Ann Arbor residents to protest Mariinsky Orchestra conductor Valery Gergiev

Mariinsky Orchestra conductor and artistic director Valery Gergiev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the subject of a protest happening outside Hill Auditorium on Saturday. (Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP)

A tense conflict that’s escalating in a faraway region of the world will resonate in Ann Arbor this weekend when a group of Ukrainians (and other activists) stage a protest outside Hill Auditorium before the Mariinsky Orchestra’s Saturday night performance.

The orchestra is not the focus of the protest, though; instead, the group is protesting Mariinsky conductor Valery Gergiev, and more specifically, the Ford Honors Distinguished Artist Award that Gergiev is scheduled to receive on Sunday from the University Musical Society.

Gergiev is known to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gergiev not onlyvoiced his support for Putin after the leader passed anti-gay legislation, he also recently offered a quote to The New York Times Magazine regarding Russia’s annexation of Crimea: “There was so much Russian blood spilled in Crimea over the last 200 years, so much. I think Russians know the history of Crimea and the history of czarist Russia and the history of the Soviet Union. It is not up to me to give a lecture, but Crimea is a very complex issue, which cannot be described in one word 'annexation.'”

Gergiev drew protests this month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, too, during a two-week residency.

In Ann Arbor, Eugene Bodarenko – who works as a lecturer of Russian and Ukrainian at the University of Michigan – will be one of the protest’s participants on Saturday.

“We (the protesters) believe Mr. Gergiev is not an appropriate candidate to receive an award from UMS for three reasons: first, he’s voiced his support for Putin’s aggressive policy toward neighboring countries like Georgia and Ukraine; second, he’s hostile to the LGBT community; and third, he’s known to make anti-American statements in Russia, but then he still comes here when he thinks he can make some money,” said Bodarenko.

UMS President Ken Fischer responded with this statement: “The UMS presentation of these concerts and award recognize the artistic contributions that the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev have made to the cultural life of our community over the past 23 years. The presentation is not a political statement. We hope that our presentation of this orchestra will encourage discussion about the political issues unfolding in Russia and the challenges that artists must sometimes face when working within a difficult political climate. We are proud to live in a community that is educated, active, and ready to engage in meaningful and respectful dialogue on important issues.”

Bodarenko noted that he and his fellow protesters have received polite responses from UMS, offering to try to organize a “meet and greet” with Gergiev.

“We don’t feel that we could change Gergiev’s mind,” said Bodarenko. “He’s set in his ways. We’re more concerned with UMS implicitly condoning his views by giving him an award.”

Even so, Bodarenko made it clear that protesters will not disrupt Saturday night’s performance in any way, nor will protesters harass patrons heading to the concert. The demonstration will remain outside Hill Auditorium.

“We just want to make our opinions known in a civil and legal way,” said Bodarenko, who noted that he expects a few dozen protesters, composed of many people of Ukrainian descent, LGBT activists, and those sympathetic to those causes.

Meanwhile, the conflict in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, and further east in the Luhansk region, has grown more intense, as Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian soldiers do battle. An airport outside Donetsk – built in advance of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, and viewed by many as an emblem of “Ukrainian fighting spirit” – has been demolished, and according to the BBC, separatists have gained control of the main terminal.

Inevitably, the intersection of art and politics is often fraught, so the question of being able to separate the artist from the art arises.

“But that’s a two-way street,” said Bodarenko. “ … When an artist regularly makes political statements, … that crosses a line and opens him up to criticism.”