An Italian orchestra that has traditionally accompanied the participants of the acclaimed Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition has announced that it will skip the event this year. The FVG Orchestra explained its move by pointing to the organizers’ decision to ban three Russian violinists from taking part in the contest.
The orchestra’s president, Paolo Petiziol, said the musicians were “very sorry to interrupt the tradition,” but maintained that they could not help but “react in a cohesive and determined way” to what they called a “completely unfair” decision.
Culture is one of the few weapons we have to heal wounds, to bring people and peoples closer together, creating cohesion instead of divisions and resentment. This exclusion… goes in a completely opposite direction.
Petiziol also slammed the decision of the Lipizer competition’s organizers as “inexplicable” when he talked to Sputnik. Discriminating against someone on the basis of their place of birth is nothing but “madness” that would throw humanity back into the Middle Ages, he added.
The head of the competition, Lorenzo Qualley, informed at least one of the three banned Russian violinists, Lidiya Kocharyan, that the decision to ban her from participating was linked to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Sputnik reported.