Musicians of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse are expressing their opinions about the departure of Tugan Sokhiev.

In an open letter the musicians said, “Before discussing the particular situation in which this concert is taking place, we would like, on behalf of all our colleagues, to express our deep emotion at the violence and atrocities committed in Ukraine and our full support for the Ukrainian people. The concert on March 25 should have been conducted by Tugan Sokhiev. Tugan Sokhiev is Russian. Its history, its family, its culture are intimately linked to this country. It is this identity and this attachment to his roots that allowed us, that allowed you for many years to enrich us with what he had to pass on to us.”

The letter continued, “We shared with him so many musical moments but also so many moments of personal human exchanges, that we know, without the shadow of a doubt that he cannot in any way be suspected of the slightest complacency towards life with this warrior madness. We didn’t need him to tell us, but that’s what he thought he had to say in a statement he made public. And that’s probably why his concerts scheduled for the next few weeks in Salzburg, Vienna, Munich or Rome have not been canceled.”

The musicians also noted they are “deeply saddened by the resignation of their Musical Director, but even more so by this injunction which is made to Russian artists to justify themselves, they who are, like all their compatriots, hostages of a totalitarian regime and a policy for which they cannot be held accountable.”

Sokhiev was forced to resign from his post as Music Director after he was asked to make a statement against the war. He later had concerts with the New York Philharmonic canceled. The conductor also resigned from his post at the Bolshoi Theatre.