Famed Russian-Austrian soprano Anna Netrebko, who is facing criticism for alleged complacency towards Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced on Tuesday that she is stepping down from performing “until further notice”.
“After careful consideration, I have made the extremely difficult decision to give up concerts until further notice”she said in a statement released by the organizer of one of her upcoming opera performances, River Concerts.
“It’s not the right time for me to perform and make music. I hope my audience will understand this decision”she added, in an allusion to the war in Ukraine.
She was originally scheduled to perform on Wednesday at the Elbe Philharmonic in Hamburg but her concert has been postponed to September 2022. After the Hanseatic city, the singer was scheduled to perform in March at La Scala in Milan and then in Zürich.
Aged 50, the diva has appeared in the greatest operas including Rigoletto or The traviata by Verdi, The Capulets and the Montagues by Bellini or even War and peace by Prokofiev.
In February 2014, she was chosen to perform the Olympic anthem at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Games in Russia.
Like his compatriot and conductor Valery Gergiev, whose pro-Putin positioning has earned him the cancellations of his concerts in cascade for several days, and his eviction from the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the pressure on his shoulders has increased in recent days.
‼️Liebe deutsche Freunde‼️
dick, dick, dick
!!!Boykottieren!!!
Es ist keine Kunst more https://t.co/YD50CHl0XE
—Andrij Melnyk (@MelnykAndrij) March 1, 2022
Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, called on German spectators on Twitter to boycott his Wednesday performance in Hamburg. The Bavarian State Opera announced the cancellation of its concert in July.
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 15,000 euros) to pro-Russian Ukrainian leader Oleg Tsarev.
The diva defended herself by explaining that she wanted to support the arts and more particularly the Donetsk Opera, to which Ukraine has cut all its funding.
On Sunday, Anna Netrebko declared herself on Instagram “opposed to this war” with Ukraine, but without taking sides against the leaders of his country or showing clear solidarity with the Ukrainians.
“It is not right to force artists, or any other personalities, to express their political opinions in public and to denounce their homeland. (…) I am not a political person. I am not an expert in politics. I am an artist and my goal is to unite people across political divides”defended the singer.