A personal statement from Anton Belov, founder and proprietor of www.RussianArtSong.Com:
I was born in Moscow and lived there until the age of 16. I treasure my heritage, I treasure Russian music, poetry, and art. I spent most of my professional career propagating Russian culture in the United States by performing and teaching its great vocal literature. Yet today, I feel deeply ashamed and deeply saddened. The indiscriminate murder in Ukraine is simply unfathomable! It is a war that pitted a brother against brother, a war that is as irrational as it is unprovoked, and it is simply evil. I stand with Ukraine and its heroic, Putin-defying people. I urge everyone to do whatever they can to ameliorate the plight of the Ukrainian people and to donate to the refugee relief agency of their choice.
FANS of RUSSIAN ART SONG: perhaps now is not the best time to program Russian vocal literature. In fact, I encourage all of you to explore Ukrainian Art Song, a rich and almost entirely unknown repertoire! You can find more resources here: