Audiences talked about checking papers with recordings at Gergiev’s concerts in China

During a concert by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev in China, unusual security measures were taken: the staff checked “the notebooks and paper of the public, in particular those on which there are notes or notes can be taken”, transmits CN.
A Chinese participant, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that in the past, at such events, the public was searched for food and drink, as well as potentially dangerous items like lighters, but there was never any control of notebooks and files. “I don’t remember them paying as much attention to the notebooks as this time,” the source shared.
Others at the concert said security personnel went through the notebooks, books and notepads they had with them “page by page”.
Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra perform at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing for three consecutive days – March 27, 28 and 29 writing Chinese newspaper Global Times. On the evening of March 27, at a press conference before the start of the concerts, the conductor said that for him to come to China for a performance, “it’s like coming home.”
The first evening was devoted to “Russian heritage” – the work of Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, the program of the second included works by Debussy, fragments of Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev, Tableaux d’une exhibition of Mussorgsky and the fifth symphony of Shostakovich, informed press service of the Mariinsky Theatre. The third concerto consists of an overture from Guillaume Tell by Rossini and two symphonies, the Italian by Mendelssohn and the Romantic by Bruckner.
For China, a series of concerts by the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Gergiev is also an important event: it is the first performance of foreign artists after the country started to receive foreign artists again in March 2023. Global Times noted that the public welcomed the musicians “warmly”, and the media described the concerts in an “enthusiastic tone”.
All concert tickets have been sold out said the author of the Chinese Threat telegram channel, who himself tried to acquire them. In a comment to his post, one of the users said that he managed to get a ticket from dealers – for 680 yuan (7.6 thousand rubles) at the official price of 580 yuan (about 6.5 thousand rubles ). Gergiev himself said that 8,000 tickets were sold in 20 minutes.
After the start of the Russian operation in Ukraine, the foreign career of Gergiev, like many personalities of domestic culture and art, encountered problems. Foreign media refer to his “close ties” with Russian President Vladimir Putin. CNN recalls how, in 2014, US public broadcaster NPR claimed that the history of Gergiev’s friendship with Putin “goes back decades”.
In March 2022, Gergiev was dismissed as conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said he asked Gergiev to distance himself “clearly and unequivocally” from Russia’s actions in Ukraine, but he did not. Soon Carnegie Hall in New York announced the cancellation of the performances of the conductor. In addition, Gergiev was forced to leave the theater and concert hall Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, which ranks second in Europe in terms of size and for many years has worked closely with the Mariinsky Theater and personally with the conductor of ‘orchestra.
CNN notes that the Mariinsky concerts in Beijing took place shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia, and that China throughout the Ukraine conflict has refused to condemn Moscow’s actions and is strengthening economic cooperation with it. , increasing the volume of fuel purchases.
The American broadcaster cites the example of the Global Times, which in its reports on the concerts highlighted the close partnership between Russia and China, called Gergiev by his Chinese nickname “brother-in-law” and defended the leader conductor, claiming that Russian music and art had become “a target of the West”.