After the cancellation of her contracts for the next two seasons at the Met Opera in New York, of which she was one of the stars until March, soprano Anna Netrebko is claiming 350,000 dollars in compensation.
Considered one of the greatest singers of the century, the Russian-Austrian singer is accused by Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Met of not having clearly shown his disapproval of Kremlin policy.
Read alsoFrédéric Mitterrand: “The only thing Valery Gergiev can do is stay in Russia and shut up”
Close to Vladimir Putin and the conductor Valery Gergiev, who for years benefited from the support of the head of the Kremlin, the singer stood out in December 2015 by posing in Saint Petersburg with the flag of the pro-Russian separatist rebels.
In her defense, the soprano had denounced the war in Ukraine on February 26 on her Facebook page:
“I am opposed to this war.
I am Russian and I love my country, but I have many friends in Ukraine and the current pain and suffering breaks my heart.
I want this war to end and people to be able to live in peace.
This is what I hope for and what I pray for”.
She apparently did not convince the director of the Met who, like many of his Western counterparts, canceled his engagements.
Today, Peter Gelb does not budge.
Anna Netrebko "
put herself in this position, being a fervent supporter of Putin",
he explains to the
New York Times
of June 22.
The general manager of the Met explains that he will
“never”
close the door to a return of the singer to the Met stage, but that such a scenario would only be possible if the diva shows
“genuine remorse”.
You can't denounce all my future contracts just because some people think I'm too close to Putin
Anna Netrebko
Anna Netrebko believes for her part that she has done enough and that her position is sufficiently clear.
“It's very hard because nothing foreshadowed this attitude.
We had agreed to let a little time pass, we would see later… We cannot denounce all my future contracts just because some people think that I am too close to Putin”,
she explains to the
New York Times.
In her complaint against the Met, she is assisted by the American Guild of Musical which represents opera singers across the Atlantic
.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: pianist Boris Berezovsky loses his agent after his defense of the Russian invasion
Looking for new contracts
According to the
New York Times,
Anna Netrebko is also in the process of canvassing other major American houses, such as Carnegie Hall, the San Francisco Opera and the New York Philharmonic.
She offers concert ideas, including it, for the moment all her requests have remained unanswered.
"
Anyway, we didn't really have a relationship with her, and now it seems complicated to start one
," said Deborah Borda, president of the New York Philharmonic.
In Europe, on the other hand, the singer has returned to theaters.
At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in April and at the Philharmonie de Paris at the end of May.
During this performance, she was greeted by a dozen pro-Ukraine people denouncing her coming.
