The New Jerusalem opera about pedophile hunters will not premiere in Lendok Studio in the early April, as it was scheduled.

      Such a decision was taken by the studio administration and the opera producer Artem Suslov after calls made by the police and some city authorities.

      Cancelling play productions for the so-called “reasons of morality” in Petersburg has not been so uncommon recently. Thus, in autumn of 2012 due to threats by unknown people who called themselves Cossacks the solo performance Lolita staged by Leonid Mozgovy and produced by Artem Suslov as well was cancelled too. According to him, the style of threats has changed drastically since then: if they used to be anonymous, this time they are addressed by official structures.

      The young composer Ilya Demutsky, the author of the New Jerusalem opera music, gained popularity with his mezzo-soprano and orchestra composition based on Maria Alekhina’s final statement in court. This work won him the first award at the 19th Bologna International Contest of Composers. Besides, Ilya Demutsky composed music Flight of the Firebird for the Paralympic Games opening ceremony in Sochi.