“Art is free and cannot be censored. Propaganda, however, even if done with talent, is something else,” Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said in a statement.
Gergiev’s concert in Italy “risks sending the wrong message,” Giuli said, and could turn the festival “into a sounding board for Russian propaganda.” Still, the minister clarified that the festival organizers are free to invite whomever they choose.
Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, also condemned Gergiev’s appearance in Italy amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, calling the conductor “a promoter of Putin’s criminal policy, his accomplice and supporter.”
Vincenzo De Luca, president of the Campania region where the festival will be held, responded to Navalnaya that he would not accept “logics of exclusion or interruption of dialogue, as this does not help peace.”
Gergiev did not immediately comment on the accusations.
Elena Giordano contributed to this report.
