26 July 2024

The Occupiers Illegally Used the Music of a Famous American Composer in the “Opera and Ballet Theater” of Occupied Sevastopol  

Yesterday, on his page on the X social network, the famous American minimalist composer and pianist Philip Glass noted that the occupiers illegally used his music copyright in advertising and promotion in preparation for the premiere of the ballet “Wuthering Heights” based on the novel of the same name by Emily Brontë and choreographed by British choreographer Johnathan Paul Cook. The “event” is to occur in the so-called “Sevastopol State Opera and Ballet Theater,” which was built in violation of sanctions restrictions.  

Philip Glass did not permit the occupiers to use this music in the ballet or to use his name in advertising and promoting the ballet. 

“No permission for the use of my music in the ballet or the use of my name in the advertising and promotion of the ballet was ever requested of me or given by me. The use of my music and the use of my name without my consent is in violation of The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, to which the Russian Federation is a signatory. It is an act of piracy. I am well aware that the current circumstances in occupied Crimea leave me powerless to assert my right under international law to prohibit this act of piracy. But I shall make my vehement objection to it known should you proceed,” the composer emphasized. 

Therefore, the “Opera and Ballet Theater” in the occupied Sevastopol violates the copyrights of foreign composers by using their copyrighted works for their purposes without appropriate permissions.