The most famous Russian conductor refused to perform in Italy on the advice of friends

Estonia and Latvia contributed to the cancellation of the concert of conductor, People's Artist of Russia Valery Gergiev at the festival in Italy last summer. The musician himself told the NSN portal about this on the sidelines of the SPIEF.

"I just didn't go there because my friends said, 'Don't come.' If I want to perform in Italy, I don't say: "Call me," he explained.

Gergiev added that he receives invitations, they bring him relevant letters.

"And then they say: "Someone came from Latvia, Estonia, they are against it." I used to think about music, not about politicians from other countries," the artist explained.

He stressed that in In Russia, at the same time, you can regularly listen to the music of Italian composers.

"We are not interested in political connections, we have almost all Giuseppe Verdi sounds. Vincenzo Bellini, Antonio Rosetti sound constantly. This is the most important thing. That's when it doesn't happen, then it will be bad," Gergiev concluded.

As EADaily reported, Gergiev was scheduled to perform at the Royal Palace of Caserta with the Philharmonic Orchestra from Salerno and the soloists of the Mariinsky Theater as part of the Un'estate da RE festival in southern Italy. On the eve of his concert, a real protest campaign unfolded, which was launched by the Vice-speaker of the European Parliament, Pina Picerno, who called for the cancellation of the performance of the Russian conductor.

The initiative was joined by Ukrainian activists who started buying tickets for the concert of the Russian conductor.

A week before the concert, it became known that the performance of the Russian conductor was canceled. There were concerns about possible protests organized by Ukrainian associations, the directorate of the Royal Palace of Caserta, where the concert was to take place, said in a statement.