Instead of renouncing her support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and threatening her future engagements at Metropolitan Opera, Anna Netrebko, soprano, withdrew her resignation. This cost the company one its most popular singers and was a major box-office draw.
Peter Gelb, Met General Manager, stated in a statement that “it is a great artistic lose for the Met” and added that it was a tragedy for opera. “Anna is a great singer in Met history, but Putin’s murder of innocent Ukrainian victims was a hammer blow.”
Gelb stated Sunday that the Met would not hire artists who support Putin.
The Met tried repeatedly to convince Netrebko that Putin should be discredited in recent days, but she was unsuccessful, according to a source familiar with the developments. This is because it was not disclosed.
After the fall of the international career Russian conductor Valery Gegiev, who was close to Putin in his role as artistic director and general manager of the Mariinsky Orchestra in St. Petersburg, the Met made the decision.
The invasion by Ukraine has prompted a show solidarity in the arts & culture worldwith Ukrainians, and a backlash towards the Russian government and those who have ties to it that don’t support Putin’s actions. The ripple effects also reached international sports.
Netrebko, 50-year-old Krasnodar resident, was awarded the People’s Artist of Russia award by Putin in 2008.
After giving $18,500 (then 1 million rubles) to an opera hose in Donetsk in Ukraine, she was photographed holding a Novorussian Flag.
Netrebko pulled out of all her scheduled performances on Tuesday. Next on her list was at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, April 3. She then performed three concerts with Yusif Eyvazov (Azerbaijani Tenor), and an April 13 concert together with the Berlin Philharmonic.
“I oppose this senseless war and aggression, and I call on Russia to stop this war immediately to save us all. She stated that we need peace now. “This is not the time to perform and make music. Therefore, I am taking a break from performing at the moment. This is a difficult decision, but I am confident that my audience will be able to understand and respect it.
Netrebko did not immediately respond to Gelb’s announcement.
Netrebko was a Met favorite when she made her Met debut in Prokofiev’s “War and Peace” on February 14, 2002. She has been in 192 performances at Met, with the last New Year’s Eve gala being on December 31, 2019.
Netrebko is being replaced by Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Montastyrska, who will perform five performances of Puccini’s Turandot from April 30 through May 14, with a May 7 broadcast to theaters around the world. Netrebko will also be replacing Elisabetta Verdi in Verdi’s “Don Carlo”, according to the Met. This replacement will take place for five performances, from Nov. 3-9.
The Met also stated that it would build its own costumes and sets for the next season’s new productions of Wagner’s “Lohengrin”, instead of sharing them with Moscow’s Bolshoi Opera as originally planned.
Gergiev was fired as chief conductor at the Munich Philharmonic. The Gergiev Festival, which has been an annual event since 1996 was cancelled by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He was the principal guest conductor there from 1995 to 2008. He was dismissed by the Vienna Philharmonic and the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland.
