Durban - Ukrainians in Durban plan to hand out pamphlets outside the Playhouse Opera Theatre on Thursday (October 19) before a concert at which pro-Putin pianist Valentina Lisitsa is scheduled to be a guest artist.
“We shall be there from an hour before the start,“ said Katya Fedkina, local representative of the Ukrainian Association of SA. She said the pamphlets would be educational.
Venues in Canada and Italy have shunned Lisitsa for her outspoken support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukrainian invasion.
She played in the ruins of Mariupol on May 9 last year – Russia’s Victory Day – in commemoration of the city having been taken over by Russian forces after that country invaded its neighbour in February.
Dubbed “the Queen of Rachmaninoff”, Lisitsa will perform at the opening of the World Symphony Series Spring Season along with fellow guest artist conductor Justus Frantz, who has also been labelled a Putin sympathiser, according to Wikipedia.
The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra will be joined by the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra for the Thursday performance, which starts at 7pm.
The Independent on Saturday