The chief conductor and leading soloist of the ballet troupe left the Bolshoi Theater

The Italian Jacopo Tissi said on Instagram that he "will always be against any kind of violence". “I am overwhelmed by the situation we have to put up with day in and day out, and frankly, I am unable to continue my career in Moscow at this time”, - the 27-year-old artist wrote. “I have sympathy for all the people and their families who are suffering.” Italian Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini called Tissi's act "a bold and noble choice", - Reuters reported.

On the same day, the leading soloist, 24-year-old Brazilian David Motta Soares, announced a similar decision. The artist wrote that he was "deeply saddened" by the need to leave the theater, which he "called his home for many years".

Tugan Sokhiev, chief conductor and musical director of the Bolshoi Theater, announced his resignation on Sunday. At the same time, he resigned as conductor of the National Orchestra of the Capitole of Toulouse. “I am being forced to choose between two cultural traditions. I am forced to prefer one artist to another. I am forced to choose one singer over another. Soon I will be asked to choose between Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy. This is already happening in Poland, a European country where Russian music is banned,” Sokhiev wrote in an open letter to ClassicalMusicNews. – Due to all of the above, having to face an impossible choice between my favorite Russians and my favorite French musicians, I have decided to step down as Musical Director and Principal Conductor of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and step down as Musical Director of the Capitol National Orchestra Toulouse. We musicians are ambassadors for peace. Instead of using us and our music to unite nations and people, we are divided and ostracized”.