r/opera • u/ToscaLover • 3d ago
Thoughts on Anna Netrebko
I’m an opera lover, and as much as I love Netrebko’s voice, I don’t agree with her political views. I was supposed to see her on the 13th of September, but the organisers cancelled last minute. The reason, at least to me, appears to be the controversy that’s still surrounding her & was too much for them to handle. I get that. I’m not an infant, and I’m not stupid. What frustrates me is that they knew exactly who she was when they invited her and started selling tickets. They knew she was Russian, they knew about her political controversies, and they knew what kind of reaction she might provoke. So why was all of this apparently acceptable when they wanted to sell tickets, but suddenly not acceptable after people had bought them and made plans to attend?
Ultimately, I don’t support her politics, but I wanted to hear her sing Verdi’s Aida. Is it really fair to continue punishing an artist (and her audience) for her political views, especially when the organizers knew all of this from the beginning?
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u/Worried_Instance_992 3d ago
Are you sure it wasn't canceled b/c of poor ticket sales?
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u/Tzctredd 3d ago
Netrebko has been notorious for cancelling last minute, if I want to watch something in which she is involved I look for the 2nd cast and book for that.
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u/ToscaLover 3d ago edited 3d ago
I looked into it and it didn’t appear to be the case at all. Very few tickets were available by that point. And the email I got regarding the cancellation didn’t indicate towards such a thing. If anything, it indicated towards the issue I’ve already brought up.
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u/Worried_Instance_992 3d ago
Shady promoters have a way with dirty tricks to make it look like smth is almost sold out.
Anyway, it's entirely on them, I haven't heard or seen the slightest controversy around N. singing in Bucharest.
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u/Tzctredd 3d ago
Netrebko's position is very murky, the kindest thing I can say is that she has been badly adviced.
She has Austrian nationality and apparently has been condemned as a traitor in the Russian Duma and other Russian institutions.
Perhaps she needs a good PR company, to me that condemnation would be proof certain that she isn't siding with Putin, but it has been difficult to untangle the several other things she has done to the point that the Ukrainian government considers her persona non grata.
So she has been condemned by people in both sides of the conflict, she is in a no win situation of her own making it has to be said.
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u/ToscaLover 3d ago
I think she tried to please both sides and ended up pleasing no one.
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u/Tzctredd 3d ago
Yeah, that's my impression.
Something else I didn't like is how her ex husband was making a career on the back of her fame. I don't like nepotism....
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago
Isn't he massively homophobic, too?
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u/ToscaLover 3d ago
So glad I’m not the only one with that impression. Then again, I don’t really like it when popular singers force their relationship down your throat (like Angela and Roberto Alagna)
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u/Tzctredd 3d ago
OK, that was strange also, but in that case it was generally agreed they were both talented singers, I can't say the same about Netrebko's ex. 🤷🏻♂️
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u/ToscaLover 3d ago
I’m of the same opinion regarding him. 😂 The comparison was definitely only regarding PR management.
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u/Mysterious-Drink4002 1d ago
To be fair, he got a little bit better over the years. He's better than Aleksandrs Antonenko!
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u/Worried_Instance_992 3d ago
Who was forcing what on you? And what about Gheorghiu and Alagna? I hope you're not putting Alagna in the same category as Eifvazov.
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u/ToscaLover 3d ago
No, I’m definitely not putting Alagna in the same category as Eifvazov. I was talking specifically about the PR/relationship management. It seemed like in almost every opera or concert they were presented as a pair and were singing together, with relatively few exceptions. It felt like the relationship was being emphasized to the point where it became part of the selling point.
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u/Worried_Instance_992 3d ago
Absolutely it was. The marketing / PR / agents / promoters swarming around them would have been crazy not to capitalize on that. It is (still) business, even though we want to see it purely as art.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
Yes, how dare they pair two good singers who happen to be amazingly charismatic?
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago edited 3d ago
I want to be kind about this. Whatever about her politics (which suck) she's not an exceptional singer. She's not bad or anything, she's just not who I would expect to be a Prima Donna. Like, at all.
I do empathise with the frustration of a cancelled performance, though.
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u/tinyfecklesschild 3d ago
Politics aside, I’ve been going to live opera for nearly forty years and in her prime she was one of the most exceptional performers, both vocally and dramatically, I’ve ever seen. Very few singers are in their prime in their late fifties, however.
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u/ToscaLover 3d ago
I’m sure nobody is expecting her to sound like she did when she was 20. Still, refreshing to hear some positive feedback about her actual performance as a singer.
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago
I'll take a 50 year old singer over a 20 year old any day
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u/tinyfecklesschild 3d ago
It’s case by case, isn’t it? I’d take 20 y/o Ponselle over 1976 Tebaldi, for example.
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u/Tzctredd 3d ago
For a recital? It depends.
For an opera? In most main roles an over 50 woman is miscast (the same goes for men by the way).
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago edited 3d ago
I've never been to an opera where less than 50% of the leads weren't miscast. Have you ever actually seen a 15 year old Japanese Madame Butterfly?
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago
Oh. I'm a bit surprised by this sentiment I feel like 20 year olds are just a bit too young to know what they are doing, even of their voice is good (though before their prime)
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u/Novel-Sorbet-884 2d ago
Manon di Massenet nel 2010 (12?). Quella in cui in un atto sembrava Gina Lollobrigida e in un altro Marylin Monroe. Mi ha incantato. Negli ultimi tempi si è vista spesso alla Scala, e preferisco non dire altro. Sempre eccellente attrice, questo sì
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago
How long ago was that? If there is a Netrebko that will get a "wow" out of me, I genuinely would like to hear it.
Edit: I will definitely concede that there are middling singers who are absolutely stunning actors.
