PTo understand what is happening today to Valery Gergiev – fired, 1is March, from his position as director of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra for his unfailing support for Vladimir Putin – we have to go back to 2008. On August 21 of that year, Valery Gergiev traveled to South Ossetia South, in Tskhinvali, and gives a concert in front of the Ossetian Parliament destroyed by the bombardments. This is a solemn evening to celebrate the annexation of the Georgian province by Russia. Annexation obtained at the cost of bloody battles and which Gergiev – he then explains to the Russian antenna of the BBC – sees as a saving action by Russian power to “put an end to the genocide” orchestrated by Georgia. In the same interview, the conductor describes the Georgians as “fascists”…
On the program of this concert which is not insignificant, the conductor chooses a work heavy with meaning: the “7e Symphony” by Dmitri Shostakovich. The work was created in 1941 in Leningrad, in full siege of the city by the German army. The message is clear: Gergiev unequivocally embraces Putin’s argument (still at work today, in the context of the invasion of Ukraine) which establishes an equivalence between the contemporary Russian fight and that of the Soviets once morest the Nazis.
“Gergiev, your silence is killing Russian gays!” »
At the time, the Tskhinvali concert had no consequences for the international career of Valery Gergiev. There are of course some protests on his way, always linked to his closeness to Vladimir Putin. In 2013, demonstrators disrupted a concert he was giving at Carnegie Hall: “Gergiev, your silence is killing Russian gays! they chant. But Gergiev – who assimilated in an interview with the Dutch daily de Volkskrant Putin’s homophobic laws to laws once morest pedophilia – continues to give concerts all over the world. In May 2017, he conducted his orchestra in the Roman theater of Palmyra, Syria, to mark the end of the Russian operation in support of Bashar el-Assad’s army. A few months later, here he is conducting the Orchester de Radio France at the Champ-de-Mars for July 14th. The concert takes place without obvious opposition, despite a few disapproving tweets.
READ ALSOUkraine-Russia war: Hollywood stars up in arms once morest Putin
In recent days, Gergiev, who has not spoken regarding Ukraine, has seen his upcoming concerts canceled by Carnegie Hall in New York, then by the Philharmonie de Paris… until his dismissal from the Munich Philharmonie. Suddenly he was ostracized from the international music scene, while the other big names in Russian music – pianist Evgeny Kissin, conductors Semyon Bychkov and Kirill Petrenko, choreographer Alexei Ratmansky … – took to social media to bluntly state their opposition to the war and to Vladimir Putin.
Anna Netrebko in the viewfinder
For classical musicians, the function of ambassadors of Russian “soft power” is a legacy of the Soviet period. Nevertheless, now the message is clear: the tolerance of the past towards pro-Putin is no longer appropriate. All eyes are therefore on Anna Netrebko, a soprano famous throughout the world for her exceptionally mellow voice and her romantic heroine physique. In 2014, her meeting with the pro-Russian Ukrainian deputy Oleg Tsarev had aroused many criticisms… For the singer, it was a question of handing over a check for one million rubles (regarding 15,000 euros) intended for the Donestsk Opera, a city of Donbass. The photo posted by Tsarev on his Twitter account shows the star of the lyrical stage displaying the flag of the Russian separatists.
Today, while the Metropolitan Opera has just announced its refusal to work with Russian artists supporting Vladimir Putin, Anna Netrebko affirms on her Instagram account that she is opposed to the war… and does not want to talk regarding politics. “Like many of my colleagues, I am not a political person. I am not a political expert. I am an artist and my goal is to unite people across political divides. Just yesterday, the Met site was still announcing the Russian diva on the bill for Turandot in April 2022… And that of the Philharmonie announced a recital on May 25 with on the program arias by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and this one by Rimsky-Korsakov whose title sounds like a promise: “Finally the dark clouds are going to scatter “. A few hours ago, the Russian diva herself put an end to the suspense with a press release: “After careful consideration, I have made the extremely difficult decision to give up the concerts until further notice. An order which Anna Netrebko does not specify who will issue it.
