Mariinsky Theatre completely by 2010. In 1998, Gergiev conducted the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra at the Moscow Youth Olympics. After the 2004 Beslan school massacre, Gergiev appealed on television for calm and against revenge. He conducted concerts to commemorate the victims of the massacre. His first official concert as principal conductor of the LSO was on 23 January 2007; it was originally scheduled for 13 January, but was postponed due to Gergiev's illness. In April 2007 Gergiev was one of eight conductors of British orchestras to endorse the ten-year classical music outreach manifesto, "Building on Excellence: Orchestras for the 21st century", to increase the presence of classical music in the UK, including giving free entry to all British schoolchildren to a classical music concert. During the 2008 South Ossetia war, Gergiev, who is of partial Ossetian heritage himself, accused the Georgian government of massacring ethnic Ossetians, triggering the conflict with Russia. He came to Tskhinvali and conducted a concert near the ruined building of the South Ossetian Parliament as tribute to the victims of the war. In June 2011, Gergiev joined the International Tchaikovsky Competition and introduced reforms to the organisation. In 2015 Gergiev became chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, but his contract was terminated in March 2022 after he refused to condemn the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March 2016, Gergiev conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on a South American tour. The programme included Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony in B minor, and Wagner’s prelude from “Parsifal” – usually executed together with the “Good Friday Music” from the same opera. Performances took place in two consecutive nights at the prestigious Sala São Paulo hall - home of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. The last concert included a single appearance with the Vienna Philharmonic in Bogotá, Colombia. On 5 May 2016, Gergiev performed at the Roman Theatre of Palmyra at a concert event called Praying for Palmyra – Music revives ancient ruins. It was devoted to the victims who died while liberating Palmyra from ISIS. Political involvement Gergiev has been, according to Alex Ross in The New Yorker, "a prominent supporter of the current Russian regime" of Vladimir Putin. In 2012, in a television ad for Putin's third Presidential campaign, he said: "One needs to be able to hold oneself presidentially, so that people reckon with the country. I don't know if it's fear? Respect? Reckoning." In December