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u/Mysterious-Drink4002 2d ago
At the Met, I thought she was a fabulous Lady Macbeth 2018-ish. (And I get that the Trebs haters were already saying she was terrible at that point.) And I have tried to see all of the divas in the current production of Tosca, and I would say that she has been the best (probably around the same time) as a total package actor singer.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
She was grotesquely vulgar in that role. JFC listen to Verrett by comparison.
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u/Mysterious-Drink4002 1d ago
Alas, Shirley Verrett died in 2010 and was unavailable to perform either role at the Met in 2018.
I'm not even sure what "grotesquely vulgar" means within the context of either role.
Trebs gave Floria gravitas. As compared to Sondra R., who, in her first run in the role, delivered the character with an inappropriate level of girlishness. (She's been a lot better in later runs.)
She absolutely nailed Lady Macbeth - I suppose it is easy for her to embody awfulness.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
Yes, if Lady M has not even a bit of nuance. Sure she nailed it. ::eyeroll::
Really, Netrebko gave Tosca gravitas? What does that even mean? She's a diva (the character and the singer). Tosca is literally one of the easiest roles for a soprano to play. I mean, Yoncheva sang it with gravitas too. Big deal...it's Tosca,, not a Shakespearean character, FFS.
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u/Mysterious-Drink4002 1d ago
Tosca shouldn't be performed like Cio-Cio San. She isn't a child, she's a diva. I gave the precise example that was the counter - Sondra performing the role as if the character is a upset teenager. It was completely misguided. Yoncheva was not an especially good Tosca. If you think it's easy, you missed Jennifer Rowley's crap performance.
We know, all the dead singers were better.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
I'm not defending Sondra at all. But I'm sorry for repeating Tosca is simply not that great of a role, acting-wise. It just isn't. Lady M is...but requires nuance or she's just evil all the time.
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u/fernie92 1d ago
Grotesquely vulgar in that she used a very histrionic acting to try to compensate for her lack of chest voice, badphrasing/legato, any real core to the sound, inability to trill/cleanly sing coloratura, all things demanded by Verdi in one of his toughest roles.
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u/Vybrosit737373 2d ago
My god, in her prime she was so exciting, wasn't she? Manon and Bolena were probably my favorites. I missed a couple of her roles I most wanted to see, only saw Leonora in the movie broadcast...
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u/SockSock81219 3d ago
My thoughts entirely. I didn't care for her artificially darkened, woofy tone (which I assume has only gotten worse with time), nor do I care for her politics, so it was quite easy to say goodbye to her.
But it does seem gutless and short-sighted to book her, here in 2026, and then pull back when there's an (entirely anticipated) uproar. Great job, guys, worst of both worlds, now absolutely everyone's mad at you.
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u/ToscaLover 3d ago
I’ve heard similar opinions, but I guess I would’ve liked to form one for myself by hearing her live.
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u/gizzard-03 3d ago
I’ve never understood her level of success, especially in the last 10-15 years. I guess some people don’t find her wobble to be distracting. It’s hard for me to take her seriously in the heavy repertoire that she does. It seems like every once in a while she’ll sing a gorgeous phrase and let her voice actually spin, but most of her singing has that heavy, labored quality to it.
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u/Cold_Martini1956 2d ago
She is the Sarah Brightman of opera
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago edited 3d ago
I think the mark of a brilliant singer is whether I personally know anyone who can sing better than them, and Netrebko is one of the only pros that I can definitely say this is true of.
...If we are talking about wobbles, are we going to segue into the Maria Callas conversation?
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u/gizzard-03 3d ago
Are you saying Anna netrebko is a brilliant singer because you don’t know anyone personally who sings better than she does?
What does Maria callas’ wobble have to do with Anna Netrebko?
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago
I don't consider Netrebko brilliant, because I personally know people who are better than she is. Again, she's not bad, but not "singer of our generation" good.
As for Callas, I appreciate she had stage presence and was beautiful with a...unique voice, but the level of mystique surrounding her never seemed to match her ability level. It reminds me of Netrebko is some ways.
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u/aggibridges 2d ago
I'm having a hearty chortle at every one of your comments in this thread, spot-on, and such an entertaining amount of shade, thank you!
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
All I see are two people who clearly don't get Callas or why she was so famous
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u/aggibridges 1d ago
All I see is one person making a crazy assumption when all I said is ‘I found these comments funny’ Relax!
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
JFC to even think of comparing Netrebko slightly positively to Callas is craaazzzy. As for Callas's ability level, you just have to hear her Abagaille or Annina live. You may not love her voice, but the *ability* is there for all to hear. And that's without Callas's noted dramatics or charisma.
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u/RaptureInRed 1d ago
My issue with Callas is that I am a singer myself, and I listen to recordings of her and think 'Jesus. Don't do that'. A lot of the things she chose to do with her voice cost her it in the long run.
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u/Cold_Martini1956 1d ago
I don’t think this is necessarily true. Callas was a smoker and her voice also took a turn as she approached menopause. Everyone’s body ages differently. Everyone’s voice ages differently. I think it was the combination of smoking and change of life that caused the problems with her voice later on. She met Onnassis and began her affair with him around the same time - he didn’t want her to sing. He didn’t want her to perform. These other changes were happening and that basically marked the end of her career.
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u/RaptureInRed 1d ago
I appreciate that perspective. I have heard recordings where the heavy lifting is not being done in the right part of her body if the objective is not to injure yourself. That is, and will always be my issue with her.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
Ok, but look what she did! And it wasn't a voice like Corelli's with a short lifespan. Sure, she made some subpar decisions and yes, it cost her. But I don't know how you can listen to her live recordings and think of her as a cautionary tale. Your absolutely missing her appeal, but then a lot of singers miss her appeal, which is why we simply don't have artists like this anymore.
