New cultural 'Cold War' reaches the Cotswolds
AN internationally-renowned string quartet has been unable to take part in the Chipping Campden Music Festival this year because of apparent problems with the British Embassy in Moscow.
The Borodin Quartet – founded in Russia in 1945 and one of the most famous string quartets in the world – was due to perform at the festival on Tuesday 10th May. But the musicians were unable to get clearance to visit the UK in time to make that date.
The quartet’s problems have raised questions about whether current tensions between London and Moscow are affecting cultural ties between the two countries – even to the extent of spilling over into the leafy Cotswolds.
In a statement announcing the cancellation of the Borodin Quartet concert Charlie Bennett, the music festival’s artistic director, said it was “outrageous” that the musicians had been unable to come to this country for the date that had been arranged.
Mr Bennett said: “We are saddened to have to announce that the Borodin quartet’s festival appearance has, through no fault of ours, or theirs, had to be cancelled. The members of the quartet are devastated about this.
“The reason is entirely down to the British Embassy in Moscow.”
He added: “The quartet applied in plenty of time for a new long term UK visa (Tier 5) with the Wigmore Hall acting as their sponsor, but unbelievably they were denied entry clearance.
“Incidentally the application cost them £2000. They then applied (still in plenty of time) for a Permitted Paid Engagement [PPE] visa for the Wigmore Hall in April and Chipping Campden Music Festival in May.
“Normally this visa type lasts 30 days but when they went to the British Embassy in Moscow to collect their passports the PPE visa stated ‘Number of entries: 1’ instead of the usual ‘multiple entries’.
“They have never before seen a single entry PPE visa. They were told that they would need to make another application for the UK visit in May. There was no time to do it then as they were about to leave on a tour.
“They were touring most of April and didn’t get back to Moscow until May 1st (all applications have to be made in person) so the chance of getting another visa in time was nil as there is a minimum 10 day waiting time and added to this there are 3 public holidays in Russia in May.
“Without wishing to be cynical, it would appear there is some policy in place to make life difficult for the Russians, which is outrageous in these sort of circumstances.
“We, the quartet, and their UK agent, have tried everything we could think of to get the visas in time but we met with a ‘brick wall’.”
Mr Bennett said that after a lot of searching, emailing, and various international phone calls, he had managed to secure “the superb Endellion Quartet” to stand in at very short notice for the requisite date.
The Endellion Quartet was founded in 1979 and still contains three of its original members. All of the Borodin Quartet’s members are replacements of those who founded the group 71 years ago.
One of the most famous examples of a classical musician being unable to leave Moscow to perform in the UK was at the height of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West in 1962, when the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya was refused permission to come to Britain for the world premiere of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in Coventry to mark the opening of the new cathedral in the city.
