The orchestra’s music director Łukasz Borowicz told Poland's PAP news agency that the Poznań Philharmonic had performed Russian works enthusiastically in previous years.
“I myself conducted a lot of this music: Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov,” he said.
“We miss that repertoire, but we want to keep our word," he added.
Łukasz Borowicz. Photo: Krzysztof Świeżak/Polish Radio
He said he was surprised by arts institutions that announced a pause on such repertoire after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, then quietly returned to it.
“It is obvious and beyond dispute that great Russian and Soviet creators, such as Shostakovich or Prokofiev, have nothing to do with the criminal regime that started this war,” he said.
“When the war broke out, most Polish institutions decided to wait with this repertoire until peace prevails.”
He explained the decision as a matter of sensitivity to musicians and audiences during wartime.
He pointed to Ukrainian members of the orchestra, and to recent reports of drones entering Polish airspace, as part of the wider context.
“Imagine an evening on the same day, with Russian folk melodies in Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony,” he said.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP