In March, the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra in Wales canceled a performance of Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, saying it felt “inappropriate.” The orchestra’s decision is one of several worldwide actions against musicians and artists with Russian cultural connections.

“We don’t stop playing Beethoven because of Hitler,” said Gary Saul Morson, a Northwestern Russian literature professor who opposed the ban.

Globally, several Russian artists have faced exclusion for their ties to Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade Ukraine in February. The invasion resulted in the displacement of six million Ukrainian refugees and over 3,000 Ukrainian civilian deaths.

Now, some Northwestern professors and students worry that bans against Russian artists and culture are going too far.

Weinberg fourth-year Sydney Matrisciano, the president of NU Russian Club, opposed a recent ban on Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko. Netrebko has historically endorsed Putin, according to NPR. The Metropolitan Opera in New York City announced in March that it would be canceling the soprano’s performances.

Matrisciano said she sympathized with the difficult choice the Met made, but ultimately thought it was the wrong decision.

“I think there are other ways to condemn Russia and condemn the violence against Ukraine without pulling an individual artist,” Matrisciano said. “One positive way to show support for Ukraine and not be punishing Russian individuals would be to donate a portion of the ticket sales from those Met events, from [Netrebko’s] event, towards supporting the effort in Ukraine.”

Netrebko denounced the war in Ukraine, but the Met moved forward with the ban due to her past connections to the Russian leader.

“It is a great artistic loss for the Met and for opera,” the Met general manager Peter Gelb told The New York Times in a statement. “Anna is one of the greatest singers in Met history, but with Putin killing innocent victims in Ukraine, there was no way forward.”

Morson said similar logic could be used to ban American culture.

“Think of all the bad things America has done,” Morson said. “Should we stop reading Moby Dick and stop buying Apple computers? We don’t do that to ourselves, so why should we do that to anybody else?”

These bans may also put Russians abroad at risk, Matrisciano said.

“It’s easy for us, from our place of privilege in the West, to be like, ‘You must declare the proper politically correct opinion’ without regard for [the artists’] safety,” Matrisciano said.

Ilya Kutik, a Ukrainian-Russian NU professor and renowned poet, said it’s important to separate Russian citizens and culture from the actions of the government. He encourages his students to explore those distinctions before they dive into their Russian literature discussions.

“I asked [students] to see the difference between Russian culture we are reading and Putin’s dictatorship that takes place now in Russia,” Kutik said.

Mattingly Gerasimovich, a Ph.D student in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, understands the impulse to restrict Russian culture. Canceling displays of Russian art could be a symbolic gesture of support for Ukraine, said Gerasimovich, who is of Russian descent.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with playing Tchaikovsky,” Gerasimovich said. “But you have to be aware of the situation and the message that it sends.”

Morson thinks banning Russian culture to punish Putin is understandable but not the best course of action.

“Understandable doesn’t mean right,” he said.

Thumbnail image “Anna Netrebko DRs Koncerthus” by Simon Wedege Petersen is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.