Pianist Polina Osetynskaya’s concert was canceled in Perm

In Perm, the concert of pianist Polina Osetynskaya, which was supposed to take place on April 5 in the private philharmonic hall “Triumph”, was canceled. The publication “New Companion” writes about it. Earlier, she repeatedly condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, there were circumstances that the Philharmonic team cannot influence in any way,” the organizers of the event said, noting that they “believed until the very end that they would be able to hold this concert.”

On April 1, the police tried to disrupt Osetynskaya’s performance in Moscow. Before the start of the concert, the police approached Osetynskaya and said that they were prohibiting the event “by order of the Presnensky Police Department”. Nevertheless, the concert began, but during the intermission the police returned and announced the evacuation, allegedly due to reports of landmines. The audience was taken out of the building. they were allowed to return half an hour later, but the police found nothing.

In September 2022, Osetynskaya’s concert was canceled by the Shostakovich St. Petersburg Philharmonic without explanation. In the same month, the pianist did not perform at the “Stars on Baikal” festival in Irkutsk.

On the day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Osetinskaya published a photo with the words “No war” and the caption “Black day of our history. Horror, shame and disgust.” Later, the pianist supported the appeal of Russian NGOs to the president to end the war.

• In July 2022, Fontanka published a list of Russian musicians whose performances the authorities consider undesirable in Russia due to their anti-war stance. Almost everyone from the list faced the cancellation of concerts in Russia, some left the country. In relation to several people, administrative cases have been initiated under the article about the discrediting of the Russian army.