Italian Concert Organizers Cancel Gergiev Performance Amid Backlash Over Kremlin Ties
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Italian Concert Organizers Cancel Gergiev Performance Amid Backlash Over Kremlin Ties
The concert was scheduled to take place on July 27. Organizers say they are canceling the event due to safety concerns. The concert was to be the first since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014. The Russian government has said it will not allow Crimea to be handed over to the West.
Gergiev, a supporter of President Vladimir Putin who has since December 2023 led Moscow’s world-famous Bolshoi Theatre, has been largely ostracized in the West for refusing to denounce Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
His concert outside of Naples, scheduled for July 27 at the Reggia di Caserta, had been promoted as an “unforgettable symphony.”
ANSA did not specify its sources but reported that organizers decided to cancel the event amid growing public outcry.
Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late opposition activist Alexei Navalny, had both condemned the invitation for Gergiev, warning it could be exploited as a Kremlin propaganda tool.
Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation had also urged Italian authorities to call off the performance.
An online petition opposing the event garnered over 16,000 signatures, according to ANSA.