the production led to a clash between the secular and religious communities in Novosibirsk province.

 

"In the end, the Ministry of Culture had to intervene in the situation and make its position public and make a personnel decision of an appropriate nature," M. Magomedov said. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 March 2015)

 

RPTsMP AND FEOR APPROVE FIRING OF DIRECTOR OF NOVOSIBIRSK THEATRE OF OPERA AND BALLET

Portal-credo.ru, 30 March 2015

 

Official representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate [RPTsMP] and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia [FEOR], commenting on the dismissal of the director of the Novosibirsk Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Boris Mezdruch, in connection with the situation surrounding the production of the opera "Tannhauser," called on 30 March the decision of the Ministry of Culture of the RF conciliatory, adding that it will help maintain harmony within society.

 

Earlier the prosecutor's office had opened administrative cases in connection with "desecration of objects of religious veneration" with regard to the director-producer of the opera "Tannhauser," Timofei Kuliabin, and the director of the theatre, Mezdrich, "who allowed the staging of the opera." However a court put an end to the administrative cases because of lack of the substance of a crime. The prosecutor's office appealed this decision. On 29 March it was reported that Mezdrich had been removed from the post of director and Kekhman, the director of the Mikhailov Theatre in St. Petersburg, was appointed in his place.

 

According to the chairman of the RPTsMP synod's Information Department, Vladimir Legoida, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky took all possible measures for establishing a dialogue, and in this situation the ministry he heads tried to do everything possible for preventing the need of making personnel decisions. "In essence, the minister of culture himself fulfilled all the functions for which the responsibility lay on the director of the theatre, Boris Mezdrich. In the circumstances of the lack of a dialogue between the Novosibirsk theatre and the local community, the Ministry of Culture initiated a discussion of the situation of obvious conflict," Legoida declared, whose comments were published on the website of the Ministry of Culture.

 

As a result of open discussion, he continued, the ministry formulated compromise recommendations and sent them to the theatre. "When these recommendations were not fulfilled, the minister made the decision within the bounds of his authority, which I have heard is not being challenged by the former director of the theatre," Legoida said.

 

In his turn, the executive secretary of the patriarchate's Council on Culture of the RPTsMP, Archimandrite Tihon, called the decision on firing Mezdrich "completely correct and legal." "There was a faint hope that perhaps some kind of limit would be placed on the vivisection of a classic, the shameless outcries, the outrage, the irresponsible provocations of social conflicts as monstrously vulgar and mediocre methods of substituting for real art the aggression of a so-called personal vision and self-expression," the archimandrite noted on the website of the Ministry of Culture.

 

Alexander Boroda, the president of FEOR and member of the Public Chamber of the RF, also supported the decision of the Ministry of Culture, noting that "freedom of creativity ends at the point where the offense to believers' feelings, offense to the individual, begins, and where there are calls for violence, and where on the stage or screen the talk is of depravity and debauchery and about those, unfortunately, who are now actively propagating false values which in reality are degrading society."

 

"In reality the director of a theatre must think about what he wants to bring to the viewer and what he wants to bring creatively into the auditorium. In this case, the director of the Novosibirsk theatre was able to bring not simply negatives into the minds of those who come to view the performance but he was able to become the cause of great contention and great inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflict," Boroda declared, as RIA Novosti quotes him.

 

The president of FEOR noted that people occupying such posts "must understand the depth of their responsibility and understand what they are doing, meaning all possible consequences." "The ministry made an absolutely correct governmental decision from the point of view of harmony in society and respect for Russians of various confessions. This is a correct and conciliatory decision," Boroda said. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 March 2015)

 

MINISTRY OF CULTURE ASKS NOVOSIBIRSK METROPOLITAN TO RETRACT FROM PROSECUTOR HIS APPEAL OVER "TANNHAUSER"

Interfax-Religiia, 30 March 2015

 

The Russian Ministry of Culture urged the leadership of the Novosibirsk metropolitinate to withdraw its appeal to the prosecutor's office regarding offense to believers' feelings by the production of the opera "Tannhauser."

 

"Questions of creativity and artistic images should not be discussed either at mass rallies or, much less so, in courts. We urge the leadership of the Novosibirsk diocese to withdraw its appeal to the prosecutor's office, and to conduct further discussion in the format of mutually respectful dialogue," the press service of the Ministry of Culture reported on Monday.

 

As the ministry emphasized, "representatives of confessions need to understand that respect for the church is achieved not through appeals to law enforcement agencies but through tolerant and thoughtful preaching and explanation of their system of values."

 

Commenting on the firing of the director of the Novosibirsk Opera Theatre, the press service noted that in the course of several months the ministry "tried to get from Boris Mezdrich an understanding of the mistake in the actions he allowed, and in the course of several months it tried to retain him as the director of the theatre."

 

"The former director thus was not able to realize that regardless of his attitude toward one or another religion, believers' feelings have the right to respect. So, society and audiences did not perceive on the part of the management of the theatre an understanding of the situation and they did not hear apologies," the report says.

 

Yesterday, by order of the minister of culture the director of the theatre, B. Mezdrich, was dismissed in connection with the uproar surrounding the production of "Tannhauser" in the Novosibirsk Opera Theatre.

 

Meanwhile, a deputy prosecutor of Novosibirsk, Igor Stasiulis, told Interfax that a review of the administrative cases with respect to the producer of the opera "Tannhauser," Timofei Kuliabin, and the former director of the theatre is continuing, in any case.

 

"The prosecutor's office perceived the presence of administrative violations of law. The case is before the court of the appellate instance, regardless of whether the declarer withdraws his appeal to the prosecutor's office or not," I. Stasiulis said. (tr. by PDS, posted 31 March 2015)



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