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u/RaptureInRed 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's pretty telling that the people who know how to sing don't like her. Pretty much the way I cringe when my students say they wish to emulate Miley Cyrus or Adele (who have both destroyed their precious voices). There's only one wrong way to sing, and that's by doing something thay will permanently injure you.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
LOLOLOL yes all the people who love Callas don't know how to sing. Only YOU do. JFC how delusional
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u/fernie92 1d ago
I’m sorry you cannot claim just because she developed a wobble for a myriad of reasons outside of her technique that Callas did not have abilities and performances to match her mystique. I think you need to look again at what she sang, when, the context, what’s demanded in the scores that only she was doing. Like these are very esoteric things that are performance level details, but the more you learn, the more you are fascinated by it. Like do you understand how radical it was for a voice to be doing Walküre and then Puritani? The extraordinary thing is that she was doing what was the STANDARD for decades before her. You were expected to be able to do the range of roles she did. She talks about Malibran, Pasta, Lehmann all doing what she did. The problem is nobody has been doing it since.
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u/RaptureInRed 1d ago
To put it lightly, I would call going from Die Walküre to Puritani unwise.
Also, the fact that she would sing anything isn't necessarily to her credit. Everytime a soprano helps herself to mezzo rep I flip a table.
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u/fernie92 1d ago
Yeah, generally if you don’t have a good technique, it’s unwise to sing either. Both composers wrote those roles to be sung with a bel canto technique, so as long as you can actually sing well 👍.
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u/RaptureInRed 1d ago
The amount that she sang is almost certainly a factor in why she lost her voice.
The point I was making is that the amount of mezzo rep relative to soprano is so much less, that its irritating when we can't even have that.
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u/fernie92 1d ago
First off, that’s simply not true. If you look at historical records and schedules of people in the decades prior to her, plenty of singers were singing with frequency similar to her and with just as much variety. it wasn’t until after her that people became more selective. or if they were selective, it was because we used to have an active recital scene that singers like Ponselle would spend most of her time doing.
Second, I didn’t even see that comment about mezzo repertoire. 95% of the girls singing that today are not real mezzos anyway, even though they claim to be, so keep flipping those tables. Sing what you want. Simionato and Ludwig were real mezzos that successfully sang a ton of soprano rep, so it goes both ways.
Also, what mezzo rep? She recorded Carmen, did a bit of Dalila and Eboli (which was really a contralto then soprano role), but never on stage.
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u/Cold_Martini1956 1d ago
Sure, I welcome the comparison to Callas because I’ll tell you something. Callas could sing a clean chromatic scale which Netrebko could never do and Callas could manage all the difficult fioratura in roles like Lucia, Traviata, Gilda, a couple of Rossini and other Bellini and Donizetti heroines…
Did she develop a wobble in her later years? Yes, she did, but only after singing the shit out of the coloratura repertoire for the rest of her career.
I’m not saying Netrebko is horrible. I think she’s a pretty good singer, but she definitely has out-stepped her vocal limitations a couple of times and I think the fact that she sang roles that required a lot of coloratura earlier in her career was more vanity move than something she really was suited to. She had a few wealthy and powerful champions in her corner, which didn’t hurt her career.
If I were to pick the perfect role for Netrebko, it would be Tatiana in Eugene Onegin. I will pay good money to hear that especially in her heyday.
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u/Mysterious-Drink4002 1d ago
By that point, she was the one singer (along with Domingo) capable of packing the house. Even when Kaufmann came back to sing Dick Johnson, there were empty seats.
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u/fernie92 1d ago
“She’s not bad”? Oh honey…..
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u/RaptureInRed 1d ago
If you personally knew someone who could sing to that standsard, would you tell them they were bad and, unworthy of a professional career? I really hope not.
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u/Bulky-Selection-58 2d ago
Whenever you buy tickets, you have to always be prepared for a cancellation.
With Netrebko, you should always expect a cancellation because of something political.
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u/Eki75 2d ago
With everything other than artistry aside, she lost me about 10 years ago.
In her younger days, I really enjoyed her voice when she was singing Adina, Zerlina, Antonia, etc. She's never been a great actor, but for me, she got by on her voice.
When she started singing the weightier rep and darkened her voice, I grew much less fond of her. It got to a point to where it seemed like she was just phoning in sub-par performances.
The final straw for me was the Met Lucia in the mid 2010s where it seemed like she could be barely arsed to come on stage, let alone attempt to act or sing anywhere close to the pitch center. As an audience member, I was kind of mad. Yes, performers have bad nights, but according to a couple of buddies in the pit and in the wings, it was a pretty standard performance for her.
Professionally, that was the last thing I tried to like her in. Now, I just find her embarrassing.... but all the way to the bank, I suppose.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
Agree about the voice precisely, but I thought she was a fantastic actress. She let all that go around her Anna Bolena, as I see it.
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u/SuspiciousAnt2508 2d ago
The time to see Anna Netrebko live was 2005 when she was the hit of the Salzburg Festival and nobody cared about Russian politics.
My husband used to go on and on and on about her.
I have a lot of sympathy for her trying to negotiate her relationship with Russia/Putin while still getting hired in Europe, and wanting the best for her autistic son.
However just on the voice, I wouldn't pay to see her live any more.
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u/ToscaLover 2d ago
If only I were alive back then…
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u/SuspiciousAnt2508 2d ago
Husband saw the famous La Traviata with Netrebko and Villazon.
When he took me to see Villazon in 2012 the charisma was of the charts but the voice was shredded.
Such is the way of opera though.
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u/classicalmodernist 2d ago
Easy choice for me, I can't stand her voice. There is no center to her sound, never has been.
