As expected, the Russian star conductor Valery Gergiev was dismissed as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) justified this step by saying that the 68-year-old had not spoken out despite a request to clearly and unequivocally distance himself from the war against Ukraine. There will therefore be no further concerts by the Munich Philharmonic under his direction, said Reiter.
Gergiev did not comment on the call to “clearly and unequivocally distance oneself from the brutal war of aggression that Putin is waging against Ukraine and especially against our twin city of Kyiv,” the mayor said. Gergiev has been chief conductor of the orchestra since 2015.
Yesterday the Grafenegg Festival also announced that it would cancel Gergiev’s planned conducting this summer.
While international orchestras and opera houses want to forego working with Valery Gergiev in the future, star soprano Anna Netrebko is taking a different approach. The Russian and Austrian-by-choice initially canceled an appearance in the opera “Adriana Lecouvreur” on March 9 in Milan as a reaction to Gergiev’s sacking in Munich and as a conductor at the Milan Scala.
Netrebko later announced that she canceled all concerts for the coming months. “It’s not the right time for me to perform and make music. I hope that my audience will understand this decision,” the 50-year-old said on the organizer River Concerts yesterday. Before that, she had stressed via Facebook that it was not right to force artists or other public figures to express their political opinions in public and to denounce their home country: “This should be a free decision. Like many of my colleagues, I am not political person. I’m not a political expert. I’m an artist and my goal is to unite people across political borders.”
Artist Resistance
There is also resistance from Russian artists to the war in Ukraine. Numerous authors, actors and musicians, including conductor Kirill Petrenko and writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya, strongly condemned the invasion. Many artists, architects, curators, theater makers and gallery owners have also signed a petition entitled “We call on all citizens of Russia to say no to this war”.
Source: Nachrichten
