Rome, Jul 21 (AP) A concert by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been cancelled, organisers in Italy announced Monday, following protests against giving the stage to the conductor who has been largely barred from European venues for failing to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Gergiev had been invited to conduct during a summer festival at the Royal Palace of Caserta near Naples next Sunday. The regional governor, Vincenzo de Luca, had defended the invitation, saying that “the logic of preclusion … does not help peace."

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The invitation had been widely criticised by human rights activists, Russian opposition figures and European parliamentarians.

Gergiev, who is head of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Russian state theatres, is considered close to President Vladimir Putin.

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Milan's La Scala was the first theatre in the West to cut off relations with Gergiev, who was engaged at the theatre when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, after he failed to respond to Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala's appeal to speak out against the war. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)