The director of the Saint Petersburg opera, faithful among the devout, would inherit the Moscow hall, despite international criticism of his silence on the war in Ukraine.
The invasion of Ukraine continues to have effects in the world of Russian music. Tugan Sokhiev said in early March that he was retiring from his positions as musical director of the National Orchestra of Toulouse and musical director of the Bolshoi in Moscow, in the same spirit. At the same time, his compatriot Valery Gergiev was engulfed in a stillness that he hadn’t broken since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. Gergiev watched the doors of the world’s biggest venues closing one by one on his arrival, or that of his orchestra, as he refused to disassociate himself from the Kremlin’s master or criticize the war being waged, unlike many of his colleagues based overseas.
Vladimir Putin was not unaware of the story. The two gentlemen have known each other for quite some time. Valery Gergiev is well aware of his debt to the Putin system in his career as a Russian maestro of music and an international star of the orchestra. Significant investments, opportunely driven by the country’s leading organizations, have converted the famed but worn Mariinsky Hall into one of the world’s most modern stages. In exchange, Vladimir Putin has reaped the benefits of Russian cultural impact abroad, particularly in the field of classical music, where Russia appears to be an inexhaustible source of talent.
Vladimir Putin warned that the landscape of Russian music could shift significantly a month later, during a cultural talk in which he compared the West to the Third Reich. And Gergiev will be rewarded for his steadfastness.
“How do you feel about the concept of reviving a shared direction for the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky?” Putin inquired innocently of Gergiev. At the head of the Saint Petersburg opera house since 1988, Valery Gergiev can only be flattered by the proposal. In the past, the two halls had been linked under a common framework; yet we must go back to the time of the tsars and the Imperial Theaters of the Empire, an organization carried away by the Revolution of 1917. “Both the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky constitute one of the world’s most powerful musical or musico-theatrical traditions. […] This tradition, I believe, will only strengthen. These two theaters are currently filled with outstanding young singers and dancers. The moment has unquestionably arrived to consider how to better coordinate efforts.
The conductor would single-handedly appropriate Russia’s classical music by conducting the Bolshoi and Mariinsky, the country’s two largest opera houses. This approach, as Diapason pointed out, would also benefit Putin. By appointing Gergiev to lead the Bolshoi, Vladimir Urin, the present director, would be ousted. Formerly a supporter of Putin’s policies, particularly during the invasion of Crimea, the man of the theater now demands that “special operations in Ukraine” be halted.