SAN DIEGO ARTS : Classical Music

The course of international relations does not always run smoothly. In their attempts to engage an impressive roster of Soviet conductors and performers, the ambitious planners of Carlsbad’s Batiquitos Festival of the Arts have incurred the wrath of at least one American representative for their Russian guests.

The festival’s administrative director, Kimberly Fox, confirmed that conductor Valery Gergiev will not appear during the festival scheduled for June 19-July 24. Since Fox and artistic director Michael Tseitlin had engaged individual musicians from the noted Moscow Virtuosi without going through that orchestra’s New York City agency, Classical Artists, the agency pulled Gergiev from Batiquitos’ lineup of guest conductors.

Although Tseitlin had dangled the possibility of the entire Moscow Virtuosi appearing at the festival when he announced his plans last month, Classical Artists’ Sarah Davies stated without reservation that the orchestra would not be in North America again until the fall of 1989.