FILE - A view of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 1, 2020. Valery Gergiev, who has served as director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, was also appointed Friday by the Russian government the director of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)FILE - Mariinsky Theatre's Artistic Director Valery Gergiev gestures prior to a plenary session of the IX International Cultural Forum - Forum of United Cultures in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. Gergiev, who has served as director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, was also appointed Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 by the Russian government the director of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)FILE - Mariinsky Theatre's Artistic Director Valery Gergiev, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk to each other in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. Gergiev, who has served as director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, was also appointed Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 by the Russian government the director of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)FILE - Russian artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater, conductor Valery Gergiev attends the Presidential Council for Culture and Art in the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017. Gergiev, who has served as director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, was also appointed Friday, Dec. 1,2023 by the Russian government the director of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP, File)State Academic Mariinsky Theatre Artistic and General Director Valery Gergiev, left, and Serbia's Film Director and Musician Emir Kusturica attend a plenary session of the IX International Cultural Forum - Forum of United Cultures in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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FILE - A view of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 1, 2020. Valery Gergiev, who has served as director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, was also appointed Friday by the Russian government the director of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
MOSCOW – The Russian government on Friday named Valery Gergiev, the renowned director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, to also lead Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre.
Gergiev is replacing Vladimir Urin at the Bolshoi. Urin announced Thursday that he was stepping down after a decade, but didn't explain the reason behind his move.
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Some Russian media said the departure of 76-year-old Urin was related to health issues. Others speculated it was linked to a letter calling for an end to Moscow's military action in Ukraine that he and some other prominent cultural figures signed after the Kremlin sent troops across the border in February 2022.
Several other theater directors who signed the letter have lost their jobs since then.
Russian President Vladimir Putin first suggested in March 2022 the idea of putting the countries' two most prominent theaters, the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky, under single leadership.
Gergiev, 70, a world-famous conductor who has been the director of Mariinsky Theatre for 35 years, has been a strong supporter of Putin and his policies.
A week after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, he lost the job of conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and some other European theaters also cut ties with him over his failure to denounce the Kremlin's action
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