Russian Accent | Blog of Nadia Sikorsky

A Museum of Survival

By decision of the United Nations, 27 January, the day Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945, is observed as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this occasion, I would like to tell you about the Jewish Museum of Switzerland in Basel, which I visited last week.

“Family Matters”

This is the theme of the upcoming Yehudi Menuhin International Music Festival in Gstaad, which will take place from 16 July to 5 September 2026.

Jonathan Nott and the “сhildren”

The contract of the British conductor as Music Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande expired at the end of last year. Yet he is already returning to Geneva, this time as a guest conductor, to bring together the OSR and the Orchestra of the Geneva Music Conservatory (HEM Geneva).

Lucerne Impressions

In just two days at the Le Piano Symphonique festival, I gathered enough impressions for an entire season. Let me share them with you.

A Realm of Darkness Without a Ray of Light

Today, the novel Return to Ostrog by Sasha Filipenko goes on sale in bookshops across Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Canada. The French translation, by Marina Skalova, has been published by the Lausanne-based Éditions Noir sur Blanc

A Violin Obsession

From January 30 to February 7, the renowned Swiss Alpine resort of Gstaad will host the international Sommets Musicaux festival for the 26th time — a place where everyone is sure to find something to delight their ear.

“Two Prosecutors”

This is the title of the film by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, presented as part of the Geneva Black Movie festival.

About the author

Nadia Sikorsky

Nadia Sikorsky grew up in Moscow where she obtained a master's degree in journalism and a doctorate in history from Moscow State University. After 13 years at UNESCO, in Paris and then in Geneva, and having served as director of communications at Green Cross International founded by Mikhail Gorbachev, she developed NashaGazeta.ch, the first online Russian-language daily newspaper, launched in 2007.

In 2022, she found herself among those who, according to Le Temps editorial board, "significantly contributed to the success of French-speaking Switzerland," thus appearing among opinion makers and economic, political, scientific and cultural leaders: the Forum of 100.

After 18 years leading NashaGazeta.ch, Nadia Sikorsky decided to return to her roots and focus on what truly fascinates her: culture in all its diversity. This decision took the form of this trilingual cultural blog (Russian, English, French) born in the heart of Europe – in Switzerland, her adopted country, the country distinguished by its multiculturalism and multilingualism.

Nadia Sikorsky does not present herself as a "Russian voice," but as the voice of a European of Russian origin with the benefit of more than 30 years of professional experience in the cultural world. She positions herself as a cultural mediator between Russian and European traditions; the title of the blog, "The Russian Accent," captures this essence – the accent being not a linguistic barrier, not a political position but a distinctive cultural imprint in the European context.

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A new book by the Geneva-based Slavist Jean-Philippe Jaccard and his Russian colleague Andrei Ustinov, now living in San Francisco, has been published by the European University at St Petersburg: Vzir Zaumi. Daniil Harms and the Literary Avant-Garde of the 1920s. In the authors' own words, the volume offers a kind of X-ray of Leningrad's "left-wing " circles and their evolution during the period between Harms's poetic debut and the creation of OBERIU, as well as the dynamics that shaped those circles.

That is the question at the heart of Swiss writer Micha Lewinsky's debut novel, Ben, or the Art of Escape, recently published in French by Phébus.

If you are still enjoying your summer holiday, or only preparing for it, let me recommend an excellent holiday read: Nick Harkaway’s Karla’s Choice, a compelling spy novel that skillfully takes us back to a not-so-distant past.