La Scala in Milan on Wednesday dismissed the famous Russian conductor Valery Gergiev from the next performances of an opera by Tchaikovsky. Reputed to be close to Vladimir Putin, he refused to distance himself from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
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The director of the prestigious theater, Dominique Meyer, sent a letter to the pro-Putin Russian on Tuesday evening March 1, Valery Gergiev, “to inform him that La Scala will entrust a new conductor” the direction of The queen of spades from March 5. According to a press release from the institution, he will be replaced by the young Russian maestro Timur Zangiev, 27, who “has already conducted part of the rehearsals” and was “highly appreciated by the orchestra”.
In the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Dominica Meyer and Giuseppe Sala, mayor of Milan and president of La Scala, had unsuccessfully asked him to plead publicly for a “peaceful solution” to the conflict. The Scala Philharmonic Orchestra announced on Tuesday that it had dismissed Valery Gergiev from a concert he was to conduct on March 7, replacing him with the musical director of La Scala, Riccardo Chailly.
“Having received no response six days later, and three days before the next performance, another solution is necessary”, explain the theatre. Milan’s La Scala “reiterates its support for the Ukrainian citizens who are victims of the aggression and for the many Russian citizens who have courageously expressed their condemnation of the war in recent days”.
Valery Gergiev’s closeness to Vladimir Putin, whom he has known since 1992, and his loyalty to the Russian president, particularly during the annexation of Crimea, as well as his participation in concerts in bombarded South Ossetia and Palmyra in the alongside the Syrian army, have earned him much criticism.
Since the launch of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, several orchestras and festivals in Europe and the United States have canceled their engagements with Valery Gergiev, including the Philharmonie de Paris and the prestigious New York venue Carnegie Hall. His main employer, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, also fired him on Tuesday.