Baden-Baden (dpa/lsw) – Despite the gloomy economic prospects due to the Ukraine war, the Baden-Baden Festival Hall wants to celebrate its 25th anniversary next year with seven festivals. Many international stars are said to be there, including the controversial soprano Anna Netrebko. She had been accused of being close to the Kremlin in the course of the Russian war of aggression. For artistic director Benedikt Stampa, Netrebko is part of the Festspielhaus family. “We invite artists to Baden-Baden who do not explicitly support Putin,” he explained at a press conference on Thursday.
Another member of the “family” is not invited because of his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin: the Russian conductor Valeri Gergiev. “It’s definitely not possible at the moment,” said Stampa. But forgiveness is always possible; the door was never slammed. The privately operated opera house, with 2,500 seats the largest in Germany, was on the brink of collapse shortly after it opened in 1998. Gergiev was one of those who remained loyal to the Baden-Baden Temple of the Muses.
