Gergiev has one last friend in the West

Gergiev has one last friend in the West

News

norman lebrecht

March 01, 2022

While Putin’s baton has been sacked from all his posts outside Russia and has been dropped by his European agent, one old friend of Valery Gergiev’s is still offering him for engagements.

The boutique agency of Doug Sheldon, former head of the collapsed CAMI agency, continues to advertise Gergiev in these glowing terms:

Valery Gergiev is a vivid representative of the St. Petersburg conducting school. His debut at the Mariinsky (then Kirov) Theatre came in 1978 with Prokofiev’s War and Peace. In 1988 Valery Gergiev was appointed Music Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, and in 1996 he became its Artistic and General Director.

With his arrival at the helm, it became a tradition to hold major festivals, marking various anniversaries of composers. Through Gergiev’s efforts, the Mariinsky Theatre has revived Wagner’s operas. The Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev has scaled new heights, assimilating not just opera and ballet scores, but also an expansive symphony music repertoire.

Under Gergiev’s direction the Mariinsky Theatre has become a major theatre and concert complex, without par anywhere in the world. In 2006 the Concert Hall was opened, followed in 2013 by the theatre’s second stage (the Mariinsky-II), while since 1 January 2016 the Mariinsky Theatre has had a branch in Vladivostok – the Primorsky Stage. 2009 saw the launch of the Mariinsky label, which to date has released more than thirty discs and fifteen Blu-Ray DVDs that have received great acclaim from the critics and the public throughout the world. In the past 25 years Maestro Gergiev has led the Mariinsky Orchestra, Opera and Ballet to over 50 countries with continuing recurring visits to Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Valery Gergiev’s international activities are no less intensive. He successfully collaborates with the world’s great opera houses and has led world renowned orchestras, such as World Orchestra for Peace (which he has directed since 1997), the Philharmonic Orchestras of Berlin, Paris, Vienna, New York and Los Angeles, the Symphony Orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and San Francisco, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam) and many other ensembles. From 1995 to 2008 Valery Gergiev was Principal Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (of which he remains an honorary conductor to this day), and from 2007 to 2015 of the London Symphony Orchestra. Since autumn 2015 the maestro has headed the Munich Philharmonic.

Valery Gergiev is the founder and director of prestigious international festivals including the Stars of the White Nights (since 1993) and the Moscow Easter Festival (since 2002), among many others. Since 2011 he has directed the organizational committee of the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Valery Gergiev’s musical and public activities have brought him acclaimed awards such as the Hero of Labour (2013), the Order of Alexander Nevsky (2016), the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence Arts and Culture Award (2017) and prestigious State awards of Armenia, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, France and Japan.

 

Comments

  • John Thompson says:

    And the same applies to Repin, another famous Putin supporter and one of Sheldon’s artists.

  • Elizabeth Owen says:

    Reads like an obituary.

  • Herr Doktor says:

    Hey Val, there’s an opening at the Pyongyang Philharmonic.

  • Thomas M. says:

    Then the best course of action would be to boycot ALL of Doug Sheldon’s clients until he drops Gergiev.

    • Tamino says:

      Sure, back to the middle ages! Let’s punish whole families, if one does wrong!
      Really, what happened? Has everyone gotten nuts? Is it the virus?
      Age of enlightenment, bon soir.

  • Doug’s a good guy. Give him time.

  • John Borstlap says:

    Mr Sheldon has been in anxious lockdown for two years and had no news from the real world.

  • Giles says:

    Sorry, but this is lazy reporting. A brief intro and then paragraphs of direct quoting from a marketing blurb. To make matters worse, you’re effectively advertising the worth of a man who should be condemned for his support of Putin’s wars.

  • Hanson says:

    Well, but it is correct data that Sheldon writes here, is it not? We should not rewrite history because of Putins shameful and criminal war. And freespeech is still a god thing

    • Samira Timur says:

      No one is rewriting history except Putin and his followers !!! Gergiev is sure one, Netrebko and her husband are next. They ARE supporting Putin’s horrendous act !! Instead of raising their voices! They are scared of begging for bread one day !! They should return to their country ! The West is tired of them !

  • Tamino says:

    What is this?
    The new Spanish Inquisition?
    The Second Great Purge?
    Has McCarthy been resurrected?

    • Victoryman says:

      Virtue signaling has become a profession.

    • Artist from Croatia says:

      It seems out western propaganda has completed it’s cause: demonize all Russians.
      Let’s kill all Russian ballet dancers, let’s kill all Russian teachers, let’s kill all Russian neighbors.
      It’s the same nazi propaganda as the anti-Semitic propaganda in Germany 1939. A good way to justify any evil.

      • Cocoo says:

        Has someone advocated “let’s kill all….?” Don’t equate the slaughter of the Jewish community across several countries in less than six years with demanding that people take a stand for justice or go to a place where such unconscionable behavior is accepted and embraced. They can perform for their own citizens. They will continue to live a good life under the patronage of Putin and his oligarchs. There are other talented artists who can take their place.

    • opus30 says:

      Yes, and his first name is Kevin.

    • Cocoo says:

      Seems to me that the Great Purge is led by Putin.

  • West says:

    Gergiev should be dropped off at the Polish/Ukraine border and instructed to hitch a ride home.

  • ENRIQUE SANCHEZ says:

    He IS rather up in his years, cut him some slack.

  • christopher storey says:

    I never thought John McEnroe would come to mind on Slipped Disc , but ” You cannot be serious!!”

  • Pooh Bear says:

    A great being recently explained, “There is only one evil — ignorance.”

