Russian Accent | Blog of Nadia Sikorsky

The outstanding writer whom Russia, Switzerland and the United States all regard as their own would have been 127 today: Vladimir Nabokov was born in St Petersburg on 22 April (New Style) 1899. On this occasion I would like write about a very interesting book published last year in his native city.

Assessing Richard Strauss’s opera Arabella, recently revived on the stage of the Zurich Opera House in a 2020 production by the Canadian director Robert Carsen, it is important to bear in mind the date of its creation, 1933.

This is how I would propose translating into English the title of Witold Szabłowski’s book Rosja od kuchni, recently published in French by the Lausanne-based publishing house Editions Noir sur Blanc under the title “Ce qui mijote au Kremlin”.

Kunsthaus Zürich presents the first survey exhibition in Switzerland of the contemporary American artist Kerry James Marshall, organised in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris.

What can one expect from a film about real people whose fate we already know? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Over three and a half hours, the viewer follows the protagonists of Rays and Shadows, Xavier Giannoli’s latest film, along the road to hell paved with good intentions, or, more precisely, along the path from the pacifist illusions of the post-war period to active collaboration during the Nazi occupation of France.

A tribute in ballet form to the great Russian dancer, created by Kirill Serebrennikov, Yuri Possokhov and Ilya Demutsky, is currently being performed on the stage of the Berlin State Opera. But it was conceived for the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, where I had the good fortune to see it several years ago. So I can compare my impressions.

For the first time in my journalistic career, I want to tell you about a concert I have no intention of attending. And the reason, of course, has nothing to do with the brilliant composers whose works appear on the programme, nor even with the performers. The problem is the “packaging”, which deeply shocked me.

I offer reflections on a documentary film by a former school videographer from a provincial Russian town, "Mr Nobody Against Putin", which has sparked heated debate in professional circles and on social media.