EIF drops Russian conductor
Valery Gergiev dropped as Festival’s Honorary President
Leading Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been removed as the Edinburgh International Festival’s Honorary president out of sympathy with the people of Kyiv.
Created in 1947 to “celebrate the enduring human spirit” and bring the warring nations together following the end of WW2, the EIF is currently preparing its 75th anniversary season. An announcement is expected at the end of March for this August’s event.
Valery Gergiev pic Alberto Venzago
Gergiev has been associated with the EIF since 1991. In 2011, the then festival director Jonathan Mills asked him to become its third honorary president, following in the footsteps of Yehudi Menuhin and Charles Mackerras.
A conductor of international reputation – some say the best in the world – Gergiev is also said to be a close friend and associate of Vladimir Putin and has regularly expressed his support for the Russian president and his actions.
This weekend he was dropped by his management over these ties, removed from conducting engagements around the world and asked to either denounce Putin or be fired as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic.
twinned with the city of Kyiv
In a statement issued on Monday night, the EIF said: “The board of trustees of the Edinburgh International Festival has asked for, and accepted the resignation of, Valery Gergiev as Honorary President of the Festival.
“Edinburgh is twinned with the city of Kyiv and this action is being taken in sympathy with, and support of, its citizens.”
Gergiev’s association with the EIF began when he brought the Kirov Opera, now known as the Mariinsky Opera, to perform Mussorgsky’s opera Khovanshchina at the Edinburgh Playhouse and a series of concerts of Mussorgsky’s work at the Usher Hall.
He returned with the Kirov in 1995 and 1997 and with the Mariinsky Opera in 2008 and 2011. He has also appeared at the EIF at the helm of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra.
In the 2021 semi-outdoors festival, he conducted the RSNO and pianist Steven Osborne in the temporary concert hall tent at Edinburgh Academy Junior School.
Background
When Gergiev’s role as Honorary President was announced in 2011, the EIF issued the following statement:
New Honorary President of Edinburgh International Festival announced
Tonight, Thursday 1 September, at the Festival Theatre, Festival Director Jonathan Mills announces Valery Gergiev as the new Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival.
Gergiev’s association with the Festival began 20 years ago in 1991 when he brought the Kirov Opera, now known as the Mariinsky Opera, performing Mussorgsky’s opera Khovanshchina at the Edinburgh Playhouse and a series of concerts of Mussorgsky’s work at the Usher Hall.
Thereafter he returned with the Kirov in 1995 with Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, Rimsky Korsakov’s Sadko and The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, in 1997 performing three programmes of Prokofiev, in 2008 as the Mariinsky Opera performing Szymanowski’s Król Roger and Shchedrin’s The Enchanted Wanderer as well as Rachmaninov’s Aleko and Prokofiev’s Semyon Kotko. He has also appeared at the Festival at the helm of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra in a series of concerts focusing on the works of Prokofiev.
Maestro Gergiev is only the third person to be invited to become Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival Society, his predecessors being Yehudi Menuhin and Charles Mackerras.
Jonathan Mills Festival Director said: ‘Valery Gergiev has brought the Festival many outstanding performances with the Mariinsky Opera, London Symphony Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and is hugely popular with Festival audiences. In honour of his dedication and enthusiasm for the Festival and because his artistic values parallel those of the Edinburgh International Festival, I am very proud to announce Valery Gergiev as the Festival’s Honorary President, and we are delighted that he has accepted this position. Not only is he a superb talent, he is a truly international figure and a great humanitarian.
‘I am certain that the Mariinsky Opera’s stunning production of Strauss’s epic Die Frau ohne Schatten will move and entertain audiences. The opera continues till Saturday and there are still a very few tickets remaining. I urge everyone to get along and enjoy this wonderfully sung, spectacularly staged, huge production. The Festival very much looks forward to continuing and developing our relationship with Valery Gergiev into the future.’
Valery Gergiev, Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival Society said: ‘I am delighted to be named as Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival Society.
‘I can easily celebrate my 20 years with the Edinburgh International Festival, it is a wonderful place to visit. We artists come here with a tremendous sense of responsibility and excitement. I very much hope that the Festival continues to thrive and flourish and I am very privileged to be part of its future.’
– ENDS –
ENDS
