MOSCOW - When famed viola player Yuri Bashmet declared that he "adored" President Vladimir Putin, he stirred little controversy in a country where classical musicians have often curried favour with the political elite.
But political drama spilt into the orchestra pit last month when Bashmet refused to condemn a new law prohibiting Americans from adopting Russian children, and in response the beloved singer Sergei Nikitin cancelled his appearance at a concert celebrating the violist's 60th birthday.
The spat joins a long Russian tradition of artists who have jumped - or been dragged - into the political fray.
From composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who lived in fear of arrest under Josef Stalin, to the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who returned to the Soviet Union in 1991 and took up arms to defy communist hardliners, Russian musicians and other artists have had a habit of becoming politicised figures.
At the core of the argument today is a question about what an artist's role should be in Putin's Russia: Attracting generous state funding for bigger and better artistic projects? Or challenging the political system in a way most ordinary citizens cannot afford to do?
Some of Russia's cultural figures brought their star power to the anti-Putin rallies last winter. As the expression goes: "A poet in Russia is always more than a poet."
Musos in spat over children
MOSCOW - When famed viola player Yuri Bashmet declared that he "adored" President Vladimir Putin, he stirred little controversy in a country where classical musicians have often curried favour with the political elite.
But political drama spilt into the orchestra pit last month when Bashmet refused to condemn a new law prohibiting Americans from adopting Russian children, and in response the beloved singer Sergei Nikitin cancelled his appearance at a concert celebrating the violist's 60th birthday.
The spat joins a long Russian tradition of artists who have jumped - or been dragged - into the political fray.
From composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who lived in fear of arrest under Josef Stalin, to the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who returned to the Soviet Union in 1991 and took up arms to defy communist hardliners, Russian musicians and other artists have had a habit of becoming politicised figures.
At the core of the argument today is a question about what an artist's role should be in Putin's Russia: Attracting generous state funding for bigger and better artistic projects? Or challenging the political system in a way most ordinary citizens cannot afford to do?
Some of Russia's cultural figures brought their star power to the anti-Putin rallies last winter. As the expression goes: "A poet in Russia is always more than a poet."
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