    We all need to listen and learn before opining our ignorance and revealing our support of the elite fear mongers.

    Watch “Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault? ”
    by Professor John Mearsheimer,
    renown historian at U. of Chicago
    On YouTube

    https://youtu.be/JrMiSQAGOS4

    Read “America’s Ukraine Hypocrisy
    The extent of the Obama administration’s meddling in Ukraine’s politics was breathtaking.”

    by Ted Galen Carpenter, senior fellow in defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, DC
    On Google

    • MacroV says:

      I’ve liked some of Mearsheimer’s work, but I don’t care if Ukraine is the West’s fault (which Mearsheimer said/wrote about six years ago); there is NO justification for the Russian attack on Ukraine. None.

      And a CATO Institute analyst isn’t particularly credible, Koch-backed institution that it is.

      • MD says:

        Debate the ideas not the man. I’m not a supporter of the CATO institute by any stretch, however his analysis is not what one would expect coming from that side. The fact that it’s six year old, if anything shows that this is a problem that has been present for a longtime. While there is no justification for an invasion of another country, there is also no justification for having played that game on the heads of Ukrainians. I amazed that so many seem to think that Ukrainians’ desire to join NATO was so strong they would go to war and die to assert it

  • MacroV says:

    Give him time. Nobody in the west is looking to book Gergiev at the moment so Mr. Sheldon probably won’t be very busy. And the blurb is true and pre-dates the invasion, though the time to deal with Gergiev should have come long ago (not just in 2014, but probably in 2008 when he and the Maryinsky orchestra went to play a concert in Tskhinvali, just to rub in the recent Russian takeover.

  • Tamino says:

    One reads this comment section and realises fully: classical music does nothing to make people be better than the mob.

  • André Brochu says:

    Gergiev still has one more friend, a retired librarian, who appreciates his work through videos. He is attacked by a bunch of cultural illiterates. Just like Valentina Lisitsa. I can imagine what is said about the deceased military conductor and composer Valery Khalilov. Gergiev is always welcome in my humble home. André Brochu, an avid listener of Radio Orfé Moscow 99,2 FM

  • Anthony Guterwicz says:

    As Pickering says in Pygmalian – “Morals? Can’t afford ’em, Governor.”

  • Anca says:

    People shouldn’t attend Gergiev’s concerts! People shouldn’t buy gas from Luckoil gas stations, all over Europe.

  • Stella Vaughan says:

    Why has the West been sucked in by neo-Nazi Ukrainian propaganda?

  • Mr Frank O'Mahony. says:

    Good for Valery Girgiev, he’s done nothing wrong but is being hounded by a bunch of war mongers.

  • Disappointed says:

    Very disappointed by Valery Gergiev. He is a Disgrace. No more engagements for him in civilized countries. He can play music for the new Hitler in Russia.

  • Lokman Merican says:

    One’s professional accomplishments should stand apart from one’s public or private opinions, be they good or bad.

    • John Borstlap says:

      Hitler created many jobs for the unemployed Germans and built beautiful highways, and supported Bayreuth. Also he professionally built-up the army, all well-done professional accomplishments. But somehow…..

  • Gregor Tassie says:

    I am actually getting sick of this continuing slander against Gergiev, he is one of the finest conductors anywhere, and totally irreplaceable in the firmament of world music-making. He brought the Mariinsky Theatre out of obscurity and transformed it into one of the great opera and ballet companies, yet what does he get for this – shallow lies and open-faced hatred from people who should know better. After this crisis is over, a lot of people are going to regret what is been done today – in the name of what???

    • John Borstlap says:

      It is wholeheartedly recommended to read a bit before you reveal your ignorance. It is quite unbecoming for family and friends, and will cause a lot of shame and regret later-on.

    • The View from America says:

      “After this crisis is over …”

      How long will that be for the Ukrainians?

    • Samira Timur says:

      In the name of Karma ! There is no other word.

    • Cocoo says:

      No-one is irreplaceable. He made his decision, he must live with the consequences as must his fellow citizens who share his convictions.

  • Harry Collier says:

    Two last friends in the West. I don’t care about musicians’ sexual orientation, race, religion or politics. I greatly enjoy many fine recordings conducted by Gergiev and I greatly respect him as a conductor of (mainly) Russian composers. As for the rest: I leave that to the geopolitical websites.

  • David Landau says:

    What a travesty to punish classical musicians for failing to support a political cause or viewpoint. Why not, extend the same treatment to doctors or to architects? And then to ordinary citizens? That’s where this totalitarian exercise is going. If classical musicians allow themselves to be bound to political causes, they are not doing their work as musicians. And musicians who prioritize their own political viewpoints quit being artists whenever they insist on their viewpoints. The real perpetrators in this case are those wielding a stick against Gergiev. And the stick is not a baton.

  • Chris says:

    I will neither listen to or see any further presentation by a man who can associate himself with the incarnation of evil, Putin.

  • Robert Henri Graf says:

    We’re having a Furtwangler moment. Gergiev is an artist, not a politician or an oligarch. He didn’t invade anyone. And certainly, many of the self righteous twits criticising him have never raised their voices over the far greater transgressions of western imperialism.

  • Nameless says:

    perhaps leave this particular witch hunt out of the charges against for now , lest they confuse the true scope of their immoral social engineering ..allowing students to read Mein Kampf was already a worrying sign ..Mandatory gassing of chickens by Dutch and German farmers saying it is more humane, is very dubious .what were they teaching their children ?

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