Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, criticized for not having denounced the war in Ukraine, expressed Wednesday “clearly” her condemnation of the invasion and announced to resume her concerts in Europe at the end of May, in a message published Wednesday on Facebook.
“I regret that my past actions or statements could have been misinterpreted,” wrote the famous 50-year-old artist who lives in Vienna. “I expressly condemn the war against Ukraine. My position is clear,” she added.
While the pressure had increased on her shoulders and those of other Russian artists, Anne Netrebko, who has dual Russian and Austrian nationality, announced on March 1 that she was giving up all her performances on stage “until further order”.
In particular, she was to perform in March at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, at La Scala in Milan and in Zurich.
She had also left the Metropolitan Opera in New York two days later, before her agent confirmed to the German weekly Der Spiegel the end of their collaboration.
Criticisms
If she has not openly proclaimed her support for the Russian president, she is accused of having traveled to Donetsk in December 2015 to pose there with the flag of the pro-Russian separatist rebels.
She also sparked controversy when she presented a check for one million rubles (about C$14,300) to pro-Russian Ukrainian leader Oleg Tsarev.
Anna Netrebko defended herself by explaining that she wanted to support the arts, and more particularly the Donetsk Opera, to which Ukraine had cut all funding.
“I’ve only met (Russian) President Putin a handful of times in my life, mostly at the award ceremony for my art or at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics” in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, she argued on Wednesday, also ensuring that she had “never received financial support from the Russian government”.
Several Russian artists have been sidelined in the West, in particular the conductor Valery Gergiev, close to the Kremlin, sacked from the direction of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
Anna Netrebko started her career thanks to him in 1994.