News: Nětrebkova awarded 4.5 million by Metropolitan Opera

The famous opera house canceled several performances of the Russian soprano last year because she refused to condemn Putin for the act after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Under the contract, the Opera now has to pay the Nětrebkovás for the performances that did not take place. Netrebková according to the diary The New York Times will receive $200,000 for 13 canceled performances, including two Giuseppe Verdi operas, this season’s Don Carlos and next season’s Force of Fate.

Although Netrebková condemned the war in Ukraine, she explained to the French newspaper Le Monde why she did not condemn Putin: “I was also asked to speak out against Putin. I replied that I have a Russian passport, that he is still the president and that I cannot say these words in public. So I refused.”

The director of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, admitted that the opera house initially did not want to pay the Russian because of her relations with Putin. But Magistrate Howard Edelman ruled last month that while “there’s no question she was a Putin supporter, which she had a right to be,” an alliance with the Russian president was “definitely not a moral turpitude.” Therefore, according to the arbitrator, the support of President Putin cannot be a reason for not paying the gas. Nevertheless, a magistrate fined Netrebkova almost $30,000 (K4 670,000) for the “significantly inappropriate” statements she made after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. Among them was a text she published on social networks in which she called her Western critics “evil”.

“It is an artistic loss for the Metropolitan Opera that he does not sing for us here. But there is no way the Metropolitan Opera or the majority of its audience could tolerate her presence,” stated Director Gelb.

On Friday, the New York City Opera announced that it had dropped Netrebkova’s husband, tenor Jusif Ejvazov, from the production of Tosca. It will premiere on March 30.