“Conductor Valery Gergiev, under fire for not speaking out against new anti-gay legislation in Russia, said Thursday he was ‘hurt’ by the allegations and pledged to respect gay rights,” writes Simon Morgan in a Thursday (12/19) Agence France-Presse report. “In a letter to Munich authorities, where he is scheduled to become chief conductor of the Philharmonic in 2015, Gergiev insisted he fully supported the German city’s anti-discrimination laws…. ‘Ways of behaviour that contradict these principles will not be tolerated,’ the conductor wrote…. ‘In my entire professional career as an artist I have always and everywhere adhered to these principles and will do so in the future.’ … Gergiev is artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg and chief conductor [through 2015] of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO)…. He is also a very vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government recently passed legislation banning the dissemination of ‘gay propaganda’ to minors…. As a result, the conductor was targeted by gay rights demonstrators outside appearances in New York and London earlier this year. And activists staged a protest outside a concert by Gergiev at Munich’s Philharmonic Hall late Wednesday.”
Posted December 20, 2013
