Anna Netrebko is dropped by her management

Anna Netrebko is dropped by her management

News

norman lebrecht

March 21, 2022

We have been informed by Centre Stage Artist Management in Berlin that the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko is no longer on their roster, as of today. Netrebko had been for several years under the personal global management of Judith Neuhoff, the CSAM managing director.

CSAM is wholly owned by Universal Music, which shut down its Russian operations in response to Putin’s Ukraine invasion. CSAM is making no statement on its erasure of Netrebko, and she is apparently answering no emails.

Netrebko is under record contract with another Universal company, Deutsche Grammophon.

Her Azerbaijani husband, Yusif Eyvazov, remains under Neuhoff’s management at CSAM.

It’s complicated.

 

Comments

  • Pedro says:

    Pity that her opinions are so away from decency and good faith. I have heard Netrebko in 21 roles from Donna Anna in Salzburg to Turandot in Munich and she is a great singer and a great artist. She and Stemme are the for me the best soprano voices of their generation.

    • Viv says:

      The best. Someone needs a hearing doctor.

    • Tristan says:

      but sadly both passed their prime

    • Frederick D’Amato says:

      I am a fan of Netrebko, but I think that it is a mistake for people in the arts, particularly those who are so visible, to get so deeply involved with politics. Sure they are entitled to their opinions,but the arts should always emphasize beauty and talent, politics these days show us nothing bot discord, ugliness and suffering.

    • IP says:

      The voice is of the past and the artistry never happened, I am afraid.

    • Fumiko Wellington says:

      Very well said. I agree with you and must say I am disappointed in Netrebko’s cowardice.

    • Maria says:

      Yes, I agree. But when you say such on here, Alex you get shouted down by so-called experts as if one is deaf and has no opinion. Thank you for plucking up the courage in adversity, and avoid joining in the Netrebko-bashing chorus on here, Alex plus against her husband too, and their downright character assignations. A singers life is hard enough. Yes, have your preferences – we all have them – but not to stab them all the time, no. It is just very unkind and what starts all manner of wars.

    • Adam says:

      She condemned the invasion! This is Russophobia and mindless virtue signalling.

  • Alviano says:

    We have moved from Summer 1914 to Autumn 1914. A needless war that can destroy everything.

    • Tim Mcgee says:

      Our species is very destructive and harmful to all life on this planet. Why are we exploring Mars now? So we can destroy that planet too?

      • BA says:

        Agree to every word

      • guest says:

        The species isn’t very destructive. Right now it’s a certain individual who is very destructive. 80-90 years ago it was a small individual with a toothbrush moustache, a florid individual with a big moustache, an a small individual without moustache, who were very destructive. 200 years ago it was once again a small individual without moustache, but with different complexion.

        The species isn’t destructive. The species is dumb for letting these small individuals grab the power.

        Why are we exploring Mars? Why, to build Tim Mcgee a cozy plastic tent and let him there to grow his tomatoes, wash his clothes by hand, and meditate in undisturbed solitude at the wickedness of the human species for the rest of his life, if he volunteers for the job, but I have an inkling he won’t volunteer.

        • Jerry Christopher Thomas says:

          Yes! You are correct in saying that. And we the people watch our collective power crumble into individual corrupt hands.

  • Cantantelirico says:

    This is quite sad.

  • A.L. says:

    Good. Dropped like a sack of … never mind. Oh wait, what she called her critics. And with her hero’s unpredictability growing more alarming by the day and with her refusal to name him as responsible for the carnage she has sealed her fate. Austria ought to follow suit by revoking her citizenship. That’ll send her back into the arms of her hero who she can then serenade with the remains of her voice.

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      Well, that’s the Trump message writ large. Exactly what we heard for 4 years in the USA. I guess you choose your bullies; a thug who runs Russia like a mafia don or a cabal of Lilliputians in the USA who despised and wanted to cancel their own people for voting for Trump.
      Er, “deplorables” wasn’t it?

      Anna, it appears you have company.

      • Jan says:

        Trump Derangement Syndrome is real. He’s not president, dear. Instead we have a dementia patient who’s bringing down the US faster than anyone could have imagined. Hope you’re happy.

