The city of Munich said on Tuesday it has fired Valery Gergiev as the chief conductor of the city's philharmonic orchestra because of his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mayor Dieter Reiter said in a statement that Gergiev had failed to respond to a Monday deadline to distance himself from Russia's war in Ukraine.
"I had expected him to rethink and revise his very positive assessment of the Russian leader," said Reiter.
"After this didn't occur the only option is the immediate severance of ties," he added.
Gergiev has already been dropped as conductor of the Verbier Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Vienna Philharmonic's five-concert U.S. tour and other engagements in recent days.
