“The Metropolitan Opera announced Sunday that it will suspend its ties to Russian artists and institutions who are allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” writes Anastasia Tsioulcas in Sunday’s (2/27) National Public Radio. “The Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, … did not specify which institutions and artists it intends to suspend from collaborations, but three of the most prominent that have been actively allied with Putin are the Mariinsky (formerly Kirov) Theatre in St. Petersburg; its general and artistic director, the conductor Valery Gergiev, who is also the Met’s former principal guest conductor; and star soprano Anna Netrebko…. The Met’s move comes four days after Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra dropped Gergiev and pianist Denis Matsuev from a three-concert series.… On Sunday, Gergiev’s European manager, Marcus Felsner, announced that he was dropping him as a client due to his ties to Putin…. In Germany, Munich mayor Dieter Reiter has said that if Gergiev does not denounce the invasion by Monday, he will be fired from his role as the Munich Philharmonic’s chief conductor. In the Netherlands, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra said it will drop a planned Gergiev festival in September if the conductor does not separate himself from Putin.”
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