Italian performance by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev cancelled following international outcry

A performance slated for later this month by Russian star conductor Valery Gergiev has been cancelled, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported on Monday, citing the Royal Palace in Caserta where the concert was due to be held.

No reason was given for the concert’s cancellation, though ANSA said that the planned concert at the Un’Estate da RE festival by Gergiev, reported to be a longtime friend of Vladimir Putin, had “sparked heated debate and fears of possible protests by Ukrainian organisations”.

“Hooray! Gergiev’s concert in Italy has been cancelled! … The next step is for Gergiev himself to come under sanctions!” late opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s team, who had actively advocated for the concert to be cancelled, said in reaction.

Gergiev, who actively endorsed Putin in the 2012 and 2018 presidential elections, openly supported the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and has not publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since February 2022.

Novaya Europe has established that foundations with ties to Gergiev have received almost 2 billion rubles (€21.9 million) from the state budget since the start of the war.

Ukrainian activists, Navalny associates and Pina Picierno, the vice-president of the European Parliament, had all called publicly for Gergiev’s performance at the festival to be cancelled. The organisers countered that “culture and art are places for dialogue between people and an opportunity to develop solidarity”.

Russia’s ambassador to Italy, Alexey Paramonov, said he was “dismayed” by the “disproportionately polemical tone and aggressive rhetoric in the Italian press” following news of the cancellation. He added that it was “sad to see” Italy “subordinate its cultural policy” to the demands of “Ukrainian and other immigrants” and their “political lobby within the opposition”.

Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya, who vowed to continue his work when he was murdered in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024, welcomed the news in a post on Telegram, stressing that “no artist who supports the current dictatorship in Russia should be welcomed in Europe … If Gergiev loves the dictator and murderer so much, let him conduct for [Putin] personally.”