Famed German symphony orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, sacked its 68-year-old principal conductor Valery Gergiev with immediate effect this Tuesday. Gergiev, considered to be one of the world’s finest conductors, is a significant cultural figure in Russia and a supporter and friend of Russian President Vladamir Putin. The move comes after Gergiev was dropped by his own management for refusing to cease his long support for a “criminal regime”. The decision by the Munich Philharmonic comes in the wake of many others deciding to sever their ties with the Russian conductor including Germany’s largest opera and concert house Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Milan’s noted opera house The Scala, and Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. 🗞️ Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access the best Election reporting and analysis 🗞️ The music world’s disengagement with one of the world’s busiest and most sought after conductors began after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. New York’s Carnegie Hall, the city’s most famed concert venue, cancelled two May performances by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra of which Gergiev is the general and artistic director. After this, the Vienna Philharmonic, another significant symphony orchestra in the classical music world dropped Gergiev from a five-concert tour in the US that was to start on February 25. Dieter Reiter, the mayor of Munich made the announcement on Tuesday and said the decision was taken because of the Russian musician’s nonacceptance to distance himself “unambiguously and unapologetically from the brutal war of aggression which Putin is leading against Ukraine and now in particular also against our partner city, Kyiv.” Valery Gergiev's career Born in Moscow, Gergiev was raised in North Ossetia in Caucasus – the rocky terrain towards the Southern end of Russia. He had his first piano lessons in high school before taking up conducting in his teens. He trained at Leningrad Conservatory (now St Petersburg Conservatory), he made his debut with Kirov Opera (now Mariinsky) in 1978 with War and Peace post which he began to assist Yuri Temirkanov, the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. It was in 1988 that Gergiev was appointed as the artistic director and principal conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre by the Russian government. He has appeared with all the major orchestras of Russia, the former Soviet Union apart from some of the world’s major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London's Royal Philharmonic, Rome's Santa Cecilia, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic among others. He is considered a firebrand in the world of classical music, mostly conducting with the flutter of his fingers and without the baton. Most of his shows are sold out way before they take place. How close is Gergiev to Putin? Gergiev’s support for Putin has been a topic of conversation in western classical music circles world over. The two are close friends and it’s rumoured that they are also godfathers of each other’s children. In December 2012, Gergiev sided with the Putin administration against the members of Russian band Pussy Riot, which sang about feminism, LGBTQ rights, their opposition to Putin and his policies and links to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, which supported Putin’s election campaign. They performed at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour after which two of the band members were arrested for hooliganism. He told The Independent, “ don't think this is anything to do with artistic freedom.” In March 2014, he joined Russian cultural figures in signing an open letter supporting Russia’s position on the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. He denied signing it later and said that he had only had a conversation about it with Russian politician Vladimir Medinsky. In 2016, he performed at the ruins of Palmyra, Syria, to commemorate a military operation of the Syrian Army, supported by Russian airstrikes to recapture the city from ISIS. In March 2018, he cancelled a performance at Mariinsky Theatre to attend a Putin campaign event at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. In the same year, he led a performance at the Russian National Defence Control Centre, where he, with Putin, looked at the weapons systems deployed by Russian forces in Syria. Courting controversies Gergiev’s views on homosexuality have also resulted in controversies and protests. In 2013, while he was still at Munich Philharmonic, his performances were interrupted at the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall by LGBT activist groups. They were protesting Gergiev’s support for Putin who’d just come up with an anti-gay legislation that banned the distribution of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" to minors. In the same year, Munich’s city council member Thomas Niederbühl had proposed to terminate Gergiev’s contract. But it never worked out as Gergiev always dilly-dallied on his political position in public. Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox
