Russian Gergiev Makes Massive Comeback In China After He Was Fired For Refusing To Condemn The War

Valery Gergiev’s inspired leadership as Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1988 has taken Mariinsky ensembles to 45 countries (presenting the best of Russian opera and ballets as well as the complete Shostakovich and Prokofiev symphonies and Wagner’s Ring cycle) and has brought universal acclaim to this legendary institution, now in its 226th season.

In November 2006, the new and superb Mariinsky Concert Hall opened, in 2009 the Mariinsky Label was launched and in 2011 the new Mariinsky Opera House is scheduled to open. The Mariinsky Label releases in the first year include Shostakovich “The Nose” and Symphonies Nos. 1 & 15, a Tchaikovsky disc of short pieces, Shchedrin “The Enchanted Wanderer”, and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerti No. 3 and “Paganini Variations.” The label’s first two recordings received five Grammy Nominations including Best Opera Recording (The Nose), Best Classical Album (The Nose), Best Orchestral Performance (Symphonies 1 & 15) as well as nominations for engineering and producer.

Presently Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev is also founder and Artistic Director of the Stars of the White Nights Festival and New Horizons Festival in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, the Gergiev Rotterdam Festival, the Mikkeli International Festival, and the Red Sea Festival in Eilat, Israel.

Valery Gergiev succeeded Sir Georg Solti as conductor of the World Orchestra for Peace in 1998. Solti himself had recognized Gergiev as his natural successor when they met two years before Solti died. Solti sensed that Gergiev was “…a man of the theatre,” and likened their meeting to the occasion when Solti met Bruno Walter, who had encouraged him to take the position at Covent Garden. Feeling the need for a new, young, dynamic opera conductor, Solti wrote “… I welcome the arrival of Valery Gergiev…”

Born in Moscow, Valery Gergiev studied conducting with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory. At age 24 he was the winner of the Herbert von Karajan Conductors’ Competition in Berlin and made his Mariinsky Opera debut one year later in 1978 conducting Prokofiev’s War and Peace. In 2003 he led St Petersburg’s 300th anniversary celebrations, and opened the Carnegie Hall season with the Mariinsky Orchestra, the first Russian conductor to do so since Tchaikovsky conducted the hall’s inaugural concert in 1891.

He was the subject of Carnegie Hall’s 2007–08 Perspectives: Valery Gergiev, in which he gave concerts with the Mariinsky, Vienna Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera orchestras and conducted productions of Prokofiev’s War and Peace and The Gambler at the Metropolitan Opera.

Highlights of the 2008–09 season included a Prokofiev cycle at Lincoln Center in New York: staged works (Mariinsky Orchestra) and the complete symphonies (LSO), a cycle of Prokofiev symphonies and concertos with the LSO in Paris and Tokyo, and the Mariinsky Theatre’s production of Richard Wagner’s “Ring” at Royal Covent Garden, London.

In the 2009–10 season Maestro Gergiev conducts Berlioz Les Troyens in St. Petersburg, Valencia, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. He also conducts the New York Philharmonic in a three-week Stravinsky Festival, presents a Mariinsky Shostakovich Cycle in Vienna, leads works of Henri Dutilleux with the London Symphony and conducts Shostakovich’s The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In the 2010–11 season he offers a Mahler Cycle in London, New York, Paris and Japan.

Maestro Gergiev is the recipient of a Grammy Award, the Dmitri Shostakovich Award, Golden Mask Award, People’s Artist of Russia Award, the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize, Netherlands’s Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Valencia’s Silver Medal, the Herbert von Karajan prize and France’s Royal Order of the Legion of Honor.

Although now recording for the Mariinsky and LSO Live Labels, he has recorded extensively for Decca (Universal Classics), and appears on the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon labels. His vast discography includes many Russian operas, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky Symphonies among many others.

His Mahler Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7, 8 are released on LSO Live, the first releases of a complete Mahler cycle with the LSO. Future LSO Live recordings will include Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet complete.

Gergiev Conductor Makes Comeback in China

Valery Gergiev, the star Russian conductor fired in Germany last year for his refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, was given a warm welcome in China this week as he started a three-day performance at the country’s top art center.

“It is like coming home,” Gergiev said at a news conference Monday night, according to state-run tabloid Global Times, before his first performance at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

His show with Russia’s Mariinsky Orchestra marks the first time an overseas group has performed in China since the country resumed accepting foreign artists this month, according to Chinese state media.

Gergiev, who has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was dismissed as the chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic last March, shortly after Russia’s invasion began.

In a statement at the time, Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said he had asked Gergiev to “clearly and unambiguously” distance himself from the war. “That’s not what he did,” he said.

At Gergiev’s performance Monday, Chinese audiences noticed heightened security, with staff checking “books and paper, especially those with notes or that could be written on,” said one audience member, who asked not to be named.

“Previously, they would sometimes check your food and drinks, or things like lighters,” they said. “But I don’t remember they had this special attention on paper like this time.”

Others who attended the show said security personnel went through their books and notebooks “page by page.”

The show was given glowing coverage in Chinese state media, with the Global Times highlighting the close partnership between Russia and China and referring to Gergiev by his Chinese nickname “Brother-in-law.”

It also defended Gergiev from his critics, claiming that Russian music and art had been “targeted by the West.”

It wasn’t just the Munich orchestra that dropped Gergiev after the invasion – New York’s Carnegie Hall also announced last year that it had canceled performances by the Russian conductor.

Meanwhile, New York’s Metropolitan Opera said it would not work with Russian artists and organizations who support Putin until the invasion of Ukraine ends.

US public broadcaster NPR reported in 2014 that Gergiev’s friendship with Putin spans decades. Gergiev has also supported Putin’s policies that restrict the rights of LGBTQ citizens, which led to protests against the conductor at arts venues in previous years.

In 2014, Gergiev signed an open letter with a group of Russian cultural figures stating their support for Putin’s annexation of Crimea, prompting more protests against him in New York.

The show in Beijing this week comes after Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Putin in Moscow earlier this month, with the two leaders releasing a joint statement vowing to deepen their countries’ cooperation and friendship.

China remains a lone voice supporting an increasingly isolated Putin; throughout the war, Beijing has backed Kremlin rhetoric blaming NATO for the conflict, refused to condemn the invasion, and increased economic support for Moscow by upping purchases of Russian fuel.

Source: Deutsche Grammophon