        • Tom Sobieck says:

          I’ve got a suggestion. If you don’t like it hear in the US, go join Putin and move to the Russian Federation. While you at it, take Donald with you. He would fit in perfectly with Putins other oligarchs!

    • Tatiana says:

      Well, she ll drop off her hero on the second she ll feel he is loosing his power.
      That s the way it s going with these people.

  • Tim Walton says:

    Anyone who supports that liwlife degenerate murderer, Putin, are the scom of the earth and should be treated as such.

    • Taka Gander says:

      That is just ignorant. They have no choice, they are under his thumb. You could also learn to spell or spell-check. She has denounced the war. That is huge, considering her position.

      • Patrick G says:

        She is under his thumb with her Austrian passport ?

        • David W. says:

          Yes, Patrick. If she wants to continue being a Russian citizen and move freely within Russia, she is dead center under his thumb. If she were to oppose him, she would have to flee Russia and never return.

      • David W. says:

        Of course she has a choice. She can denounce Putin and leave Russia and never r return. She said she opposes the war but she refuses to distance herself from Putin. Russia is not like Democratic countries. This is Putin’s war.

    • Jason Davis says:

      Does she support Putin?

      • Eva says:

        WHAT you mean saying ” support”??? Giving him advices every evening??? Encouraging to the war where she’s having many friends? Producing arms, guns???

        • guest says:

          She is on record for donating 1 million to the separatists.
          Hysterical use of question marks isn’t likely to bring you cookie points.

          • Tiredofitall says:

            Rubles, dear. $18,500 US. It went to the opera house in Donetsk. She was photographed at the presentation holding the flag of the pro-Russian rebels, despite later denying the identity of the flag. Either she’s stupid or a liar.

          • guest says:

            Certainly rubles, Tired, did I say dollars or euros? I took a page from NL’s book, see conductors paid half a million. Donetsk is controlled by pro-Russia separatists, and we know that in Putin-land arts and propaganda are never separated, pun intended. She made a nice present to a propaganda institution, not to the arts. Re stupidity, I don’t know, but she isn’t the brightest bulb in the business by a very long shot, nor is she the most discrete.

          • guest says:

            *discreet

          • John Kelly says:

            She’s both.

          • MuddyBoots says:

            However it is the only case I could find where Ne Trebko took out her checkbook for ANYTHING. No charitable foundation since her divorce. If anyone else can find a case of Ne Trebko donating money, please post it. So far, only the separatist politician got money, ostensibly for the opera house. But since when do donations for an opera house go through politicians?

      • Dana says:

        Uh … yeah. She went on the record saying she’d love to (and I paraphrase) “take him on as a lover; she loves his masculine energy.”

  • Peter B says:

    The right thing to do… whoever will ever engage Netrebko on stage again has or will have blood on their hands!

  • Gerry Feinsteen says:

    it ain’t over ‘til the……..
    ….and it’s over.

  • Vasilis. says:

    Stay strong Anna.

  • guest says:

    I hope we have seen and heard the last of her.
    The opera world should have ditched her years ago on grounds of sloppy singing and ever increasing vulgarity, and spared us this tasteless melodrama. Too much ink wasted on a mediocre singer.

    • Amalia says:

      El mundo de la ópera no la ha podido abandonar, porque hasta ahora es la única que nada más salir las entradas a la venta, llena los teatros y sigue emocionando con su voz y su Arte!!!

      • guest says:

        You must have missed the news of the last weeks. The world of opera, important houses and agents alike, have washed their hands of her with the exception of Putin’s Russia. She might move nekulturny with her “art”, true opera lovers are more likely to cringe at the sloppy off pitch exhibition that is the standard AN fare these days. Years ago it was still sloppy but mostly on pitch

      • Lástima que apoye a Putin.

    • Tiredofitall says:

      I strongly condemn Ms. Netrebko’s politics and her fealty to Putin, but I am equally opposed to your dismissal of her career as a “mediocre singer”.

      To make such a mindless judgement in light of documented performances is purile.
      It is tantamount to the precipitous cancellation of the careers Domingo and Levine.

