Italian festival drops Putin-aligned conductor
Italy's Royal Palace of Caserta announced on Monday that it was cancelling a weekend concert of pro-Kremlin maestro Valery Gergiev – a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin – after an uproar from politicians and Kremlin critics, reports AFP.
Gergiev has not condemned Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a stance for which he was fired from the Munich Philharmonic in March 2022. He has not played a concert in Europe since.
The scheduled concert in the 18th century palace near Naples – now a museum – had caused a heated debate in Italy, with Ukraine condemning the move and Russia's exiled opposition calling for protests.
Days of uncertainty over whether the concert would take place ended with an abrupt cancellation.
"The Directorate of the Royal Palace of Caserta has ordered the cancellation of the symphony concert conducted by Valery Gergiev, scheduled as part of the Un'Estate da Re festival for July 27," the palace said in a brief statement.
It gave no official reason for the cancellation.
The team of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny welcomed the cancellation on social media with a "Hurrah!".
"Putin's pals should not be touring around Europe like nothing happened," they said in a statement.
Moscow's ambassador to Italy, Alexei Paramonov, however, slammed the move as a "scandalous situation".
In a statement on the Russian embassy's Facebook account, Paramonov railed against Western politicians' "policy of 'cancelling' Russian culture".
He also said it was "sad" to watch Italy "subordinate its cultural policy to the demands of Ukrainians and other immigrants".
Russia's state TASS news agency said Gergiev was not informed about the decision, quoting the conductor as saying: "I do not have this information."
'Common sense'
Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli – who had earlier warned that the concert risked turning into a propaganda event – said the cancellation was "common sense" and aimed at "protecting the values of the free world".
The 72-year-old Gergiev – recognised as one of the world's leading conductors – is known for conducting epic symphonies of Russian classical music by Piotr Tchaikovsky, amongst other successes in Western opera houses.
For decades, he has been one of the most vocal supporters of Putin's long rule.
He famously played a 2016 concert in the ruins of Syria's Palmyra after its capture by Russian-backed Syrian forces.
He also conducted a triumphant concert in Georgia's Tskhinvali region after the Russian invasion in 2008, just a few metres from a detention centre where Georgian civilians were being held.
Gergiev also supported the Kremlin's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
The conductor has stayed silent on the Ukraine invasion and mostly out of the public eye since 2022, but has played concerts in Asia.
He is believed to have personal ties with Putin.
In 2023, Putin named him as the director of Moscow's historic Bolshoi Theatre, while he was already heading Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky theatre.
Russia's cultural figures have been divided since the Ukraine invasion – with many supporting the Kremlin while others have gone into exile to denounce the military offensive.
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