Echoing his historic Morristown concert from 20 years ago, conductor Valery Gergiev delighted Friday’s audience inside the Mayo Performing Arts Center by starting with The Star-Spangled Banner.
But outside, it wasn’t playing so well. Braving Siberian-style winds, more than 100 demonstrators chanted for Gergiev to go back to Russia.
The evening turned out to be a memorable celebration — though not necessarily for the reasons organizers intended.
Concert-goers who paid up to $150 per ticket had to submit their pocketbooks and bags to security inspections.
En route to their seats, they sidled past a phalanx of Morristown’s Finest, who were there in uniform and in plain clothes to ensure that protests remained orderly.
“Congratulations with what you did with the concert hall,” Gergiev said from the stage that he shared two decades ago with the late Alexander Slobodyanik.
The renowned pianist had invited him to Morristown to spark the rescue of what was then called the Community Theatre, a broken-down shell of a movie palace from the Depression.
So Gergiev brought the Kirov Orchestra in September 1994. That evening was a rousing success, setting in motion the theater’s transformation into the Mayo Center, a world-class venue that presents top entertainers and pumps an estimated $14 million into the regional economy each year.
This time, Gergiev came with the renamed Mariinsky Orchestra and some extra baggage: Past statements supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea.
“We find this is outrageous, that he is invited to perform in beautiful halls across the U.S.,” said Ivana Lotoshynski, who was among Ukrainian Americans demonstrating behind a barricade across South Street in the bitter cold.
They chanted “Gergiev go back to Russia!” and “Russia, get out of Ukraine!” and “Gergiev supports terrorists!” One placard depicted Gergiev and Putin as vampire “blood brothers.” Another protester waved a sign showing a swastika on Gergiev’s forehead.
Other Gergiev concerts have had similar demonstrations.
Please click icon below for captions.
Michael Koziupa, president of the Morris County branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, said Mayo Center patrons were “going to go this concert and think that this is a great man.”
The reality, he said, is that Gergiev “has supported people that have killed thousands of Ukrainians; there are now hundreds of thousands of refugees.
“Millions of people are suffering, have lost their homes, in the winter, they don’t have enough food, and all of this is because of Russia’s support of the terrorists in East Ukraine.”
Inside the Mayo Center, Gergiev received a more enthusiastic reception. After the National Anthem, he led his orchestra into Naughty Limericks, a festive concerto by Rodion Shchedrin. Denis Matsuev soloed on Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The orchestra performed Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in the second half, followed by a spirited encore of Strauss’ Don Juan Overture.
Gergiev dedicated the concert to his “old friend” Alexander Slobodyanik, and acknowledged the pianist’s widow, Laryssa Krupa.
Krupa attended, but kept a low profile — she is Ukrainian, as was her husband.
“Today is the 20th anniversary of the theater and what we accomplished. And that’s it,” she said during the intermission.
The theater says it booked Gergiev last spring, as events were unfolding in Crimea.
In a statement prior to the show, Mayo Center President Allison Larena said “we are fortunate to live in a country that embraces peaceful protests,” and noted that the 1994 concert “reached across political divides to celebrate the power and passion of music.”
POLITICS AND MUSIC?
Audience members expressed a range of opinions about the controversy.
Ann Thurlow of Mendham said that had she known of Gergiev’s statements, “I might not have bought the ticket. I consider Putin a great threat to world peace. But I also believe that one of the most important things is that our cultures can communicate with one another and travel and trade.”
“Politics and music should not mix,” said Linda Smith, who served as the theater’s first executive director.
Her husband, Don Jay Smith, former chairman of the theater, was moved to hear Gergiev conduct the National Anthem again.
“It was very emotional. It brought back the whole experience of sitting in the auditorium for the very first time. That was a nice touch by Gergiev.”
But Ukrainians also have a right to protest the conductor’s “support of the invasion of their country,” Don Jay Smith said.
Claudia Thomas of Hackettstown was scared at first by the protest. “I thought, do I want to be in here?” Her bottom line: “I’m here to see a great performance, that’s why I came, and it has nothing to do with politics tonight.”
“It’s America. They’re free to protest,” said Sam Murphy of Bedminster. Gergiev’s politics did not concern him much. “It would be something different if he were a general. But he’s conducting an orchestra.”
‘HE WAS A CHARACTER’
At least one patron preferred to focus on Alexander Slobodyanik, and his legacy.
Jennifer Aufiero, 28, is a concert pianist thanks in part to three years of study with the virtuoso, who died in 2008.
“He was a character,” a man who taught in an avalanche of Russian words and animated gestures that seemed more Italian, Aufiero said.
Slobodyanik possessed an uncommon gift for coaxing round, lovely sounds from a piano. And he asked questions that continue to inform his pupil’s performances:
“‘Was it musical? Did you convey something? Did it say something?‘” Aufiero recited.
READ MORE:
It feels like home: The Mayo Center sings new song at 20
It is wrong to pretend there is no connection between the arts and politics. Would the same people who let this Russian conductor and his orchestra into the country allow a conductor who openly supports ISIS to perform with the same argument and excuse? I think not. Simple as that. It is a disgrace.
Thank you for the article. However, this is not about the politics between Ukraine and Russia. In the annexation of Crimea, Russia has taken on the role of terrorist, killing thousands of people and leaving thousands more without homes. While there is no political divide when it comes to the enjoyment of the arts and music, there is a moral decision that needs to be made by each and every one of us when it comes to terrorists and those who support them.
Shame on Mayo