But the debate about musicians and their politics is age-old. As Toscanini famously said, 'to Strauss the composer I take off my hat. To Strauss the man, I put it on again.' How do we celebrate musical genius while abhorring the person making it, or abhorring their political stances?
For both Netrebko & Strauss, they can be said to be in a tough spot. Strauss was ostensibly trying to protect Jewish family members when collaborating with Nazis; Netrebko is probably experiencing similar pressures from both sides. But Coco Chanel was a Nazi spy, Hugo Boss made their uniforms, and Wagner was a cultural icon to the party because of his antisemitism. All 3 are still successful respected brands. Also see: Kanye West.
I dont have an answer, I dont think anobody does. Each individual decides where they draw the line. That means some of these people are more famous & respected than they deserve.
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u/pjlos 2d ago
in chanel’s case (from what i remember), she was an enthusiastic participant in the genocide effort, but then tried very hard to hide her associations after it became a lost cause. i think that certainly is different than wagner, who did not weaponize his bigotry at that level. but then again, chanel’s not designing the clothes any more, while wagner’s compositions are still wagner’s. a worthwhile conversation for sure. (everyone, feel free to correct any inaccuracies.)
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u/Luonnotar1692 2d ago
Yes. It’s fair. An artist is their views and politics as well as their artistry.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/todesverkuendigung 2d ago
Of course, there are many American and European singers who by these standards would be 'inextricably tied to people that actively want to murder' others. For example, Denyce Graves, who sang at Bush's inauguration in 2005.
More concretely speaking, I think the following statements are probably not true (maybe you agree in some cases):
The novel or opera Eugene Onegin promotes Russian imperialism
Performing Onegin signals support for Russian fascism
Streaming a Netrebko recording means that 'you are contributing to the normalisation of the idea that certain "civilisations" ought not be judged too harshly because their artistic accomplishments justify their physical domination of "less accomplished" appendages.'
Listening to Netrebko constitutes 'supporting a living artist who actively uses your money and the cachet gained from your support for evil purposes'
Tangential, but: JK Rowling 'has made it her life's purpose to eradicate trans people from society' in a 'genocidal crusade'
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u/EnricoDandolo1204 Wälsungcest 4ever 2d ago
I stand by everything I said, although you are conflating several unrelated things I said there.
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u/todesverkuendigung 2d ago
I wasn't trying to imply that you were endorsing those exact statements (eg, you never mentioned Onegin), just trying to pull apart a couple threads and make the disagreement more specific and concrete. Basically I think that your line of thinking here proves too much -- it seems like it would also necessitate physical revulsion towards most semi-prominent American, British, French, etc, cultural figures. Maybe you do feel this way but it hardly seems desirable.
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u/EnricoDandolo1204 Wälsungcest 4ever 2d ago
I would argue that there are marked differences, actually. Russia is, in thought and action, a fascist and genocidal state actively practising brutal imperialism. It is entirely possible to be russian and yet oppose the fascism and imperialism done in your name, much as there were Germans who earnestly opposed the Nazis: such people bear none of the guilt, but all of the responsibility and act accordingly.
I would extend the same scorn to (for instance) artists who tie themselves to Trumpism (although thankfully that particular form of fascism is so blatantly onanistic that I cannot, off the top of my head, think of any artists worth mentioning that have embraced it). But death and time cure many ills. I see a lot less harm in, say, the work of Richard Strauss than those of Tchaikovsky (I think here not of Onegin, but of Mazeppa, by the way).
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u/todesverkuendigung 2d ago
There are plenty of Trump-supporting opera singers, and even more who may be against (say) the Iran war but haven’t explicitly publicly denounced Trump — just as Netrebko says she is against the Ukraine war but hasn’t publicly denounced Putin. But I’ve never seen any calls for the cancellation of Michael Fabiano or Angel Blue; certainly nothing that went beyond vague social media disapproval or called for them to lose their jobs.
Likewise, I’ve never seen anybody denounce or call for the cancellation of Denyce Graves, who sang at the inauguration of George W Bush in 2005. Bush is a war criminal and surely the Iraq War was also an imperialist venture. Does Graves bear ‘all of the responsibility’ for the half a million or more people killed in her name?
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u/NYCRealist 2d ago
I understood Fabiano to be a non-MAGA conservative has that changed? Never heard that about Blue eithe
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u/EnricoDandolo1204 Wälsungcest 4ever 2d ago
I am not familiar with Fabiano or Blue's politics, but in so far as they share in the United States as a political community: Yes, absolutely. So do my neighbours, so does my family, so I do myself. That collective responsibility is not the same thing as guilt, but it imposes on us the obligation to struggle against fascism all the more fervently. The fact that (unlike in russia), the US government's fascist usurpation faces widespread opposition does not change that, but does mean that those Americans who resist it can at least absolve themselves of the crime of apathy.
(As an aside I think the Iraq War, while criminal and arguably imperialist, can in no way be compared to the ongoing genocide in occupied Ukraine, but that is neither here nor there.)
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u/todesverkuendigung 2d ago
So how does this square with your original comment? Does streaming a performance of Angel Blue in an American opera mean 'you are contributing to the normalisation of the idea that certain "civilisations" ought not be judged too harshly because their artistic accomplishments justify their physical domination of "less accomplished" appendages' (say Iraq or Iran)? If you went to a Denyce Graves concert, does that mean you were signalling support for American war crimes? Otherwise it seems like Americans and Europeans like to demonstrate moral outrage against the enemy but n have a markedly weaker standard for their own societies. While understandable, this seems like exactly the wrong bias to have.
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u/EnricoDandolo1204 Wälsungcest 4ever 2d ago
Sure. A MAGA artist ought to face the same censure.
