Italy’s culture minister joined the widow of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny on Tuesday to denounce an invitation extended to maestro Valery Gergiev to perform near Naples, cautioning that it might serve as a propaganda tool for the Kremlin.
The Russian conductor Gergiev, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin and currently directing Moscow’s prestigious Bolshoi Theatre since December 2023, has faced significant backlash in the West due to his unwillingness to criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He is set to conduct a concert, promoted by organizers as an “unforgettable symphony,” on July 27 at the Reggia di Caserta, a historic royal palace in southern Italy.
Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation has called upon Italian officials to cancel the performance. In an editorial published Tuesday in La Repubblica, Yulia Navalnaya stated that Gergiev’s public role cannot be seen as detached from political implications.
“To overlook Valery Gergiev’s identity when he is not conducting and to consider this merely a cultural occurrence devoid of political context… is sheer hypocrisy,” she asserted.
Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli later expressed concern that the concert “could convey the wrong message.”
“Ukraine is an invaded country, and Gergiev’s performance might transform a prestigious… musical occasion into a venue for Russian propaganda,” he remarked. “This would be incredibly unfortunate.”
Vincenzo De Luca, head of the Campania region and a member of the center-left Democratic Party, defended the concert, highlighting culture as “a means to maintain open dialogue.”
In a social media post last week, he pointed out that an Israeli conductor was also included in the lineup, stating, “We don’t expect these cultural figures to be accountable for the political decisions made by their governments.”
On Tuesday, De Luca reiterated his views, condemning Russia’s aggression while suggesting that severing communication “only serves to fuel hatred.”
Navalnaya dismissed De Luca’s justification.
“As Putin’s cultural envoy, Valery Gergiev executes Russia’s soft power agenda. One of his current objectives is to normalize the war and Putin’s regime,” she stated, labeling the Caserta concert as a “test balloon” aimed at enhancing Putin’s image in Europe.
“Forgive me, but if by 2025 the Kremlin is satisfied with your actions, then you are certainly on the wrong path,” she wrote.
Other members of Italy’s Democratic Party have also called for the cancellation of the concert, alongside cultural figures from abroad.
Peter Gelb, the general manager of New York’s Metropolitan Opera and a strong supporter of Ukraine, told AFP that Gergiev “serves as nothing less than an artistic representative for Putin.”
Gergiev has backed Putin’s policies for over two decades and has participated in government events celebrating Russian military triumphs.
Among his most controversial appearances was a concert conducted amidst the ruins of Palmyra in Syria following Russia’s intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
He also performed in 2008 in South Ossetia, a breakaway region in Georgia under Russian military occupation, just meters away from a detention center holding Georgian civilians.