      Yes, condemn the decisions and actions in their personal lives–assuming the evidence is real–but you cannot diminish their artistic achievements. Those accomplishments are recorded for posterity.

      Life isn’t black and white. Take a deep breath.

      • guest says:

        May I suggest you look up the meaning of the word “mediocre”, and take two deep breaths afterward? Mediocre is neither black nor white, it’s in the middle, a shade of gray. Mediocre = ordinary, moderate-low quality. Don’t talk about “achievements” if you don’t understand voice technique and don’t know the score of the roles AN used to sing in the years her voice wasn’t in the run-down condition it is now. You are apparently so tired of everything, even your hearing and understanding must be affected if you confuse her recorded track of technical and musical shortcomings with accomplishments. What part of her “artistry” do you admire? Her sloppiness? Her wobble? Her off pitch singing? Her indistinct diction? Her vulgarity?

        • Guest says:

          Very well said !! Unfortunately most people do not have the knowledge you have. They are superficial.

        • Tancredi says:

          Really beside the point, which is that her endorsement of Putin and his actions are the reason she’s been dropped. Many singers, alas, go on when past their prime, but I’m sure if she were doing a benefit for Ukraine she would have been welcomed.

      • Deads life are important

    • Mystic Chord says:

      It’s interesting that for some people Ms Netrebko’s biggest sin is not her cosy allegiance to Putin, but her supposed failings as a singer.

      And as a woman she is said to have committed the ultimate sin, that of “Vulgarity”, from whence of course there is no way back for a Lady, her reputation forever tarnished. It seems some commentators are still living in Victorian times with this sexist BS.

      • guest says:

        It seems some people like how AN dresses, talks, and acts. Each its own. It also seems that some people believe there’s only Victorian Ladies and Vulgar Ladies, with nothing in between these two extremes. They must have missed the 20th century. It was AN’s choice to side with one extreme, the Vulgar Lady. Plenty of women who have realized there’s modern decency in the middle.

  • Not so complicated says:

    What has now become interesting is how Miguel Esteban has suddenly been listed in Netrebko’s website as her new General Management, but as an advisor – somebody tell me how you can advise to be the general manager of an artist…..

    This is the same Miguel Esteban who is Martin Engstroem’s right hand in the Riga Jurmula Music Festival as Associate Artistic Director, the same festival that got cancelled some weeks back due to its affiliation with Petr Aven, one of Putin’s friends.

    More info here – https://lareviewofbooks.org/contributor/miguel-esteban/

    So it begs the question what is Engstroem thinking and doing to allow such public associations with the Putin regime to continue in such a shameless manner?

  • James Weiss says:

    Bye Felicia.

  • Bloom says:

    I am sorry for her. Such a strange reversal of fortune. I hope she will be all right. The opera world is emptier and much more conventional and boring without her flamboyant personality, her unexpected frailty and her self-destructive diva-ish pride. The very last true diva, I guess.

    • She says:

      Only for those who see a diva in her .
      Callas yes, she was a diva.
      Netrebko? No , just a poor imitation of a diva.

    • Rolando di Filippo says:

      The last diva in everything but voice. Sad she is considered the best. Sixty years ago, when I first heard opera, she would have been an also ran against Price, Caballe, Crespin, Farrell, Sutherland, Nilsson, Stella, Moffo, Tucci, Rysanek, de los Angeles, Streich, Freni, Tebaldi, etc.

      • Guest says:

        Yes, correctly said : a “Diva” in everything – vulgarity, low- class behaviour, ugly vocabulary, etc..etc…but without the elegance and the vocal possibilities and the knowledge of other great singers.

  • Taka Gander says:

    It’s very simple, not complicated. She is being canceled, even though she denounced the invastion. This is simple censorship. Careers are easily destroyed and she may never recover from this, and the war is not her fault at all. Nor any other Russian artist, unless they publicly advocated for it. My friend, a conductor, whose career was saved by Gergiev, is now trapped, in ill health, in St. Petersburg.

    • Patrick G says:

      You have a difficult relationship with the truth. She is under the thumb of Putin as she acquired Austrian citizenship and she did not denounce Putin invasion. She is just a good pal of Putin and deserves completely what’s happening to her.

