Violin. File photoROME, Jun 8The Rodolfo Lipitzera Italian Musical Violin Competition invited three violinists from Russia to publicly disagree with Russian policy in Ukraine and protest against the actions of the Russian leadership, one of the musicians Lidia Kocharyan told RIA Novosti. According to her, she received a letter in English from the president of the cultural Association Lipizer Lorenzo Qualli, in which he offered her the «opportunity to return» to the number of contestants in order «not to punish Russian citizens unfairly because of their birth.» Previously, the competition named after the famous conductor and composer, which should be held in September in Italian Gorizia, refused in the participation of three violinists with Russian citizenship. As Qualli told RIA Novosti, the decision was made in accordance with international sanctions in connection with the conflict in Ukraine. In an appeal to Kocharyan, the organizer of the competition said that he «had consultations with the honorary consul of Italy in Lvov.» Russian violinists are invited to «publicly and officially renounce the international policy of the Putin regime» and «firmly condemn the malicious bloody and barbaric aggression against Ukraine.» In addition, they must disseminate information about this through the media. The musicians have three days to respond.
Gazmanov called the topic of «cancelling» Russian culture wild. «The competition should be apolitical. And they do the opposite, showing that they are really for politics,» Kocharyan said. According to her, the organizers sent a similar proposal in order “to say later that we ourselves did not agree to participate,” but “now they set their own conditions.” The violinist emphasized that the rules of the competition do not say that in order to participate in it you need to express your political position and looks. “We, as musicians, have nothing to do with the conflict at all, and Qualli makes us intervene in something that we should not touch at all,” Kocharyan said, noting that she was not going to answer Qualli. Earlier, the head of the Lipizer Association told RIA Novosti that their decision is irreversible. According to Qualli, in a letter to the violinists, after the decision on non-admission, he wrote that he «had nothing against them» and would be happy to accept them after the end of the conflict in Ukraine. He stressed that next year he plans to change the charter of the event, adding to it a clause about the impossibility of participation of «representatives of countries at war.» In response to the situation, the FVG Orchestra, which had accompanied the performances of musicians for several years, refused to participate in the competition. The municipality of Gorizia also took the side of the violinists, inviting them to a concert to be held in July. Russian violinists intend to sue the organizers.
