Russian Conductor Who Supports Putin Dropped by Carnegie Hall and Faces Exit From Milan’s La Scala Following Ukraine Invasion

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Russian invasion of Ukraine is reverberating in the classical music world, where star conductor Valery Gergiev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is being forced to cancel engagements at La Scala in Italy as well as Carnegie Hall and other venues in the U.S.Gergiev, known to be an old friend and vocal supporter of Putin, last conducted Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Queen of Spades” on Wednesday evening at Milan’s famed La Scala opera house, where he was lightly booed, according to Italian press reports.On Thursday, as Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala, who is the president of La Scala, publicly urged Gergiev to condemn Russia’s invasion, saying that if the conductor — who has not commented Putin’s move — did not issue a statement, “the collaboration will be over,” he said.

Gergiev is next scheduled to appear at La Scala on March 5. La Scala spokesman Paolo Besana on Friday confirmed to Variety that Gergiev’s engagement at the theater house will not continue, unless the conductor takes a stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is considered unlikely.“We are still waiting for his answer.

If he does not answer our request, we will be forced to find another conductor,” the La Scala spokesman said.Meanwhile, after the Milan mayor publicly called out Gergiev to take a stand, Carnegie Hall announced that the 68-year-old Russian conductor, who is a fixture on the U.S.

classical music circuit, will not be leading the Vienna Philharmonic in a five-date U.S. tour that was scheduled to kick off at New York’s Carnegie Hall on Friday.Responding to mounting protests, Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Philharmonic on Thursday in a last-minute.