Conductor with close ties to Putin out of Vienna Philharmonic US tour

Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, will no longer lead the Vienna Philharmonic in the orchestra’s U.S. tour, The Associated Press reported amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The tour, which will consist of five concerts across the country, is set to begin Friday at Carnegie Hall in New York.

“This change was made due to recent world events,” Carnegie Hall spokeswoman Synneve Carlino said of Gergiev’s release from the tour, according to the AP.

Vienna Philharmonic spokesman Ron Boling said that the orchestra refused to reveal whether the release was initiated by the Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall or Gergiev himself.

Gergiev, music director of the Mariinsky Theatre located in St. Petersburg, Russia, has regularly voiced support for Putin, who ordered an invasion of Ukraine to begin Thursday.

Gergiev, 68, was awarded with a Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation prize after the honor was reinstated by Putin in 2013.

Gergiev’s parting with the tour follows a letter from Teatro alla Scala, a theater in Milan, that asked Gergiev to release a statement in favor of peace in Ukraine before he was allowed to conduct as planned in the city.

“We are asking him to take a clear position against this invasion, and in the case in which he doesn’t do it, we are constrained to renounce the collaboration,” said Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, according to the AP. “It is clear that the culture can go on other levels, but in front of such a situation we need to act.”

Gergiev is scheduled to conduct Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades” in Milan March 5.

Denis Matsuev, a Russian pianist for the Vienna Philharmonic, will not perform in his scheduled position Friday at Carnegie Hall. Matsuev said he supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Gergiev is chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic in Germany in addition to his work directing the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.