Making art under the threat of a dictator, confronts the artist with many practical and moral dilemma’s. Is it even possible to work as an artist under autocratic rule? Can culture be seperated from social and political developements? In this programme we discuss this topic by focusing on the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich who created his music under Stalin’s dictatorship. With Maxim Osipov, the Eliot Quartet, musicologist Saskia Törnqvist and Shostakovich’ expert Lev Akopian, working in Moscow and an outspoken critic of Putin’s regime.
Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, lived during the Sovjet-era and the Second World War. Although he was initially celebrated by the Soviet government as a symbol of Soviet culture, he fell out- and back into of favor multiple times and faced intense pressure and censorship from the Soviet authorities. 1936 marked the beginning of the Great Terror, in which many of Shostakovich’s friends and relatives were imprisoned or killed.
His life and work demonstrate the complex and fraught relationship between artists and political authority in a totalitarian society. Lev Akopian will guide us through his work, the Eliot Quartet will engage in his lecture by playing examples and the evening will end with a concert.
DeBalie.nl
14 окт 2024
