On Friday, Russian conductor Valery Gergiev was scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra for three consecutive performances, the first of which was scheduled to be with Russian pianist Dennis Mazuyev.
However, on February 24, Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra issued a joint statement that Gergiev would no longer appear on stage for the performance, and would be replaced by The Metropolitan Opera's music director and conductor Yannick. At the same time, Mazuyev will not appear in the performance on the evening of February 25, and the soloist who replaced him has not yet been announced.
The already controversial conductor was once again pushed to the forefront.
Shouldn't it be said
The 69-year-old Gergiev has a well-known title – "Tsar in Command." The emergence of Gergiev and the change of the times turned the nearly declining Kirov Theater to the reborn Mariinsky Theater, which promoted the status and influence of Russian classical music culture in the world.
In Europe, Gergiev is also facing a crisis. On the evening of 23 February, he had just conducted Tchaikovsky's opera Queen of Spades at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Before the performance, the opera house union wanted him to give a speech before and after the performance, conveying a "message of hope and peace", but Gergiev did not do so. The next day, he was given an ultimatum by la Scala and the mayor of Milan, hoping that he would take a stand. If it does not take a stand, La Scala will immediately suspend its cooperation with him.
Just a few days ago, In an interview with The New York Times, Daniel Frosauer, president of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, said: "Gergiev is a talented artist who will be on the podium of the Carnegie Festival." He was acting as a performer, not as a politician. ”
Clive Gillingson, executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, has previously expressed support for Gergiev. "My point is to judge people based on their artistry."
Gergiev was scheduled to return to Carnegie in May to conduct two performances with the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, and it's unclear if it will go as planned.
Art and politics
The relationship between art and politics, Gergiev never shied away from it. He once said: "If you run the Mariinsky Opera house and say that you don't care about current affairs, you are a liar." ”
During the Yeltsin era, Gergiev won a meeting with then-Prime Minister Viktor Chernomerkin to raise funds for the reconstruction of the Mariinsky Theater and the Bolshoi Theater.
"The prime minister has only 15 minutes to listen to us in between meetings in Chechnya." "When it was my turn, I said, Victor, if you don't give us $10 million per theater right away, Russia will lose both theaters," Gergiev recalled. After a conversation, soon after, the two theaters received $10 million each. In August of the same year, Yeltsin appointed Gergiev as artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre. A few years later, Gergiev asked for another $30 million from Yeltsin to "upgrade the theater to a standard that can compete with American theaters."
During Gergiev's tenure, he led the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra to record a large number of Russian classics, especially Russian opera works or opera works that had premiered in Russia, achieving world influence; at the same time, he built the Mariinsky Theater Concert Hall and the Mariinsky Second Stage. The Mariinsky Theater Complex is thought to have been created in contrast to the layout of Lincoln Center in New York.