Valery Gergiev has been dropped by his management company over his ties with Vladimir Putin. Valery is known to be an old friend and supporter of Putin. Therefore, he has been facing increasing pressure from the public to speak out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine over the last week.
Valery was expected to denounce the Russian president or face more professional punishment publicly. In May, Valery had two performances canceled in the Mariinsky Orchestra and was replaced for three-weekend performances by the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. He was further removed from two Vienna Philharmonic performances in Naples, Florida.
Even his manager, Marcus Felsner, announced the dropping of Gergiev if he couldn't end his long-expressed support for a regime that had committed crimes. He released a statement that said it was the saddest day of his professional life as it had become impossible for them to defend the interests of Maestro Gergiev. The Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, who was also the president of the city's La Scala opera house, had urged Gergiev to condemn Russia's invasion. He declared that the collaboration would be over if Gergiev didn't issue a statement.
The spokesperson of La Scala reported that Gergiev would be dropped from the performance on 5 March if he chose not to speak out. The spokesperson said that they were still waiting for his answer. Moreover, The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra that ran the annual Gergiev festival also urged Gergiev to stop his support for Putin, and if not, his upcoming festival in September would be canceled too.
Net Worth Of Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev is considered Russia's highest-paid musician who has an estimated salary of $16,500,000 based in 2011-12 as per the records of the Russian bureau of Forbes.
Valery Gergiev started his career with the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad in 1978 and became the Principal Conductor of the Armenian State Orchestra from 1981 to 1985. He made his European opera debut in 1991 and conducted Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov with the Bavarian State Opera. He also led the San Francisco Opera's production of War and Peace in the United States the same year. He got named the Conductor of the Year at the Classical Music Awards in London in 1993.
He founded the St. Petersburg White Nights Festival and the Mikkeli International Music Festival. He was named the Best Conductor for his version of Richard Wagner's Die Walkure at Moscow's Golden Mask Festival in 2002. He then released recordings featuring works with composers from Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union. Some of them were Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace, Songs and Dances of Death, Massenet Herodiadem Glinka: Russian and Lyudmila, Geig and Chopin: Piano Concertos and more.
Valery Gergiev Married Life & Parents Details
Valery Gergiev was born to a father who was a veteran in the Second World War and the commander of the whole battalion. His mother was Lagkueva Tamara Timofeevna, and he has two sisters named Tamara and Larisa. He got married and started his own family in 1999. His wife is Natalya Denisova, and it is known that she was one of the most promising graduates of the art school located in Vladivostok.
Valery is a parent to three children with his wife, and his first child, Abigail, was named after his grandfather, born in 2000. His second son was named by himself, and he was born in 2001, and their youngest daughter was born in 2003. Valery is also a father to an illegitimate daughter named Natasha, born in 1985, and her mother's name is unknown.