Renowned cellist revives Cold War diplomacy in front of Russian Embassy in D.C.

In the darkest days of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain was almost impenetrable and the relationship between citizens of the Soviet Union and the West was almost non-existent.

However, after the death of Stalin in 1953, a cultural exchange between the two superpowers began and both Washington and Moscow began using the arts as a weapon of “soft power” in order to accomplish their foreign policy goals and open a diplomatic “back door” which many scholars believe helped warm tensions and bring about the end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism.

According to former foreign service officer and author Yale Richmond writing in American Diplomacy, cultural exchanges amongst scholars and students, scientists and engineers, writers and journalists, government leaders, musicians, and athletes ultimately “prepared the way for Gorbachev’s glasnost, perestroika, and the end of the Cold War.”

Music, especially, was a way by which Soviet citizens came to know of a better, freer world on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

As Russian musician Miron Yampolsky recalls:

“From that ‘decadent’ West there came to the Soviet Union truly great symphony orchestras with sounds that were electrifying, and they came year after year, from Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, and San Francisco. We asked ourselves how could the decadent West produce such great orchestras? Cultural exchanges were another opening to the West, and additional proof that our media were not telling us the truth.”

Today, as the West once again faces off against an increasingly belligerent Russia, one of the world’s most renowned musicians took the time to once again bring music to the table as a tool of dialogue.

American cellist Yo-Yo Ma was in Washington, D.C. to perform at the Kennedy Center on Mondaty night, but before the show, he visited the Russian Embassy on Wisconsin Avenue to show his support for the people of Ukraine, NPR reported.

Yo Yo Ma was just playing his Cello in front of the Russian embassy. Video: https://t.co/ldg1IOsxIs pic.twitter.com/Qq8Of6ifbZ

— PoPville (@PoPville) March 7, 2022

Washington resident Ryan Stitt passed the embassy on his bike when he saw the musician playing by himself on the sidewalk recently renamed "Zelensky Way." Thinking it could be the famed cellist, he stopped to inquire.

According to Stitt, Ma was very friendly and explained what he was doing at the embassy.

“The thing I remember him saying was ‘everyone has to do something,'” he recalled.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started last month, Ma has been a vocal critic of the war and the Kremlin’s aggressive stance against its southern neighbor.

“It’s meaningful for him, without an audience, to make a statement,” Stitt said.

Later that night, Ma joined pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos on the Kennedy Center’s main stage and performed Ukraine's national anthem — prompting an emotional audience to stand in solidarity.

Yo-Yo Ma, along with Emanuel Ax and Leonidas Kavakos, begins his performance at Washington’s Kennedy Center with a performance of Ukraine’s national anthem. A full, standing house. pic.twitter.com/m1shyLzY4Z

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 8, 2022