Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, will no longer lead the Vienna Philharmonic in the orchestra’s U.S. tour, The Associated Press reported amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The tour, which will consist of five concerts across the country, is set to begin Friday at Carnegie Hall in New York.
“This change was made due to recent world events,” Carnegie Hall spokeswoman Synneve Carlino said of Gergiev’s release from the tour, according to the AP.
Vienna Philharmonic spokesman Ron Boling said that the orchestra refused to reveal whether the release was initiated by the Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall or Gergiev himself.
Gergiev, music director of the Mariinsky Theatre located in St. Petersburg, Russia, has regularly voiced support for Putin, who ordered an invasion of Ukraine to begin Thursday.
Gergiev, 68, was awarded with a Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation prize after the honor was reinstated by Putin in 2013.
Gergiev’s parting with the tour follows a letter from Teatro alla Scala, a theater in Milan, that asked Gergiev to release a statement in favor of peace in Ukraine before he was allowed to conduct as planned in the city.
“We are asking him to take a clear position against this invasion, and in the case in which he doesn’t do it, we are constrained to renounce the collaboration,” said Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, according to the AP. “It is clear that the culture can go on other levels, but in front of such a situation we need to act.”
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Conductor with close ties to Putin nixed from Vienna Philharmonic US tour https://t.co/IcDv6XtcYZ pic.twitter.com/H1hkUlvV6J
— The Hill (@thehill) February 24, 2022
Munich Philharmonic fires Russian conductor https://t.co/530ZAAZYXh pic.twitter.com/YfGAoV6BWS
— The Hill (@thehill) March 1, 2022
The Munich Philharmonic announced Tuesday that it had fired Russian chief conductor Valery Gergiev due to his support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter previously requested that Gergiev “clearly and unequivocally distance himself from the brutal war of aggression that Putin is waging against Ukraine and now especially against our twin city of Kyiv.”
Gergiev declined to respond to the request.
“I would have expected him to reconsider and revise his very positive assessment of the Russian ruler,” Reiter said in response. “He didn’t. In the current situation, however, a clear signal for the orchestra, its audience, the public and city politics would have been essential in order to be able to continue working together. After this is not done, only an immediate separation remains.”
Gergiev received the Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation prize when Putin reinstated the honor in 2013.
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