Valery Gergiev, a famous Russian conductor who conducted the premiere of Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades” at La Scala in Milan on Wednesday, was asked by the theater on Thursday to clarify his position on the invasion of Ukraine.
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The director of La Scala, Dominique Meyer, together with the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala, sent a message to the Russian maestro Valery Gergiev asking him to make a statement advocating for a “peaceful solution” of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, indicated a spokesperson for the Milan scene. In the event of refusal, the presence of the Russian conductor at the next performances of The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovskyscheduled between March 5 and 13, could be compromised.
Giuseppe Sala, who is also chairman of the board of directors of La Scala, warned on Thursday February 24 during a public debate in Milan that in the absence of a response, “maybe we’ll find another maestro” for the next performances of the opera.
General director of the prestigious Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg, Valery Gergiev, 68, is one of the most sought-after conductors in the world. His closeness to Vladimir Putin, whom he has known since 1992, his declarations on the annexation of Crimea or Pussy Riot, concerts in bombarded South Ossetia and in Palmyra alongside the Syrian army, have earned him many controversies. this last decade.
During a 2018 interview in Paris, Valery Gergiev indicated that he did not want to talk politics, but welcomed the re-election for a new term of the Russian president, whom he said he met “five to six times a year“.”He won the election, something the western world struggles to understand“, he said then.