Bolshoi Theatre principal conductor Sokhiev resigns
MOSCOW. March 6 (Interfax) - Principal conductor and musical director of the Bolshoi Theatre Tugan Sokhiev has made a decision to step down from his post, the theater told Interfax.
"Tugan Sokhiev has tendered his resignation," the Bolshoi Theatre said.
Sokhiev, for his part, released a statement announcing that he is also stepping down as the musical director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.
"After facing an impossible choice between my favorite Russian and my favorite French musicians, I have decided to step down as the principal conductor and musical director of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and I am resigning as the musical director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse," Sokhiev said in his statement published by the website ClassicalMusicNews.Ru.
He noted in his statement that due to the current geopolitical events, "in Europe today I am forced to make a choice and to prefer one member of my musical family to another. I am forced to choose between two cultural traditions." Sokhiev also said that the Toulouse authorities are obstructing the holding of the Russian-French festival in the city.
Speaking of his work at the Bolshoi Theatre and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Sokhiev said, "It has been and always will be an honor for me to know, work together and play music with the artists and musicians of these two amazing ensembles. I am proud of them."
Sokhiev was appointed principal conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre in 2014.
He graduated from the conductors' department of the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory in 2001. His first performance as an opera conductor took place in Iceland.
Since 2005, he has been principal guest conductor of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and since 2008, he has been musical director of the orchestra.
From 2012 to 2016, he was principal conductor of the German Symphony Orchestra (Berlin).
Under the baton of Sokhiev, the Bolshoi Theatre has staged the premieres of Bizet's Carmen (2015), Shostakovich's Katerina Izmailova, Berlioz' Condemnation of Faust (2016), Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden (2017), Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Rossini's Voyage to Reims (2018), Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tale of Tsar Saltan (2019), and Strauss's Salome (2021). The concert performances included Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans (2014), Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov (2017, 2019), Bernstein's Candide (2018), and Tchaikovsky's Mazepa (2020). He has toured with the Bolshoi Theatre on several occasions to France, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, and China.