The Italian organizers announced Monday they are canceling the concert of pro-Kremlin conductor Valery Gergiev after a political outcry.
Gergiev, who is a staunch supporter of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, was slated to perform at the major Un’Estate da Re festival at the vast 18th century Royal Palace of Caserta, near Naples, on July 27. It would have been his first concert in the European Union since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began three years ago.
Putting Gergiev on the line-up drew plenty of criticism last week. The performance “risks sending the wrong message,” said Italy’s Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli. Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, also spoke out against it.
Gergiev supports Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and conducted nationalistic concerts after Russia occupied the Georgian region of South Ossetia in 2008. After Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, major opera houses and festivals across Europe cut ties with Gergiev.
Ukraine and several countries inside the EU have consistently banned prominent pro-Kremlin opera singers from performing, arguing they are a part of Russia’s propaganda machine and shouldn’t be seen separately from the Kremlin’s imperialist agenda.
The European Commission also got involved, pushing a Spanish organizer to make sure no EU funding was flowing to concerts that had Gergiev on the program.
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