The mayor of the German city said Valery Gergiev had been fired from his position as conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra for supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin and not rejecting the invasion of Ukraine.
Unich Mayor Dieter Reiter announced the decision after Gergiev failed to respond to Mr. Reiter’s request to change the position of the 68-year-old Russian conductor.
“I was expecting him to rethink and reconsider his very positive assessment of the Russian leader,” Mr. Reiter said.
“After this does not happen, the only option is to sever the relationship immediately.”
Gergiev has been the conductor of Munich since the 2015-16 season.
Concert in Palmyra, Unesco world heritage site, central city of Homs, where renowned conductor Valery Gergiev conducts performance by Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra (Olga Baloshova / AP)
A day earlier, the Verbier Festival said Gergiev had resigned as music director at their request.
Gergiev, a friend and supporter of Putin, is the musical director of the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg, Russia, and its White Nights Festival.
He has been dropped from the Edinburgh International Festival and the five-concert US tour of the Vienna Philharmonic, and his management company said on Sunday that they will no longer represent him. again.
The Rotterdam Symphony Orchestra also said it would drop Russia’s planned festival this September if he did not stop supporting Mr. Putin.
Video of the day
Teatro alla Scala of Milan said that unless Gergiev makes a clear statement in favor of a peaceful solution in Ukraine, Gergiev will not be allowed to return to finalize the engagement proceeding to Tchaikovsky’s The Queen Of Spades, which will continued on March 5.
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/valery-gergiev-fired-as-conductor-of-munich-orchestra-over-putin-links-41397799.html Valery Gergiev fired as conductor of the Munich Orchestra for links to Putin