Two letters demanding the cancellation of conductor Valery Gergiev’s July 27th concert at Caserta’s Royal Palace, citing his status as a “public and official supporter of Vladimir Putin,” have ignited controversy. Organized by Memorial Italia, a petition backing the letters gathered over 16,000 signatures in a single day, including Nobel laureates, sparking a political row.
One letter targets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca, while the other addresses Italian Chamber of Deputies President Lorenzo Fontana and Senate President Ignazio La Russa. Caserta police, via the DIGOS unit, are monitoring the event amid fears protests by Ukrainian associations and Russian dissidents could reach inside the venue. Notably, Ukrainian group representatives have purchased many front-row tickets, according to one association president.
The controversy extends to a Prokofiev production directed by Gergiev at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, featuring giant backdrops drawing parallels between the war against Nazism and the current conflict in Ukraine, portrayed as a fight for Donbas liberation.
Prominent signatories of the first letter include Nobel Peace Prize winners Oleksandra Matviichuk (Kyiv Center for Civil Liberties), Oleg Orlov, Svetlana Gannushkina, and Irina Shcherbakova (Memorial); Nobel Literature laureate Herta Müller; authors Jonathan Littell and Mikhail Shishkin; choreographer Alexei Ratmansky; historian Anna Foa; and European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno. The letter also calls for an EU probe into public funding for Russian propaganda-linked events and a cultural fund for artists opposing Putin’s regime.
The petition states: “We write to express our deepest concern… This publicly funded concert marks Gergiev’s symbolic return to the European cultural scene. This is not a neutral act. It is a political gesture risking legitimization of the regime he represents and the violence it continues to unleash.”
The second letter urges Italian authorities to create a parliamentary oversight body to counter Russian propaganda, citing examples like Russia Today documentaries screened in Italy despite EU sanctions.
Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani emphasized the government did not invite Gergiev, placing responsibility on Governor De Luca. Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi cautiously suggested evaluating “the boundary between art and propaganda.” Governor De Luca, reiterating support for “dialogue and a ceasefire,” countered critics: “They get upset about a concert, yet 70 to 120 children die daily in Gaza with no outcry. The government was troubled by this concert after it used a state plane to escort someone deemed a war criminal by international courts to Libya – and no one was troubled then. Next time, I’ll tell the artistic director to get authorization from Almasri.”