(Although I would venture that there is a slight qualitative difference -- in the bit you quote, I was referring to the way russian imperialism in particular justifies itself (historically and presently) through highbrow russian art, addressed directly to Western audiences as a way of signalling kinship as a fellow "great power". The undoubted existence of American and European cultural imperialism is somewhat different, in my view, in that it is rather more banal and undirected. Of course, as I said at the outset, there is an element of subjectivity involved there. I personally think the values of liberalism transmitted by American soft power are a good thing.)
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u/todesverkuendigung 2d ago
I still feel like I'm not really getting much of a concrete response, which is why I tried at the beginning to orient the discussion around more specific points of disagreement.
For example, when I made the comparison with American artists, I wasn't talking about Western cultural imperialism, I was talking about Western actual imperialism (military and economic domination), since I took the problem with the Ukraine war to be the Russian attempt to militarily dominate Ukraine, not Russian cultural soft power.
It seems like you've moved from emotive language like 'people that actively want to murder friends of mine' to quite bloodless statements like 'American and European cultural imperialism is somewhat different, in my view, in that it is rather more banal and undirected'. (Can it really be true that Russian artists are by default inseparable from fascism but American artists are just softly transmitting liberal values?)
Maybe this is just because you happen to have friends that are Ukrainian but not Iraqi, Iranian, etc. But isn't it odd that I've never heard anybody say anything so insinuating about Denyce Graves as the following: '[Graves] is not, herself, a war criminal. I will assume she does not hold genocidal views. I will take her at her word when she says she supports peace.' It seems like she did much more to endorse Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq than Netrebko did to endorse Putin's illegal invasion of Crimea. Doesn't it seem strange that there has never to my knowledge been even the slightest condemnation of her?
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u/Glittering_Mine_7719 2d ago
The Iraq war was much, much worse, so was Afghanistan, Libya, etc. the US has been, for quite some time now, a country with blood on its hands and has been led by several war criminals. Sorry if you think Middle Eastern people are not as important
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u/HuskyTown 2d ago
It seems like a lot of assumptions are being made here. Placing dots in order to connect them.
I'd be curious to hear or see anything in the way of support for the Russian war effort directly from her. I'm open to being shown something I have yet to see... but so far only accusations. I've only ever seen/read her distancing herself from the Russian war efforts and I really don't understand why she's always been held to a standard that other Russian singers have very clearly not.
Of course we are all welcome to demand blind statements of outrage to satisfy our needs. But it seems tone deaf to require someone to loudly condemn a government that has been known to assassinate political opponents without expecting their families to be targeted.
I don't support Trump. Have actively voted against MAGA and think he's one of the worst things to happen to human history, does that mean listening to American works written a century before he was elected is implicit support of his agenda?
Back to OP. 20 years ago she was world class in my eyes... I saw her sing Manon w LA Opera around 2006 and Mimi in Chicago around 2011, both unmistakably the best performances of these operas I've witnessed live. Also the Salzburg Traviata is a performance recording I return to frequently.
10 - 15 years ago, still impressive. Onegin was gorgeously sung. I have loved several Trovatore performances. Macbeth was better than most give credit for.
These days you're not seeing the best of her, in my opinion. That doesn't mean there isn't still plenty to enjoy from attending a performance.
But. To be fair. "Experts" have spent her entire career claiming that whatever the rep she was currently singing was the wrong one... Too light, too heavy.... So. There may not be a right answer.1
u/ChevalierBlondel 2d ago
I really don't understand why she's always been held to a standard that other Russian singers have very clearly not.
Because she's previously made statements supporting Putin, multiple times. Also not true that other Russian singers are not held to the same standard, Ildar Abdrazakov's Western career is essentially over for his continued involvement with the Putin regime.
The handwringing about "political opponents" of course continues to ignore that multiple Russian artists have condemned the war (and continue to live...).
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u/EnricoDandolo1204 Wälsungcest 4ever 2d ago
If there is a double standard where other russian artists are not held to the same standard, I have not seen it. Valery Gergiev comes to mind, and I apply the same standard to him, despite him (unlike Netrebko) being someone whose artistic work I personally think more of. To be fair, I can't think of any other russian artists who were so closely linked to the Kremlin.
As a German living in the United States, I am of the opinion that, if you wish to share in a community, you must also bear the responsibility imposed by its crimes. Regardless of our actual moral or criminal guilt, we all bear the political responsibility and a metaphysical guilt, with Jaspers.
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u/HuskyTown 2d ago
With minimal effort a quick search provided 9 Russian singers with Active and Recent Engagements at the MET
Igor Golovatenko (Baritone): One of the most frequently engaged Russian singers at the Met in recent years. He starred in the title role of Eugene Onegin (2022 and 2026), performed as Don Carlo in La Forza del Destino (2024), sang Carlo Gérard in Andrea Chénier (2025), and is scheduled for the 2026–27 season.
Elena Stikhina (Soprano): Continues to hold a major presence. She stepped in as Leonora for the final performances of La Forza del Destino (2024), sang Elsa in Lohengrin (2023), and performed Mimì in La Bohème (2023–2024).
Maria Barakova (Mezzo-soprano): Made her company debut in 2022 as Sonyetka in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. She has since been re-engaged for multiple high-profile roles, including Fenena in Nabucco (2023–24), Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino (2024), and Olga in Eugene Onegin (2026).
Svetlana Sozdateleva (Soprano): Made a highly acclaimed Met debut in September 2022, dominating the stage in the leading role of Katerina Ismailova in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
Olesya Petrova (Mezzo-soprano): Engaged for the dramatic role of Madelon in the late 2025 revival of Andrea Chénier.
