Putin’s conductor, Valery Gergiev, sees his return concert cancelled

Valery Gergiev’s planned concert at the Royal Palace of Caserta, near Naples, has been cancelled after more than 16,000 people (including politicians worldwide, Nobel laureates, and activists) signed a letter addressed to Vincenzo De Luca and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. De Luca is the leftwing president of the Campania region who had endorsed Gergiev’s appearance, saying that artists should not be held responsible for the actions of their national governments.

Gergiev’s appearance at the Un’Estate da RE festival was to be the conductor’s first appearance in the West since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He was at La Scala when the war started and he refused to denounce Vladimir Putin‘s actions, leaving Milan without giving a statement. Just as he supported Putin when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, he backed the Russian President on this occasion too, and was rewarded for his support when he was made head of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, in addition to the Mariinsky Theatre in St Peterburg, where he was already the director.

Pina Picerno, Vice President of the European Parliament, was the first to speak out, saying, “The concert violates the ethical regulation of the Reggia di Caserta, which among its guidelines prohibits initiatives that violate the UN 2030 agenda, which condemns all forms of violence, torture, arms and money trafficking, and calls for access to fair justice for all. These are values that are evidently light years away from Gergiev and the regime of which he is a sponsor, testimonial and accomplice… I appeal to the Italian government and in particular to the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, not to make our cultural system a victim of propaganda and servility towards Vladimir Putin’s regime.”

International condemnation included a statement from Yulia Navalnaja, the widow of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who wrote in La Repubblica newspaper that Gergiev’s performance in Italy “would be a gift to the dictator”.

Last week, Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, responded saying, “Art is free and cannot be censored. Propaganda, however, even if done with talent, is something else. This is why the concert by Putin’s friend and advisor, Valery Gergiev, wanted, promoted and paid for by the Campania Region and to be held in the Reggia di Caserta, risks sending out the wrong message. Ukraine is an invaded nation and Gergiev’s concert could turn a high-level but objectively controversial and divisive musical event into a sounding board for Russian propaganda, which for me would be deplorable.”

Another planned event, which is already raising eyebrows, is Svetlana Zakharova‘s vehicle Pas de deux for Toes and Fingers with her husband, the violinist Vadim Repin, and dancers Artemiy Belyakov, Mikhail Lobukhin, and Igor Tsvirko. It is programmed for two evenings in January 2026 at the Maggio Musicale in Florence.

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.