WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st November, 2022) The outrageous cancel culture war waged against Russia limits the ability of people to communicate in a domain of common interests, LaRouche independent candidate for the US Senate, Diane Sare, told Sputnik.
"I think it's a complete outrage," Sare, who is a trained classical musician and choral conductor, said. "The role of the artists is not a political role. It's not a partisan role. The role of the artist is to ennoble mankind."
Canceling great artists or great writers, whether it's Tchaikovsky, the Bolshoi Ballet, Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky, she added, is "very ugly" because culture is universal among human beings.
"So, trying to stop this, to nullify it, you really are limiting the ability for human beings to communicate with each other in the domain where we have common interests and a common identity," she added.
Sare went on to say that 2024 will mark the 200th anniversary of of the Missa Solemnis of Beethoven, which was premiered in St. Petersburg.
"It was written for that chorus because the chorus in St. Petersburg in 1824 probably was the best chorus in the world," she said. "Beethoven is slandered all the time, because the vocal parts in this piece are so difficult. Everyone said he was crazy. He didn't understand the singing voice. No, he was writing it for the best chorus in the world. Now, I think this is incredible. We just had the 250 year anniversary of Beethoven, which we didn't celebrate properly because of the pandemic. But what an extraordinary thing. Shouldn't we be collaborating to celebrate the 200 year anniversary of this masterpiece, and the legacy of the history of the choral tradition in St. Petersburg, and probably we're not even allowed to talk about it?"
Sare said it is impossible to erase somebody's culture.
"The media, the news media are really making a terrible mistake. They think that they control the narrative because they control the airwaves," she said.
Since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, performances of many representatives of Russian arts and culture, ballet troupes, and musicians have been canceled, while works of Russian composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Sergei Rachmaninoff have been removed from posters.
Sare, who is competing for the New York seat currently occupied by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in the November 8 midterm elections, was the founder and co-director of the Schiller Institute New York City Chorus.