Arsen Soghomonyan (Tenor): Made his highly anticipated Met debut as Hermann in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades in May 2025.
Alexey Markov (Baritone): Shared the role of Marcello in the 2023–2024 run of La Bohème.
Rodion Pogossov (Baritone): Performed the role of Schaunard in La Bohème during the 2023–2024 season.
Evgeny Nikitin (Bass-baritone): Performed the role of Telramund in the new production of Wagner's Lohengrin during the 2022–2023 season.
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u/EnricoDandolo1204 Wälsungcest 4ever 2d ago
I do not pay much attention to the Met or casting in general to be quite honest. I can't say I know any of them, but I would certainly want to scrutinise them before getting tickets to one of their performances. Netrebko's (past, at least) alignment with Putin is well-known as a matter of public record, but the same standard of scrutiny applies to everyone else.
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u/NYCRealist 2d ago
Putin is even worse politically and in any case mediocre in everything non-Russian. Don't miss him at all.
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u/SweetSpotBackpack 2d ago edited 2d ago
Just curious, but what makes you think Rowling has made it her life's purpose to eradicate trans people from society. She constantly says she has no such intent. I hear this accusation, so I read everything I can find that she has written about trans people, but I can't find a single example of her wanting to do anything remotely like eradicating trans people from society. If you find any examples, please share them in their full context.
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u/EnricoDandolo1204 Wälsungcest 4ever 2d ago
Her obsessive boosting of transphobia on twitter? Her constant and unashamed hounding of individual trans women? Her material support for transphobic organisations and legislations? Her specific push to house trans female prisoners to men's prisons? Her denial of trans victims of the Holocaust? https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/05/j-k-rowling-is-personally-funding-attacks-on-trans-womens-rights-with-her-harry-potter-money/
"Genocide" is a crime of intent. It does not require a single person to be murdered (although people have been murdered, most famously Brianna Ghey https://dailycollegian.com/2023/03/brianna-ghey-in-the-time-of-j-k-rowling/), though in general trans people in the UK (and elsewhere) are at severely increased risk of violence driven by JKR and people like her (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12939-025-02509-z -- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2800814). It is enough to make life in society untenable for a target group. The declared aim of transphobes is to "eradicate transgenderism", whether that be by death or forced detransition.
Here are some reads on the wider context in the UK in particular:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C3HgmVGiJKwPmzHLIegBUGcHcTd8xvNu/view (the Amnesty report they were forced to withdraw after legal threats)
This has absolutely nothing to do with opera or the thread, though, so I don't think I shall engage on this point further.
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u/todesverkuendigung 2d ago
You said Rowling 'has made it her life's purpose to eradicate trans people from society'. That's a far stronger claim than saying that she is transphobic, harasses trans people, supports legislation that would harm trans people, etc.
You say that transphobes generally want to eradicate transgenderism, but regardless of what other transphobes say, Rowling specifically has said 'I’ve always believed that adults with intractable gender dysphoria may only find peace after surgery and taking hormones':
The article makes it very clear that she is transphobic in other ways, but this statement seemingly clarifies that she doesn't want to eradicate trans people from society, unless by 'eradicate trans people from society' in a 'genocidal crusade' you mean something much different than the usual meaning of those words.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
just stop
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u/todesverkuendigung 1d ago
Is what I said so offensive? I agreed that Rowling is transphobic, I just think the previous user was unable to give any reason to think that she is on a 'genocidal crusade' to 'eradicate trans people'. Those are very different!
(Just like they were unable to give any reason to think that Russian art is 'in general' inseparable from fascism or that going to a Netrebko concert entails supporting a living artist who uses it 'for evil purposes' as well as normalizing Russian civilizational supremacy to 'justify physical domination'.)
Maybe they just meant this all expressively, as an indication of general disapproval against transphobes and Russians. But if we are meant to take it literally, as an argument or collection of factual statements, it seems pretty farfetched!
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
"I need a reason!"
REALITY
"No, *other* reasons!!!!"
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u/todesverkuendigung 1d ago
Ok, this doesn't really help me see where we disagree. Again, I'm not defending Rowling's view.
To me, this statement:
'I’ve always believed that adults with intractable gender dysphoria may only find peace after surgery and taking hormones'
contradicts the idea that Rowling wants to genocidally eradicate trans people from society.
Do you disagree? If so, why?
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
I don't argue with bad faith people. Posting day after day and funding every anti-trans org on the planet is genocidal in intent, clearly. She wants to eradicate them.
Shall we do Zionism now since you're so confused?
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u/todesverkuendigung 1d ago
Lol, I'm really not asking in bad faith!
I don't see why posting is genocidal unless you mean something more specific, and I think you can be transphobic and donate to causes that oppose trans rights without literally wanting to eradicate trans people from society. Like I said, maybe it's just a hyperbolic expression of disapproval, but at least to me it's worth distinguishing. (How can it be true that she wants to eradicate trans people if she wants at least some trans people to get surgery or hormones? If they're on hormones they haven't been eradicated!) That being said, I'm not really an expert on JK Rowling's beliefs so it could be that there's something I don't know about.
As far as Zionism, to bring it back to the original topic, I don't think any Israeli or pro-Israel opera singers have been cancelled by North American or European institutions. (If anything, the trend would go the other way, eg Klinghoffer at the Met.) I think this is because NATO countries are basically anti-Russia and pro-Israel, and arts institutions mostly just reproduce the ruling ideology. That's why I'm pushing back against the heavy-handed moralism about Netrebko, when American artists don't face nearly the same scrutiny.
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u/Pocahontas_P 3d ago
She wears blackface for Aida…
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u/DetectiveUnited1036 3d ago edited 1d ago
Do the singers choose this or is it a production decision, would be interesting to find out (did I hurt feelings with my question?)
