Italian Politicians are divided over Valery Gergiev’s return to conducting in Italy.

The concert, which is set to be held on July 27 at the Reggia di Caserta, has been met with criticism and support because the festival in which Gergiev is performing is being bankrolled by the European Union.

According to The New York Times, its funding flows, via Italy’s national government, to a company owned by the Campania region.

Among the most critical is Pina Picierno, who took to X to condemn Gergiev’s participation. She later spoke to the New York Times and noted, that she had “called on the European Union to ensure that its funds would not be used to support ‘initiatives linked to personalities close to regimes contrary to European values.'”

However, Vincenzo De Luca, the president of the Campania region, defended the festival’s decision to engage Gergiev. He told the Times that the invitation showed that “dialogue between people can grow and the values of human solidarity can develop.”

Since the War in Ukraine began, Valery Gergiev has become the General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre, was named Chair of the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize, and was elected Co-Chairman of the Union of Theater Performers of Russia. He has also conducted in China, Iran, and Oman.

However, he was recently sanctioned in Canada and has been banned from almost all Western European countries for his association with Putin.

Gergeiv’s invitation to a major Italian festival during the War would not be the first time the country has invited a Putin-backed performer. Ildar Abdrazakov, who publicly endorsed Putin, performed at the Ravenna Festival in 2023.

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