He is a Russian artist: Spivakov was suspended from a music festival in France

Soviet and Russian violinist, conductor, teacher, People's Artist of the USSR Vladimir Spivakov has been stripped of the title of art director of the International Music Festival in Colmar (France). In the official response of the festival organizers, nationality was indicated as the reason for the suspension.

"I found out that I was stripped of the title of art director of this festival by accident, from the press," the musician told TASS.

The lawyer who handled this case asked for an official response from the organizers with the reason why Spivakov was stripped of his title, since the artist did not receive any notification of suspension.

"The answer was something like this: on a national basis, Vladimir Spivakov is a Russian artist," he said.

Spivakov stressed that he had been leading the festival in Colmar for the past 32 years.

"And this is in France, where once these three famous words sounded: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (freedom, equality, fraternity - with French)," the maestro wonders.

At the same time, Spivakov added that he had invited world-class musicians to this festival, in particular the American singer Jesse Norman and the Russian cellist, conductor Mstislav Rostropovich.

As EADaily reported, on May 1 of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Spivakov the honorary title of Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation. It was noted that the title was awarded "for special labor services to the state and the people."

On September 12, 2024, the maestro celebrated his 80th birthday.