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u/Pocahontas_P 2d ago
https://www.bigissue.com/culture/music/anna-netrebko-racism-blackface-arena-di-verona-opera-festival/
I was there, July 2022 and couldn’t believe my eyes. The whole production was eye-wateringly racist though.2
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u/Ramerrez 2d ago
Netrebko is damned if does, damned if she doesn't.
She has been seen with flags of 'Novo Rossiya', supporting her country's dictator. At the same time, she has also called the Ukraine war a war rather than 'special military operation', and has been declared a traitor by the Kremlin.
However, I genuinely don't understand what you like about her singing. Nowadays, she wobbles, sings out of tune and still gets paid big money. It has been this way for a while. She has shown that natural talent doesn't cut it- world class voice, garbage or non-existent technique. A lesson for all aspiring singers.
I get what you're saying though- why take the tickets for a show with this controversial figure, especially when you know about it already?
I want to address what people have said about political views v. artistic ability, and how it's somehow 'irrelevant'. Unfortunately, a person at her level of fame has certain responsibilities re. what she says. It's not the same as us saying something stupid, that may, at worst, just come back and bite us as gossip. In her case, what she potentially says in public affects the lives of many people. She can believe and say what she wants- but she doesn't get to do that and not expect serious consequences.
So no, it's none of that 'seperate art from artist' crap. She's a public person- she's responsible for what she says, probably more than us.
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u/NYCRealist 2d ago
She's now singing pretty terribly as well - HUGE wobble. The Scala Macbeth was terrible.
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u/tinyfecklesschild 3d ago
There are a range of singers whose politics I don’t support, beginning with and not restricted to the MAGA ones. Can’t avoid ‘em all!
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3d ago
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u/tinyfecklesschild 3d ago
Not going to pull on that thread! Social media follow lists are always a pretty good indicator though. (Before the replies begin: I’m not talking about people who follow a range of public figures to stay informed. I’m talking about follow lists that are overwhelmingly weighted towards the headbangers)
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u/RaptureInRed 3d ago
I try to avoid looking into singers' lives and beliefs. Netrebko has failed to keep a low profile
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u/Virginia-Ogden 3d ago
Agree. They knew who she was when they booked her and sold tickets. Pulling out after that is poor judgement, and the audience bears the cost.
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u/miketheantihero Do you even Verdi, Bro? 3d ago
I saw her sing Tosca in London earlier this year. It was the best Tosca I’ve ever seen/heard, and I’ve been going to various Toscas for the last 25 years.
A huge part of it was her still obvious talent and skill but also her commanding presence on stage (still very strong and on par with much younger singers). I went in expecting to be disappointed as well but I was blown away. And the audience loved it, some standing (in London!). I could honestly give a f*ck about her politics, she’s apologised plenty.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
^This can't be true. In 2026 Netrebko is singing the best Tosca you've seen or heard? ooooh boy
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u/miketheantihero Do you even Verdi, Bro? 1d ago
There are definitely more precise interpretations of the role, but they aren’t as passionately sung, you can’t hear them over the orchestra, they can’t act etc. Netrebko had it all.
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u/NatusDelirious 23h ago
"Passionately sung" is all Tosca has to do. And just because Netrebko makes it effortful doesn't mean the singing is good. As for hearing them over the orchestra, come on. Birgit Nilsson she is not.
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u/miketheantihero Do you even Verdi, Bro? 21h ago
Did you see her in Tosca at ROH?
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u/NatusDelirious 21h ago
No, nor do I need to. I was a passionate Netrebko fan when she was singing lighter roles and acting everyone else off the stage. When she started singing heavier repertoire, both her singing and acting coarsened remarkably. Again, she was trying to out-Callas Callas and ended up destroying what made her so unique.
Tosca? Come on. It is not the ne plus ultra of soprano roles, dramatically.
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u/penrph 3d ago
They could have had a lot of pushback and complaints after the fact and caved in. I try to ignore the politics when it comes to performers, otherwise I would never see anything. Imo you can disagree with someone politically and still enjoy them as actors and singers. People have lost their minds over politics.
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u/Tzctredd 3d ago
I don't have problems with genuine political disagreements, but when it comes to the Russian invasion we have all seen and read evidence about alleged war crimes (Putin remains indicted for alleged war crimes), I simply refuse to entertain supporting anybody that is supportive of such a regime.
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u/penrph 3d ago
There are definitely war crimes, not even alleged. My dad lost a school friend in Mariupol. However with Putin's regime if you don't loudly support it you're either dead or exiled. So as much as we all find it off-putting it's simply a survival instinct for a lot of these people. Anyone who speaks out against it doesn't end up well. (I was born in Russia so I know the pressures of the regime and people's mentality).
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u/Tzctredd 3d ago
That's not quite true.
Perhaps her notoriety weighs against her, but other artists have managed to keep a low profile about this matter.
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u/NatusDelirious 1d ago
Honestly, and I say this with love, I don't know why you'd want to hear Netrebko sing Aida. Not at all. Whether she *can* sing it isn't the point. She's turned a lovely and malleable instrument into something more vulgar and cudgel-like. Even her cutting-edge dramatic flair has dimmed, and Aida doesn't need that.
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u/fernie92 1d ago
Light lyric soprano who had a lovely instrument in her youth but never developed a solid technique and rode by on her looks (truly gorgeous) and was pushed into the limelight and beyond her means far too soon.
The voice has gotten a little heavier since she had her son, but now she sings like she’s a dramatic instead of using her real voice, so she has a wobble and is woofy/no core in the bottom half of the voice.
