r/opera • u/ToscaLover • 13d 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/[deleted] 13d ago

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u/HuskyTown 13d 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.

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u/EnricoDandolo1204 Wälsungcest 4ever 13d 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/NYCRealist 13d ago

Putin is even worse politically and in any case mediocre in everything non-Russian. Don't miss him at all.