25/2/2022

The Appearance by Russian Conductor Valery Gergiev is cancelled

In response to the military attack of Russian armed forces against Ukraine, the organizers of the Dvořák Prague Festival decided that Russian conductor Valery Gergiev is not going to lead the Munich Philharmonic orchestra with cellist Truls Mørk on 9 September 2022.

“We can neither ignore the current events in Ukraine nor fail to show our solidarity with the innocent victims of the war that has begun. Our festival is taking clear action by cancelling the appearance by the conductor Valery Gergiev because of his historically documented support for Russia’s aggressive foreign policy and for President Putin himself. We cannot remain indifferent in this situation, which concerns all of us who live for democracy however much we would like to separate politics from the arts,” explains Robert Kolář, director of the Academy of Classical Music, organizer of the festival.

We are in negotiations to contract another conductor to lead the orchestra at the concert on 9 September 2022. The name will be announced shortly. Of course, we are offering a refund to those who do not wish to attend the concert anymore. Please email us at vstupenky@dvorakovapraha.cz.