Around the Music Festival

Conductor Valery Gergiev, General Director and Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, has been appointed General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre. Vladimir Ulin, who has served as general director until now, will step down on November 30, and he and Deputy Prime Minister Golikova met together on the same day, Russian media reported.

Gergiev’s term of office is five years, according to reports in Russia. The deputy prime minister said at the press conference that the two theaters will not merge and will continue to exist as independent legal entities. This is the first time since the Russian Revolution of 1917 that one person will serve as general director of both.

It was in 2013 that Ulin took over as head of the Bolshoi Theatre. Prior to that, he had headed the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theaters since 1995. After his appointment, a contract renewal gave Ulin’s term of office until 2027.

Last March, however, he submitted a petition to President Putin, jointly with 16 artists, including Vladimir Spivakov, an international violinist and conductor, calling for a halt to special operations in Ukraine. The president responded by proposing to oversee the two theaters at a remote meeting with Gergiev at the end of March.

Gergiev will be 70 years old this May. He lost almost all of his overseas posts and jobs, including the post of chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, because he remained silent and did not criticize President Putin after the invasion of Ukraine. The Mariinsky Theatre’s overseas tours are now also limited to a limited number of countries, including China and North Korea.

Photo：Bolshoi Theater　/　Damir Yusupov