A concert in Italy by a top Russian conductor with close ties to Vladimir Putin has been cancelled after a widespread outcry.
Valery Gergiev, who has repeatedly expressed support for the Russian president, had been scheduled to lead a local orchestra at a music festival on 27 July at Reggia di Caserta, a former Bourbon palace close to Naples. But the management of the Unesco world heritage site said in a brief statement on Monday that his performance had been cancelled.
Gergiev’s appearance, which would have been his first in Europe since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, had been strongly endorsed by Vincenzo De Luca, the leftwing president of the Campania region. The regional authorities organise and fund the Un’Estate da Re festival – billed as a highlight of the summer season in southern Italy.
The cancellation came after more than 16,000 people, including Nobel laureates, Italian and international politicians and activists, signed a letter addressed to De Luca and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, calling for Gergiev’s appearance not to go ahead.
Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Alexei Navalny who died in an Arctic prison last year, wrote in an op-ed published by La Repubblica last week that Gergiev’s performance would be “a gift to the dictator”. She said the 72-year-old was not only a “dear friend” and supporter of Putin but also a “promoter” of the Russian president’s “criminal policies”.
The concert sparked a clash between De Luca and Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, who warned that it risked sending the wrong message. “Art is free and cannot be censored,” Giuli said in comments reported by Ansa. “Propaganda, however, even if done with talent, is something else.”
The event’s cancellation was celebrated by critics, with Pina Picierno, vice-president of the European parliament and among the signatories of the letter, writing on social media: “We explained, we fought and we won!”
Riccardo Magi, leader of the small leftwing More Europe party, said Gergiev’s performance would have been “an intolerable humiliation for the victims of Putin’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine”.
Gergiev has repeatedly voiced support for Putin, appearing in a 2012 campaign ad, endorsing the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and conducting a patriotic concert in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra in 2016, after Russian forces helped the former dictator Bashar al-Assad recapture it.
Widely seen as one of Russia’s most powerful cultural figures, Gergiev was fired from several European concerts, festivals and theatres, including Milan’s La Scala, for refusing to condemn Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The last time he performed in Italy was at La Scala on 23 February 2022, hours after the invasion began.
Gergiev’s US agent has been approached for comment.
