The Italian Ministry of Culture has reversed its decision to allow Russian conductor Valery Gergiev to perform at the Un’Estate da RE festival this summer, marking what would have been his first Western appearance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.
The concert of Russian conductor Valery Gergiev was scheduled for 27 July at the Royal Palace of Caserta, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Gergiev publicly supports the Russian regime and its military aggression against Ukraine. Russia strategically uses culture—through events, institutions, and historical narratives—as a tool to spread propaganda, justify state actions, and shape public opinion both domestically and abroad. The Ukrainian community in Italy has called to cancel his concert.
Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli explained the reversal by distinguishing between artistic freedom and political messaging. “Art is free and cannot be censored,” Giuli said, according to ANSA.
“Propaganda, however, even if done with talent, is something else. That is why the concert by Putin’s friend and adviser Valery Gergiev, which the Campania Regional Government wanted, organized and paid for, at the Reggia di Caserta, which is independent in its choice of events to host like all autonomous institutes of the ministry of culture, risks giving the wrong message,” he added.
Gergiev was scheduled to conduct the Orchestra of the Teatro Verdi di Salerno alongside soloists from the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra on 27 July. The St. Petersburg-based Mariinsky Theater is where Gergiev serves as artistic director.
The planned performance sparked significant opposition from Italian politicians and international activists. Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, urged Italy to cancel the concert.
Campania’s president Vincenzo De Luca defended the original invitation, arguing that cultural boycotts were counterproductive.
De Luca, who has criticized Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, said he invited both Gergiev and Israeli conductor Daniel Oren to keep “channels of communication open even with those who do not think like us.”
The conductor Valery Gergiev has faced widespread boycotts across Western cultural institutions since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Peter Gelb, General Manager of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, stated that Gergiev “is no less than an artistic stand-in for Putin.”
Following the invasion, Gergiev was dismissed from his position as Chief Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Additional institutions that severed ties included the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, BIS Records, Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and the Vienna Philharmonic.
Most recently, Gergiev was named on a fresh list of Canadian sanctions against Russia released in late June 2025. The sanctions were announced by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 summit.