Now playing in China: Putin-aligned artists shunned in the West

SHANGHAI - Since the start of the war in Ukraine, star Russian maestro Valery Gergiev has been

persona non grata in the United States and Europe

, fired by many cultural institutions because of his long record of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, his friend and benefactor.

But this week, on the heels of a

summit between Mr Putin and China’s leader, Mr Xi Jinping, in Moscow,

Mr Gergiev received a hero’s welcome in Beijing, where he appeared with the Mariinsky Orchestra for the ensemble’s first foreign tour since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Chinese fans showered Mr Gergiev with cards and bouquets, calling him by his nickname in China, “brother-in-law”, a play on the Chinese version of his surname.

Audiences cheered his Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, as well as a surprise rendition of a Chinese communist classic, Ode To The Red Flag. The state-run news media hailed the visit as the beginning of a new era of Russia-China cultural ties.

During the tour, Mr Gergiev rebuked his Western critics and vowed to redouble his efforts to promote Russian culture around the world.

“It is not Russian music that is facing challenges,” he said at a news conference at China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. “It is the people who think they can stop Russian music.”

The Ukraine war has badly damaged Russia’s cultural engine, which once sent ballet dancers from the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky to the world’s leading stages and showcased Russian soloists, opera singers and conductors such as Mr Gergiev at leading concert halls and theatres in the United States and Europe.

Now, with artists who are seen as too close to Mr Putin being shunned in the West, Russia is working to shore up its image and rebuild its soft power elsewhere, strengthening cultural alliances with friendly nations and neighbours, including China, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Serbia, with mixed results.

The Bolshoi Ballet, the storied company whose name is synonymous with ballet, is considering two tours of China this year.

The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, an art institution, is working to open a sister branch in Serbia, after losing partnerships in the West because of the invasion.

A St Petersburg ballet company recently showcased two works by Russian choreographer Boris Eifman – Anna Karenina and The Pygmalion Effect – in Kazakhstan. Star Russian musicians who were once regulars in New York and Berlin, including pianist Denis Matsuev, who was seen as close to Mr Putin, are booking engagements instead in Dubai, Istanbul and Belgrade, among other cities.

China, with its legions of concertgoers and scepticism of Western ideals, has emerged as an attractive market for Russian artists aligned with Mr Putin.

While the two countries have long had cultural ties – Mr Gergiev has been visiting the country for decades – the timing of his visit, coming a week after the meeting between Mr Putin and Mr Xi, suggested Russia and China were eager for a fresh display of camaraderie as they work to counter American dominance.

“Russia is looking for cultural exchanges wherever it can get them, just as it is looking for allies in technology, energy and the military,” said Mr Simon Morrison, a specialist in Russian music at Princeton University. “Putin is desperate to show that Russia still has friends.”

Russia’s attempts to use culture to soften its image abroad face significant challenges, even in friendly countries, experts say, because of its continuing attacks on Ukraine.

Classical music, dance, theatre and visual art were “some of the last bridges between Russia and the West”, said Ms Vera Ageeva, an international relations scholar at Sciences Po in France. But the disappearance of these cultural exports presents a “huge, incalculable loss for Russia and its soft power”, she said, which cannot be offset simply by expanding cultural ties with allies.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, cultural institutions in the United States and Europe rushed to cut ties with Russian artists and institutions aligned with Mr Putin, upending decades of cultural exchange that had endured even during the depths of the Cold War.

The Bolshoi and Mariinsky faced cancellations in London, Madrid, New York and elsewhere; a popular programme to broadcast Bolshoi performances in more than 1,700 cinemas in 70 countries and territories was suspended. And several Russian stars with ties to Mr Putin lost work in the West, including soprano Anna Netrebko, Mr Matsuev and Mr Gergiev, who was fired as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic.

While Mr Putin has repeatedly portrayed Russia as a victim of a Western campaign to erase Russian culture and cancel great composers such as Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, Russian works continue to be played throughout the United States and Europe.

Mr Gergiev, once one of the world’s busiest international conductors, has hunkered down in St Petersburg, leading a packed schedule of performances at the Mariinsky, including classics such as Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar. He is the general and artistic director of the Mariinsky, which has been his base for decades and has expanded with funding and support from Mr Putin.

“I don’t find that my life has taken a turn for the worse,” he said in a recent interview with a Russian news outlet. “I find myself ready to be at home as much as possible.”

Mr Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre did not respond to requests for comment from The New York Times.

The Bolshoi, in a statement to the Times, said overseas tours were necessary to maintain its image and reputation.

“The fact that the Western world has been forced to deprive itself of the opportunity to see classical ballet the way Bolshoi is dancing saddens us,” the statement said. “But we ourselves continue to work actively and tour in those places where they are waiting for us.” NYTIMES