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The organizers of the Musical Festival in Italy canceled a concert with the participation of Russian conductor Valery Hergiev after the days of criticism of the Kremlin and human rights defenders.
Hergiev, ally of President Putin, was to head the Italian orchestra and soloists from the Mariinsky St. Petersburg Theater in a performance in the former Royal Palace near Naples at the end of this month.
The age of 72 was banned from the western stages after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that he refused to condemn.
Alysandra Julie’s Minister of Italian said that the cancellation of the Un’estate Da Recent festival was “common sense” and defended the “free world”.
On July 27, the royal palace did not give the official reason for the cancellation of the concert, which was staged as part of a broad music program.
Ukraine on Sunday called on the organizers to refuse Gergiev’s speech, calling it “Putin’s mouthpiece”, which cannot be welcomed “until the Russian forces continue to make atrocities.”
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the deceased of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navali, welcomed the cancellation, calling it “good news”, in a report on X.
“No artist who supports the current dictatorship in Russia should welcome in Europe,” she said.
But Moscow’s ambassador to Italy stated that the decision was a “scandalous situation” and part of the “policy” of the abolition of “Russian culture”.
Gergiev, director of the Bolshevo and Russian state theaters, regularly played in the leading Western places before invading Ukraine.
Institutes, including the Milan La Sala, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and New York Carnegie Hall, later tore his connections with him.
The controversy of the appearance of Gergiev emerged last week when Italy conducted heads of state from all over Europe to confirm its support to Ukraine and discuss how to restore the country when the war ended.
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni has been a strong and consistent critic Vladimir Putin since the beginning. But her Ministry of Culture was one of the fans of the Un’estate Da Re.
