Authorities intervene Performance by Putin friend Anna Netrebko in Lucerne canceled after all
Opera singer Anna Netrebko was banned from performing in several countries due to her closeness to Vladimir Putin. It was supposed to be different at the KKL Lucerne - but now the concert has been canceled after all.
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- Anna Netrebko has suffered severe setbacks because of her links to Russia and Putin.
- The singer has been banned from many western opera stages.
- She was still due to perform in Lucerne on June 1, 2024.
- The concert has now been canceled at the request of the authorities.
- The reason given was the temporal and geographical proximity of the performance to the Ukraine peace conference on the Bürgenstock.
She publicly supports Vladimir Putin and was heavily criticized as a result - it almost cost her her career because no stage in the West wanted to hire her. Last year, there were already protests against Anna Netrebko'sperformance at the Lucerne Opera, but she was still scheduled to appear there in June.
As the "Aargauer Zeitung" writes, the concert, which was intended as a replacement for the canceled date on 5 June 2022, was postponed several times. In the meantime, it was considered "definitely canceled", but then it was supposed to take place after all.
After the KLL was asked to cancel by the cantonal and municipal authorities, the performance will not actually take place after all. Due to the temporal and geographical proximity of the concert to the Ukraine peace conference on the Bürgenstock, there were fears of a "threat to public order".
Closeness to the Kremlin no secret
Netrebko makes no secret of her political views. She is close to Putin and the Kremlin. In the past, she has supported the Russian president in elections - for example in 2014 and 2018 - and after the attack on Ukraine, she was banned from many stages in Western opera houses because of this.
As justification for the performance at the Lucerne Opera, the organizer relied on statements by Anna Netrebko condemning the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Music should not be "caught up in the maelstrom of political events".
The director of the Vienna State Opera, Bogdan Roščić, reproached his colleagues, for example: "In the meantime, those artistic directors who originally acted as chief moral emcees are once again sucking up to her, which is quite entertaining." The opera houses are therefore generally trying to hire Netrebko again.
Only Markus Hinterhäuser, the artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, has said that he will no longer invite Netrebko.
Vomit gesture against another opera singer
The singer does not make it easy for herself either: during her performance at the Vienna Opera Ball in February, she commented on her colleague Elina Garanca with a vomit gesture - the Latvian had previously made several critical comments about Putin and Russia.
Netrebko's next stops are Milan and Verona. Whether she will also return to Zurich remains to be seen.
Transparency note: This article was originally about the planned performance of the concert. It has been updated with the latest developments.