Valery Gergiev is set to become the General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre.

According to Opera Magazine, the Russian conductor will replace Vladimir Urin and will remain head of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. Gergiev will be the first leader of both major Russian theaters for the first time since Tsarist times.

The news comes a year after Putin invited Gergiev to unify the Bolshoi Theatre and Marrinsky Theatre.

Since the war broke out in 2022, Gergiev has been shunned from the Western world for his support of Putin and has mainly conducted in Russia. In March 2023, he went on tour in China where he was received with sold-out shows.