The conflict’s effect on culture

ACCLAIMED conductor Valery Gergiev has been dropped as honorary president of the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) after his refusal to condemn the Ukrainian invasion. The EIF joins a growing list of Arts organisations—including the Munich Philharmonic and the Verbier Festival—who have severed ties with the Russian maestro (Athena, page 46).

Although the V&A’S ‘Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution’ exhibition looks set to stay open until its planned run ends on May 8, the Royal Opera House has cancelled the Bolshoi Ballet’s upcoming visit and the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s recent ‘From Russia with love’ concert was quietly renamed. Crucially, the repertoire—prokofiev’s second violin concerto and Rachmaninov’s second symphony—remained as programmed, perhaps taking a cue from Dame Myra Hess, who famously played Austro-german composers at her National Gallery recitals in the Blitz.

As British cultural institutions carefully extract themselves from any defenders of Putin’s regime, some musicians are openly protesting against the war. Russian-british pianist Petr Limonov recently conducted a 200strong ensemble—starring violinist Jennifer Pike and Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of Sergei, on the French horn—in a performance in London’s Trafalgar Square. In a more organised display of solidarity, Glyndebourne artists are giving a special one-off concert at the East Sussex estate on April 3 to raise funds for the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Tickets are £50 and can be purchased online (www. glyndebourne.com). Claire Jackson

Insinuendo (noun) An insinuated or thinly veiled comment

‘Hockney’s Eye’ opened at The Fitzwilliam Museum and The Heong Gallery, University of Cambridge yesterday—the first exhibition to embed David Hockney’s artworks amid the historical paintings that inspired him, with many works seen for the first time (until August 29). Pictured here is his After Hobbema (Useful Knowledge) (2017; top), which hangs alongside Meindert Hobbema’s The Avenue at Middelharnis (1689; fragment, left)

Some 200 musicians play in Trafalgar Square for peace in Ukraine