Russian conductor Valery Gergiev who is close friend of Putin is forced to resign as honorary president of Edinburgh International Festival after invasion of Ukraine
- Gergiev was made honorary president of Edinburgh International Festival in 2011
- Gergiev – seen as Russia’s star conductor – was earlier dropped by his managers
- He has also been replaced as the conductor of a US tour by Vienna Phiharmonic
- And composer was fired from Munich Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic
The Edinburgh International Festival has severed its long-standing links with a Russian conductor who is said to be a close friend of Vladimir Putin.
Valery Gergiev, 68, was appointed honorary president of the festival in 2011 but was asked to resign following the brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Gergiev, seen as Russia’s star conductor, had already been dropped by his management company.
He has also been replaced as the conductor of a US tour by Vienna Phiharmonic Orchestra and fired from Munich Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic.
The Edinburgh International Festival has severed its long-standing links with a Russian conductor who is said to be a close friend of Vladimir Putin. Pictured: In Moscow in 2018
Gergiev, seen as Russia’s star conductor, had already been dropped by his management company
Valery Gergiev, pictured right alongside his long-time friend Vladimir Putin, will not lead his Vienna Philharmonic in a five-concert tour that started in Carnegie Hall this week
Putin’s pal who refuses to condemn Ukraine invasion… who is Valery Gergiev?
Valery Gergiev has been friends with Vladimir Putin for over 30 years.
The pair met when the Russian president was an official in St Petersburg and Gergiev was beginning his tenure as the leader of the Kirov Theater there.
He has repeatedly defended Putin’s actions in the past, and supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
He received a Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation prize that Putin revived in 2013.
And he has often voiced support of Putin, who has been widely condemned for ordering an invasion of Ukraine that began Thursday.
It is not the first time Gergiev drew ire outside his performances.
In 2013, protesters confronted him outside Carnegie Hall in New York City for failing to condemn Putin’s restrictions on the discussion of homosexuality in Russia.
Organisers of Edinburgh International Festival said the action was taken in sympathy with the people of Ukranian capital Kyiv, a twin city of Edinburgh since 1989.
Gergiev has made regular appearances at the festival over more than 30 years and last year starred alongside the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
A statement from the festival said: ‘Our board of trustees has asked for, and accepted the resignation of, Valery Gergiev as honorary president of the festival.
‘Edinburgh is twinned with the city of Kyiv and this action is being taken in sympathy with, and support of, its citizens.’
When Gergiev was appointed to the EIF role in 2011, he said: ‘I can easily celebrate my 20 years with the Edinburgh International Festival, it is a wonderful place to visit.
‘We artists come here with a tremendous sense of responsibility and excitement.
‘I very much hope that the festival continues to thrive and flourish and I am very privileged to be part of its future.’
Music critic Ken Walton said the move was ‘inevitable’, adding: ‘The ramifications of Gergiev’s close links with Putin, the pressure on orchestras around the world to disassociate themselves with him, and the decision by his Munich-based agent to cease representing him, leave the Edinburgh International Festival with no other choice than to cease its own long-standing association with him.’
Earlier Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said Gergiev was out of the city’s philharmonic because he did not respond to demands to condemn the Russian invasion.
Gergiev (pictured) appeared in a television ad for Putin’s third presidential campaign in 2012. In 2014, the conductor signed a petition in support of the annexation of Crimea
Gergiev has been friends with Putin (pictured together) for over thirty years, having met when Putin was an official in St Petersburg and Gergiev was made leader of the Kirov Theater
Reiter said: ‘I had expected him to rethink and revise his very positive assessment of the Russian leader.
He added today: ‘After this didn’t occur, the only option is the immediate severance of ties.’ Gergiev has been Munich’s chief conductor since the 2015-16 season.
The Rotterdam Philharmonic in the Netherlands also cut ties with Gergiev, saying ‘an unbridgeable divide’ between the orchestra and conductor on the Ukraine crisis.
The announcement ends a close cooperation between the Rotterdam orchestra and Gergiev dating back to 1988 and also halts a Dutch festival that bears his name.
The Verbier Festival in Switzerland said Tuesday that Gergiev resigned as music director at its request.
Gergiev, a friend and supporter of Putin, is the music director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia, and its White Nights Festival.
He was already dropped by the Edinburgh International Festival and from the Vienna Philharmonic´s five-concert US tour, and his management company said Sunday it will no longer represent him.
Milan’s Teatro alla Scala called for Gergiev to make a clear statement in favour of a peaceful resolution in Ukraine.
It said he would not be permitted to return to complete his engagement conducting Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Queen of Spades,’ which resumes March 5.
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