Vienna Opera Ball 2015 Shows No Political Bias To Sopranos

Dominique Meyer, Director of the Vienna State
Opera, flanked by Olga Bezsmertna (left)
 and Aida Garifullina (right)

Two sopranos from political hotbed countries performed for the 2015 Wiener Opernball: Ukranian Olga Bezsmertna (singing "Dove sono" from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro) and Russian Aida Garifullina (singing "Je veux vivre" from Gounod's Romeo et Juliette). "The Crimean crisis was an international crisis in 2014 that instigated the ongoing dispute involving Russia and Ukraine over the control of the Crimean Peninsula, culminating in its annexation by the Russian Federation and incorporation as two separate federal subjects. The crisis was part of the wider 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine which also includes the Donbass region of Ukraine. The current international status of Crimea and Sevastopol as federal subjects of the Russian Federation is only explicitly recognized by five UN member states, other than Russia. All other countries recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine....On 17 April 2014 Russian president Vladimir Putin confirmed Russian involvement in Crimea, remarking that 'of course, Russian servicemen backed the Crimean self-defense forces.' In an interview on 22 January 2015 Igor Girkin, one of the major 'Russian self-defence' commanders in Crimea at that time, explained that the 'overwhelming national support for

Aida Garifullina singing Juliette's Waltz

the self-defence' as portrayed by the Russian media was fiction, and they actually had to 'forcibly drive the deputies to vote [to join Russia].' Majority of the law enforcement, administration and army did not support the 'self-defence' (one notable exception being Berkut) and only the presence of regular Russian army in Crimea 'made the whole thing work.'" [Source] Politically-neutral Spanish baritone Carlos Álvarez also sang, "Fin ch'han dal vino" from Mozart's Don Giovanni, at the Opera Ball. See more photos of the performances, as well as other opera attendees including Angelika Kirschlager, Isabel Leonard and Naomi Campbell, after the jump.

Carlos Álvarez Returns to Opera After 22-Month Absence

(Photo: G. Barnuevo)

"Fiel a su discreción habitual, evita ser tajante sobre su futuro. Dos recaídas y tres intervenciones para superar su afección en las cuerdas vocales le obligan a ser prudente. Pero el «optimismo antropológico» no le abandona... y deja caer algunas pistas: «Si todo va bien, el genio de Salzburgo me dará de nuevo la alternativa en el rol del disoluto castigado en pleno otoño musical de una ciudad helvética». Traducción: el barítono Carlos Álvarez regresa a la ópera de la mano de Mozart en el papel protagonista de Don Giovanni. Será el 6 de noviembre en Zurich. Habrán transcurrido entonces casi dos años -22 meses- desde la última vez que el malagueño se subió al escenario para interpretar teatro lírico. «Y a partir de ahí, a seguir», apostilla. No es la primera ocasión en que se escuchará su voz en público tras el último revés en su salud. Ya actuó el 2 de mayo en Bilbao y, una semana después, en Albacete, pero en aquellas ocasiones ofreció conciertos con un repertorio de una vocalidad menos intensa. Era la prueba de fuego, el examen para demostrarse a sí mismo que podía cantar y que, con el tiempo, podría asumir óperas, el género con el que ha pisado las tablas de los más prestigiosos escenarios del mundo durante dos décadas." [Source]