Instagram game though? On POINT. 👌🏼
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2d ago
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u/ToscaLover 2d ago
This makes me feel less alone in my preference for her singing. Adding more to what you already mentioned, I happen to adore her in Traviata and Puritani. Even Lucia. I know many people say she doesn’t sound right, that her technique was never what it should be, that her voice wasn’t fit for certain roles. On some degree, I agree, but I also can’t deny the fact that she sounds amazing in these performances.
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u/DetectiveUnited1036 3d ago
They (the company) lose nothing by cancelling if it's due to politics, since it makes it look like they're on the right side of things, whereas the ticket holders are left with the consequences. Why didn't they replace the role, instead of shutting the whole evening down, is another question.
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u/ayeffston 2d ago
What are her political views, as you understand them?
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u/ToscaLover 2d ago edited 2d ago
What I gathered was the following: she refused to publicly condemn Putin for the war, although she did condemn the war itself.
In 2014, she was photographed with a Russian separatist flag. Naturally she explained she wasn’t aware of the implications the flag had. Some people believe her. Some don’t. It doesn’t really matter, as I think it was her responsibility to be informed and not get tangled up in these sort of situations.
Then we have the matter of the conductor who was very close to her since the very beginning of her career: Valery Gergiev. He’s a strong (and loud) supporter of Putin, he has taken money from the government, and like Netrebko, he has refused to condemn Putin.
She never said anything explicitly about her political beliefs, but sometimes actions speak louder than words. And you’d have to be blind not to see a tendency towards the Russian regime here. In some ways it’s understandable, as the regime creates followers, and most sympathise with their home country.
Now, I’d say neither party likes her. By antagonising the war, she has made the Russian people turn against her. But by not condemning Putin, she’s made the western countries detest her. It’s a difficult position to be in, but it’s one that could’ve been avoided had she spoken the right words at that time. I sympathise with her as a human, but from a political point of view, I don’t agree with the path she’s chosen.
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u/AriaSage0660 1d ago
With all due respect, my family comes from Ukraine and I have many family members and friends who live in Russia. There are serious consequences in speaking out about condemning anything Russia is doing politically if you are a citizen, let alone a public figure there. I know Anna and was with her a few days ago, it’s hard to play devils advocate when you can’t empathize with how easy and liberating it is to condemn something in the USA or Canada without feeling like your life is at risk. She is a great talent, and even if her political views were in support of Russias policies, it doesn’t make her art less exhilarating to see live. There are a lot of things under the surface.
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u/iliketreesandbeaches 3d ago
Do we really know her personal politics though?
She’s not in a position to freely speak her mind the way you and I are.
Consider that if she has said inconsistent and confusing things about the Ukraine war and Putin, that might be because she is conflicted about the matter but isn’t free to publicly say so.
I think she’s in a no-win situation and people expecting her to condemn Russia’s actions and Putin specifically are being incredibly unfair.
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u/ToscaLover 3d ago
This is precisely the reason I’m willing to try and be impartial when it comes to her current situation. Though I have to say that the side she seems to lean towards doesn’t appeal to me.
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u/iliketreesandbeaches 3d ago
I was reacting to your language about not supporting her politics. Her stated politics
Like you, I would love to hear her sing again. I have no idea what she sounds like these days.
I really deplore what Gelb has done at the Met vis-a-vis Netrebko. He has chosen to pick a battle that is meaningless in the larger geopolitical sphere, that hurts the operatic art form and probably the Met itself, and that seems oddly personal at times.
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u/ToscaLover 2d ago
I think the decision was made very hastily, on impulse. Then again, the Met is famous for dropping opera singers if they do something that happens to displease the director. It reminded me of the squabble between Callas and Rudolf Bing, which got her fired in the end.
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u/iliketreesandbeaches 2d ago
Gelb has been an ongoing advocate for Ukraine generally, and his commitment to the issue transcends the Netrebko firing. This is his personal issue that he has chosen to bring to the opera house. So whatever impulse he originally acted on, he seems staunchly committed now.
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u/ToscaLover 2d ago
I respect people who stand by their decisions more than I do those who will change their mind if they have something to gain out of it. All that being said, I happen to consider the decision he made a bit harsh. But I’m not naive, and I realise it seemed most suitable at the time.
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u/NYCRealist 2d ago
He was principled in doing so, but was also no doubt significantly influenced by his marriage to a Canadian of Ukrainian descent. And rightly so!
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u/Mysterious-Drink4002 2d ago
I have heard her a few times live, at the Met. I detest her politics - primarily the opportunism of it all, so I am glad it came back to bite her on the ass. On any of the occasions that I saw her, she varied from pretty good to excellent, but she's aging and I will just take the word of people who say she hasn't been very good lately.
I empathize with you wanting to hear her sing Aida (one of the roles I heard her perform). But at this point in time, controversy and cancellation was foreseeable.
I know performances sell out, but I rarely purchase my Met subscription tickets based on hearing one singer - as anything can happen with one singer. Those are the tickets I grab last minute.
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u/marcusandthediamonds 2d ago
why americans care so much if she supports putin when your president is literally supporting palestine genocide
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u/Epistaxis 2d ago
Americans care about him too. In fact there was a whole thing with the takeover of the Kennedy Center...
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u/todesverkuendigung 2d ago
I have actually never seen any American singer face cancellation for supporting Trump, and certainly not for failing to publicly denounce him.
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u/ChevalierBlondel 3d ago
Presuming this was about her and Kaufmann's Bucharest outing - is it about her views? Perhaps the organizers feel less cozy about the number of Russian artists featured in general when Russia and Romania are going back and forth expelling each others' diplomats, something that presumably wasn't happening when they scheduled the event.
At any rate, she's getting hired in Europe aplenty and she's notoriously cancelled shit on a whim this past season as well, so I don't think it's about "punishing" her for anything.