Just in: Anna Netrebko makes peace in her time with Munich
mainAfter the Manon Lescaut walkout, the diva has agreed to return for a pair of festival performance next summer as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin.
The singer she is replacing in that role is Kristine Opolais, who is depping for her in Manon Lescaut.
Press release below.
Anna Netrebko will give her Munich role debut as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin during the Munich Opera Festival 2015 and will take over the part from the originally scheduled Kristine Opolais. Dates: 26th and 29th of July.
General Manger Nikolaus Bachler on this unusual change of roles: “After Mrs. Netrebko’s withdrawaI from the premiere performances of Manon Lescaut, I am delighted to have her back on the season’s roster of artists, especially in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s daring and exciting take on Eugene Onegin.
Note that the production Netrebko will perform is the so-called “Brokeback” Onegin, in which the Polonaise is performed by a gaggle of bare-chested cowboys as Onegin’s guilty erotic dream. (So much for her “repudiation” of Regie!)
It’s probably a charade. Netrebko walks out to make room for her hubby, who is currently understudying and probably replacing Kaufmann (which is a possibility, considering Kaufmann’s current less than optimal health). Then switches gigs with Opolais in the summer, so bottom-line both keep their numbers of engagements. Neuenfels is the scapegoat and doesn’t mind, being used to play the infant terrible in the opera circus. The house gets extra free marketing. Everybody wins. Except Kaufmann, whom we wish a speedy recovery and many more decades of fantastic singing for us.
Everyone wins, except Kaufmann – and of course the people who have paid good money in the hope of seeing Netrebko. But they are probably not that surprised, as if she treats Munich as she treats London, they will have known there was at best a 50-50% chance that she would show up.