Gergiev's concert at the Royal Palace of Caserta has been canceled, while Putin's "ambassador" conductor's performance has been denied.

The symphony concert conducted by Valery Gergiev scheduled for Sunday, July 27, at the Royal Palace of Caserta as part of the "A Royal Summer" musical series will not take place . The management of the Royal Palace of Caserta communicated the decision to cancel the performance to Scabec, the Campania Region company that organizes the musical series.

"The management of the Royal Palace of Caserta has cancelled the symphony concert conducted by Valery Gergiev, scheduled for July 27th in the courtyard of the Vanvitellian Complex as part of the "Un'Estate da Re " (A Summer for a King) festival," reads a statement released by the Vanvitellian Complex's communications office.

A concert, that of the well-known conductor Gergiev, which had sparked a furious political controversy due to the musician's well-known closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin : Yulia Navalnaya , widow of the political dissident Alexei Navalny , who died in prison in Russia in February 2024, had also expressed her opposition to his presence at the Royal Palace of Caserta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in a letter.

Navalnaya recalled that Gergiev is not only "a dear friend" of Putin, but also "his accomplice and supporter." "For several years, Gergiev has used the substantial funds from a charitable foundation named after him for personal gain," Navalny's widow recalled. "These resources, essentially owned by the Russian state and intended to support theaters and young talent, have been used to ensure his comfortable life. Valery Gergiev is not just a fellow traveler of the dictatorial regime: he has become an integral part of it. Precisely for this reason he has never condemned Putin for the invasion of Ukraine : isn't that enough to never invite him to international music festivals again?"

In the “chronology” of relations between Gergiev and Putin, one can go back to 2014, when the conductor publicly supported the illegal annexation of Crimea , or two years later, in 2016, when he held a symphony concert in the Roman theatre of Palmyra , a Syrian city conquered by the Islamic State in May 2015 and liberated the following year by the Syrian army loyal to dictator Bashar al Assad with the support of Russian soldiers.

This accusation was shared by numerous Nobel laureates who had written to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen , the Italian authorities, and the governor of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, urging them to prevent Gergiev from performing at the Royal Palace. Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli , who has been repeatedly called into question in recent days, while emphasizing that "art is free and cannot be censored," also clarified that "propaganda, however, even when done with talent, is another matter."

For his part, Campo De Luca, the governor, staunchly defended the Region's decision, emphasizing the desire to confirm the concert despite international appeals and calling the situation "disconcerting," wondering where "the line lies between freedom of expression and propaganda."

Gergiev has not conducted in Italy since February 23, 2022 , when he performed at Milan's Teatro alla Scala in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the outbreak of the conflict, Gergiev was removed from various cultural institutions , including La Scala itself, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Munich Philharmonic.