Italy cancels a concert featuring pro-Kremlin Gergiev that sparked anger

The Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy said that it had canceled a concert featuring Russian conductor and “Putin’s friend” Valery Gergiev, Ansa reports.

The concert was scheduled to take place on July 27 as part of the Un’Estate da Re (“Summer of the King”) festival.

The planned concert sparked a furious reaction, with strong criticism from Italy’s central government, Russian dissidents, and Ukrainian associations due to Gergiev’s pro-Putin stance.

Several demonstrations have taken place in Italy and other EU countries to condemn the plan to allow pro-Putin Gergiev to perform with a demand to cancel his participation in the event.

The Campania regional government invited the 72-year-old conductor, who has never expressed opposition to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

A performance at the former Bourbon royal palace north of Naples would effectively end a de facto ban on Gergiev performing on European stages following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

After the February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Valery Gergiev was removed from cooperation with most of the leading musical institutions in Europe, with which he was associated as a leader or guest conductor.

As a long-time associate of Putin, Valery Gergiev lost the position of chief conductor at the Munich Philharmonic, which he had held since 2015.

The Vienna and Rotterdam Philharmonics, the festivals in Edinburgh, Verbier, and Prague, the La Scala Theater in Milan, and others refused to cooperate with Gergiev.

In the context of this scandal, Italy’s Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli stated that art should be free from censorship but emphasized that in Gergiev’s case it was not about art but about propaganda.

“Ukraine is an invaded nation, and Gergiev’s concert could turn a high-level but objectively controversial and divisive, musical event into a sounding board for Russian propaganda. The outcome would be deplorable for me,” Giuli said.

As reported, in 2024, a number of Russian ballet performances were canceled in Sweden due to ties to the Kremlin as part of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Russia has been waging its war of aggression against Ukraine for over 3.5 years, claiming thousands of innocent lives. The Kremlin has been using widespread propaganda and the support of cultural figures to justify the war.