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Russian classical music stars under pressure over Ukraine war
As the ripple effects from anger over the Ukraine war spread to the worlds of entertainment and sports, the pressure placed on Russian performers also came in for scrutiny.
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In this file photo taken on September 18, 2020 Russian conductor Valery Gergiev performs on stage with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra during the Summer Night Concert at Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. (AFP/Georg Hochmuth/Pool)
G
ermany's Munich Philharmonic fired Russian conductor and Kremlin loyalist Valery Gergiev on Tuesday after he failed to denounce Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, while a top Russian soprano withdrew from concerts as the fallout from the war engulfed artists.
Gergiev, 68, has come under pressure from classical music institutions across Europe since Russian forces entered Ukraine last week, and had already been dropped from a slew of prestigious concerts.
"With immediate effect, he will no longer be conducting concerts of the Munich Philharmonic," Munich mayor Dieter Reiter said.
The move came after Gergiev ignored a Monday deadline to publicly distance himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Milan's Scala philharmonic also said Tuesday that Gergiev would no longer conduct a concert in the Italian city on March 7.
The dismissal as Munich's chief conductor is a major blow for Gergiev, who is considered one of the world's greatest maestros.
As well as being the principal conductor of the German orchestra since 2015, Gergiev is perhaps best-known as the long-standing artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and the famous White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg.
