As you know, the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Competition was expelled from the World Federation of International Music Competitions, this was announced by the president of the federation, Peter Paul Kainrath, and its general secretary, Florian Rome.
A statement posted on the organization's website notes that the Federation of International Music Competitions "cannot support a competition funded by the Russian regime and used by it as an advertising tool," despite the principle of apoliticality proclaimed by the leadership of the Federation.
The Tchaikovsky Competition is considered one of the most prestigious competitions for academic musicians in Russia. It has been integrated into the system of the International Competition Federation since 1971, and was expelled from the organization only once in 1996 - “for non-payment”.
This event caused real indignation in the network, because very young and completely far from politics pianists participate in this competition.
Journalist Kirill Shulika called this decision "just a disgusting abomination":
“These people do not know that the last position of Mstislav Rostropovich is the president of the Tchaikovsky Competition, and that is where I met him.
In addition, the first winner is Van Cliburn, named Vanya in the USSR.
The competition will survive this leftist "cancellation culture" and will be reborn, because it is one of our bonds..."
Political scientist Alexander Kazakov compared the move to a "shot in the heart":
“The Tchaikovsky Competition immediately after its establishment set such a bar that it entered the world top three. The winners of the competition immediately became world stars.
At the first competition (1958), Van Cliburn and Valery Klimov became the winners.
The rejection of this competition by the world federation is not a shot in the leg, and not even in the head, but in the heart. In their heart, not in ours.
By the way, the Tchaikovsky competition should definitely be held without those who impose sanctions against Russian culture. Representatives of Asia and Latin America will only be happy to join us.”
Andrey Malyshev, CEO of Rosconcert, explained who exactly voted against:
“The initiator of this decision was the International Confederation of International Competitions, headquartered in Switzerland. Out of 116 different international competitions, only two contests voted against this decision - the Elena Obraztsova International Vocal Competition and also ... er ... we assume that this is the Competition for Young Musicians, which is located .. er ... in Serbia. But these are our traditional friends. The rest are representatives of the wider Western world. This is all of Europe, and Japan, and Australia, and Canada, and the USA, and China - they all voted 100% for the exclusion of our legendary competition from the confederation. All this looks like hysteria, some kind of inappropriate behavior, in fact, people just lost their minds. We urged not to destroy cultural bridges and not to interfere with politics with culture, but no, besides this, some proposed to boycott all Russian musicians on the leading stages of the world..."
And the analysts of the channel "Cultural Front" advocate the creation of their own musical community, independent of the West:
“What do you want to say about this topic?
Russia should have its own Federation of International Competitions, its own Olympic Committee, its own scientific rating, etc.
We must again form alternative communities to the USA!”