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The Russian maestro, who directs the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, will conduct the Bolshoi in Moscow, replacing Vladimir Urin, who had spoken out against the war in Ukraine.
By Javier C. Hernández and Ivan Nechepurenko
Valery Gergiev, the star Russian maestro and prominent supporter of President Vladimir Putin, was appointed director of Moscow’s famed Bolshoi Theatre on Friday, the Russian government announced.
This decision, effective immediately, will increase Gergiev’s dominance at the pinnacle of Russian culture. He is already artistic and general director of the country’s leading performing arts institution, the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. In Moscow he replaces Vladimir Ourin, general director of the Bolshoi since 2013, who last year signed a petition expressing his opposition to the war in Ukraine.
Mr. Gergiev will serve a five-year term, according to an order signed by Prime Minister Mikhail V. Mishustin. In a post on Telegram, Russia’s government said that Mr. Urin had been “relieved of this position at his own request.”
Mr. Gergiev appeared on Friday alongside Mr. Urin at the Bolshoi, which houses renowned ballet and opera companies as well as an orchestra. He was introduced to the theater’s staff by Tatyana Golikova, a deputy prime minister, and praised the Bolshoi’s history of artistic excellence. Mr. Gergiev said the theater, which has lost many of its overseas engagements because of the war, should focus on working “at home” in Russia.
“I know that the Bolshoi has been headed by great artists and major statesmen,” he said, according to a video of the meeting published by Russian news outlets. “Everyone tried to do everything to multiply the glory of this great collective, this unique building — complex of buildings — in the heart of Moscow.”
By opting for Gergiev, 70, to lead the Bolshoi, Putin rewarded a famous musician and his unwavering best friend who once supported his re-election and conducted concerts in Russia and publicized his policies. others since the early 1990s, when Putin was a civil servant in St. Petersburg and Gergiev ran the Mariinsky.
Mr. Urin’s fate at the Bolshoi had been in doubt since his call appeared in the anti-war petition. At times, Putin has seemed to want to say that his days were numbered; In March 2022, he publicly asked Gergiev if he was interested in “recreating a not unusual address” linking the Bolshoi with the Mariinsky.
But Mr. Urin, 76, defied expectations for a time, maintaining his post even as other artists and cultural leaders who denounced the war faced reprisals or left the country. He said in an interview with a Russian news outlet earlier this year that it was “not an easy time” for the Bolshoi.
Mr. Urin announced his resignation to colleagues on Thursday after a performance at the Bolshoi of César Cui’s “The Mandarin’s Son” and Stravinsky’s “The Nightingale,” Russian news outlets reported.
“Today I bid you farewell, because today is my last day of painting at the Bolshoi Theater,” Urin said in a speech to colleagues, according to a video posted online.
Despite Mr. Putin’s remarks last year, his advisers have since suggested that the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky will not be merged.
As rumors about a leadership change at the Bolshoi spread last month, Mikhail Shvydkoy, Mr. Putin’s special representative on cultural matters, said that the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky were too distinct to be joined. “Nobody is talking about the unification of the two theaters,” he said. “This is impossible.”
On Friday, Golikova reiterated that message: Cinemas “would exist as they have been: as separate legal entities. “
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr. Gergiev, whose extensive international career once made him one of the busiest maestros in the world, has been persona non grata in the United States and Europe. His touring schedule dried up in the West, and he was fired by the Munich Philharmonic, where he had been chief conductor, because of his long record of support for Mr. Putin.
After the invasion, many cultural establishments in the U. S. and Europe cut ties with Russian artists and establishments heavily connected to Putin, ending decades of cultural exchanges that had lasted even at the height of the Cold War.
The Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters faced cancellations of performances set for London, Madrid, New York and elsewhere, and a popular program to broadcast Bolshoi performances into more than 1,700 movie theaters in 70 countries and territories was suspended. Licenses to perform foreign works at Russian theaters expired, and some Russian choreographers and directors asked that their names be removed from works performed in Russia. Several Russian stars with ties to Mr. Putin lost work in the West, including the soprano Anna Netrebko and the pianist Denis Matsuev.
Mr. Urin, who played a key role in steering the Bolshoi after the shock of the 2013 acid attack on the ballet director Sergei Filin, tried to maintain a sense of normalcy, pushing forward with performances of classics like the ballet “Giselle” and the opera “Eugene Onegin.” But the war created new complications. He said at one point that he could not stage works by artists who spoke out against the invasion because it might create a “serious negative reaction,” according to Russian news reports.
Demand for features at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky seems to have remained strong in recent months. A stampede erupted outside the Bolshoi last month when several hundred people barricaded themselves to buy tickets for a popular performance of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,” according to Russian media.
With the West out of reach, the Bolshoi and Mariinsky turned to other foreign markets, including China, where Russian artists and cultural teams were warmly welcomed. Gergiev and Mariinsky have toured China three times this year; The Bolshoi made that impression in Beijing this summer.
Alex Marshall contributed reporting. Milana Mazaeva contributed to the research.
Javier C. Hernandez is a cultural journalist covering the world of classical music and dance in New York City and beyond. He joined The Times in 2008 and in the past worked as a correspondent in Beijing and New York. Learn more about Javier C. hernandez
Ivan Nechepurenko has been a journalist at The Times since 2015 and covers politics, economics and culture in Russia and the former Soviet republics. He grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia and Pyatykhatky, Ukraine. Learn more about Ivan Nechepurenko
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