Putin’s aggressive war against Ukraine caused many countries, organizations, and individuals to choose sides.
Choosing sides, the venerable Metropolitan Opera parted ways with the leading diva in the opera world, Russian Soprano Anna Netrebko.
“It is a great artistic loss for the Met and for opera,” Met general manager Peter Gelb announced at the time. “Anna is one of the greatest singers in Met history, but with Putin killing innocent victims in Ukraine, there was no way forward.”
Gelb announced in early March 2022 that the Met would not continue to associate with artists who support Putin. The Met had previously tried to persuade Netrebko to renounce her support for the Russian president, but their efforts were useless.
Netrebko is a known supporter of Vladimir Putin. For example, she supported Putin in his last sham election. And Putin once presented her with a significant national award.
As she told it, Netrebko’s story was that as a teenager, she took a job as a maid in the primary opera hall in Moscow so she could wiggle her way into appointments and auditions. If true, it worked marvelously, as she ascended to the very top and is a darling at the Met, having opened the season 3-4 times in 20 years.
Netrebko has called on Russia to end the war. She noted in a statement, “I am opposed to this senseless war of aggression, and I am calling on Russia to end this war right now, to save all of us. We need peace right now.”
However, the Met wanted more; specifically, they called on her to denounce Putin, which she refused to do.
“Forcing artists, or any public figure, to voice their political opinions in public and to denounce their homeland is not right. This should be a free choice. Like many of my colleagues, I am not a political person. I am not an expert in politics. I am an artist, and my purpose is to unite people across political divides,” Netrebko wrote on an Instagram post in the Spring of 2022.
Everybody must pay in a war, and opera fans, including yours truly, paid a small price here. I was looking forward to her role in the opera Turandot in May of 2022. I wondered if she would make that opera more appealing to me.
I am not a big fan of that opera, but divas have a way of getting you there, and I thought she might do it. Opera fans, more steeped in the music, love Turandot. I only watch it for the great aria, Nessun Dorma, Luciano Pavarotti’s signature song.
The Met replaced Anna Netrebko in Turandot with a Ukrainian soprano and announced that they were suspending Ms. Netrebko for at least two years. That time might be extended as there is still a stalemate, with Netrebko suing the Met.
Meanwhile the diva is performing around the world, everywhere but at the Met.
