Valery Gergiev, Russia’s star maestro and prominent supporter of Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin, was removed from his post as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic on Tuesday after he refused to denounce Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Dieter Reiter, the mayor of Munich, announced his decision in a press release saying that termination of Mr Gergiev’s contract was the only option available.
Mr Gergiev’s abrupt resignation three years before his contract was due to expire was the biggest setback yet for the conductor, who has been the target of widespread anger and condemnation in recent days for his long track record of Mr Putin and its policy.
The city said Mr Gergiev, who had held the position of chief conductor since 2015, had not responded to a Friday request by Mr Reiter to condemn Putin’s “cruel war of aggression” before Monday or be fired.
The press release said that “effective immediately there will be no more concerts by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra” conducted by Mr. Gergiev.
Mr Reiter said in his statement that “I expected him to reconsider and revise his very positive assessment of the Russian leader. He didn’t.” Termination was the only option, the statement added.
Mr Gergiev, one of Russia’s most prominent cultural ambassadors, has faced the loss of a number of concerts and tours around the world since the start of Mr Putin’s invasion on Thursday, leading to a long list from performing arts institutions to ties with him. But the loss of his leadership position at the helm of a major European orchestra suggested far more serious consequences for his international career.
It’s a stunning turnaround for Mr. Gergiev, whose busy schedule and regular appointments with many of the world’s leading concert halls and opera houses have led the Bachtrack website, which compiles statistics on classical music performances, to name him the world’s busiest conductor. in several past seasons.
Mr. Gergiev is a prominent supporter of Mr. Putin, supports his re-election and performs at concerts in Russia and abroad to promote his policies. The two have known each other since the early 1990s, when Mr. Putin was a civil servant in St. Petersburg and Mr. Gergiev began his tenure as leader of the Mariinsky, then called the Kirov.
mr. Putin has played an important role in Mr. Gergiev by providing funds to the Mariinsky Theater where Mr. Gergiev is the general and artistic director.
Understand the Russian attack on Ukraine
What is the basis of this invasion? Russia considers Ukraine to be within its natural sphere of influence, and it has become nervous about Ukraine’s proximity to the West and the prospect of the country becoming a member of NATO or the European Union. Although Ukraine is part of neither, it receives financial and military aid from the United States and Europe.
His international performances began to dry up last week when Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Philharmonic dropped him from a string of appearances. On Sunday, Gergiev’s manager announced that he was ending his relationship with his client.
The manager, Marcus Felsner, said in a statement that it had become impossible to defend Mr Gergiev, who he described as “one of the greatest conductors of all time, a visionary artist loved and admired by many of us, who is not , or cannot, publicly end its long-voted support for a regime that has come to commit such crimes.”
On Monday, the feud continued, with the Verbier festival in Switzerland saying it had asked for the resignation of Mr Gergiev as music director of the festival orchestra. (The festival also said it would ban other artists who had supported Mr Putin’s actions, and refund donations from individuals under sanctions from Western governments.)
The Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, where Mr Gergiev was honorary chairman, also said on Monday that he had resigned from his post after being asked to do so. Philharmonie de Paris, a performing arts complex in France, announced that it will host two concerts with Mr. Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra cancels. And the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland said it will have two performances in August with Mr. Gergiev and the Mariinsky canceled.
“Given the Russian acts of war that violate international law, we are sending a clear signal of solidarity to the people of Ukraine,” Michael Haefliger, the festival’s executive and artistic director, said in a statement.
Several other institutions have threatened to cancel Gergiev’s engagements unless he condemns the attack on Ukraine, including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Teatro alla Scala and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
