Valery Gergiev is one of the world’s most famous and busiest conductors. From 1995 to 2008 he led the Rotterdam orchestra as chief. Today he is the honorary conductor and artistic director of the Gergiev Festival, which has been taking place since 1995.
The Rotterdam decision follows after it became known that Gergiev is not welcome as guest conductor in New York’s Carnegie Hall this weekend. Munich also gave a shot: if the Russian does not distance himself from the war in Ukraine by Monday at the latest, he will lose his job as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Similar demands came from the Italian opera house La Scala and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Loyal
In recent years, Gergiev has consistently professed his loyalty to Russian President Putin. In 2016, for example, he conducted a concert between the Roman ruins of Palmyra in Syria, the country that Putin had bombed. ‘I cannot judge their relationship,’ says the Rotterdam orchestra director George Wiegel. ‘We cannot be expected to throw away all those years of artistic collaboration in one fell swoop. On the other hand, we realize that Gergiev cannot just continue.’
Wiegel would first like to speak to Gergiev himself. ‘We consciously leave the door open to see: does a conversation solve something, or does it just harden? We understand that his position is complicated, it remains to be seen how much wiggle room he has.’ Concerts with Gergjev are planned in Rotterdam in May.