The Russian National Orchestra was left without Mikhail Pletnev

With the famous conductor did not extend the employment contract

The Russian National Orchestra parted ways with its artistic director Mikhail Pletnev without renewing his employment contract. What caused the breakup, who instead of him will now lead the famous Russian orchestra and stand at the conductor’s stand – the MK columnist understood these and other issues.

Only for the uninitiated, such a decision by the leadership of the RNO is a bolt from the blue: Pletnev, in fact, is removed from the orchestra that he created. The father was left without his child, and the child without a father. But for both musicians and professionals, this is a completely expected event, chronic pain that can be resolved, as doctors say, in an operative way. That is, as one of the characters in the film “Pokrovsky Gates” assured: “Cut to hell without waiting for peritonitis.” So they cut it – they did not renew the contract.

The official and formal version of parting with the famous musician is as follows: Mikhail Vasilyevich has actually been absent from the country for a year and a half. Yes, since January 2021 he has been living in Switzerland and is a citizen of Switzerland. In the official message of the leadership of the RNO, it says: “Since the end of 2020, there has been practically no creative contact between the orchestra and its artistic director.” And due to his absence, more and more guest conductors naturally work with the orchestra. Under such conditions, it is impossible to build a long-term strategy for the development of a creative team. It was against such a creative and organizational background (I emphasize – not political) that a de jure break in relations with Mikhail Vasilyevich took place.

But everything is not as simple as it follows from the official version. Yes, the absence of a leader is obvious, but the position of artistic director, who forms programs, determines the policy of the orchestra, fully allows solving creative issues remotely. After all, the pandemic has contributed to this.

There is another important, if not the key point in this story, which served as the beginning of a big quarrel between the founder of the orchestra, Pletnev, and the founder, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation: this is the appointment of a new director of the collective, which was not agreed with him. Svetlana Rips, director of RNO for many years, was replaced by crisis manager Irina Shigoreva, by the way, a professional musician. But this appointment was not agreed with the Maestro, and was not even informed. .

According to Svetlana Rips, “Mikhail Vasilyevich left the country long before the special operation. After my departure, he waited for a call from the Ministry to follow, that they would agree with him or at least discuss the candidacy of a new director, but nothing of this followed. For him, this is, of course, a loss.

– In connection with the sanctions against Russia, including Russian culture, the Maestro, who has always been in demand in the world, has not lost his invitations?

– We had only one refusal – in Malta, when they changed the entire program there, removing Russian music. And so he continues to perform as a soloist. And in November he will conduct the orchestra of Paris. In the West, Pletnev as a conductor has always been associated with the RNO, but now he will conduct other orchestras, and, of course, perform as a pianist.

I call the current director Irina Shigoreva. She assures that Mikhail Vasilievich is her idol, and as a pianist, he is an example to follow. However, when I asked if she, being the new director of the famous orchestra (and the name of Pletnev glorified him first of all), did not try to restore the lost contact with her idol in order to solve purely organizational issues and not lose such a musician, Irina Sergeevna for some reason answered: “Sorry, this is my personal space.” The answer seemed strange to me for a person who is guided by the interests of the cause.

Who will now become the artistic director of the RNO and stand behind the podium of one of the country’s leading symphony orchestras? After all, a first-class conductor of the level of Pletnev cannot be found during the day with fire, and this is not only a Russian problem. The leadership of the Russian National Orchestra hopes that this issue can be resolved before the new year.