  • Ms.Melody says:

    The DG deafening silence is duly noted.

  • Miguel A says:

    All you people cheering Anna’s cancellation, will be cancelled one day for something outside of your influence. I don’t see that Anna is an adviser in Putin’s staff. I don’t see that she is a military commander. What blood is on her hands? She’s being condemned because Putin awarded her a medal for excellence in art? That was for art, right, not foreign policy?
    Yes the Ukraine war is deplorable. I’m a combat veteran. I’m against this invasion of Ukraine. The Russian soldiers fighting there are out of control. The conduct of the soldiers and their commanders makes me livid.
    But the condemnation of Russian artists and singers simply that they are Russian citizens is out hand.

    • guest says:

      You must have missed her 1 million donation to the separatists. How come? Lots of pictures, with AN grinning from ear to ear.

    • hattie says:

      It was ever thus. Your affiliations and things you say about them, can and will come back to haunt. She has made a huge career on whatever. What most people don’t understand about careers in opera (at least) is that it takes money to make it big. There have been some unbelievably great voices assigned to mediocrity because they could earn/raise enough money to keep afloat in this business. So, who is paying the bill and who has to keep the bill-payer happy and how? For me, her denouncing of the invasion came a bit late. Taking all the things she said about Putin in the past, it is evident where she stands. There were many fine musicians over many wars whose political views cost them. The only difference today is that it happens so much more quickly than it has in the past. She will not suffer. She has millions. Many more $$ than the average career can earn. Who get jobs solely on their talent, hard work, endless voice lessons and coachings (which comes out of their pockets), travel for auditioning all over the world, etc. Quit listening to the “voices of the century”. Most of them are flashes in the pan. The really famous voices are somewhere, working their butts off, making great music AND drama. Denying themselves things they want/need to take a lesson or do an audition across “the pond”.

    • Luxin Tenebris says:

      AN is not condemned “simply for being Russian”, but for being a disgusting, servile lapdog of the world’s worst dictator since Hitler. Moreover, her artistic standing has nothing to do with it.

  • Sorry to say this, but I was appalled to see that Netrebko had clearly not bothered to learn her music for a New Year Gala at the Paris Opera. The other, ‘lesser’ soprano had, and accordingly shone. I would not have booed, but many did.

    I have never had any respect for her since.

  • Wotan Buñuel says:

    Her voice has been in decline. She seems like a horrible person to work with. She was overreaching when she started heading towards Wagner. But I have enjoyed many of her performances and regret that I have never seen her live (Australian!). This is a sad story but her support for Putin must exclude her from the stages of civilised nations. New beauty will arise… Meanwhile we have records of much of her work. I guess the hangover question will always be what might have become of her career in a different world.

  • Ana says:

    What a bunch of hyenas, you commentators. Shame on you.

    • Alexander says:

      they are not hyenas, just too much BBC e.t.c. …. as Ecclesiastes said ” all goes by and this shall pass too … ” … hover over the situation … and emanate love and peace … the war will be over soon … 😉

    • guest says:

      When ostriches bury their head in the sand, maybe it’s time for hyenas to speak out the truth? How melodramatic of you, Ana. There are no hyenas, as there are no ostriches. There are only people who have enough of AN’s mediocrity as a singer, and there are her whining fans who call people names. Well, dear AN also called her critics “sh*it”, no surprises her fans emulate her. This is one of those cases in which the etymology of the word “fan” is all too apparent.

  • What might be even more interesting is what the respective record labels for Netrebko and Gergiev will do with their recordings – delete them or keep selling, earning them and the artists money. We instantly deleted our production with Gergiev – can’t represent him anymore and look myself in the mirror. That was the first deletion in BIS’s almost 50 years.
    Robert von Bahr, CEO, BIS Records

  • Christina Lagerson says:

    What do all of you, mindcontrolled globalists,
    know what ‘s REALLY behind the war?! Behind the
    curtain!? The background and the motive for Putin? What on earth do you know of that, more than the propaganda and lies on TV and on western mainstream media? Wait and see till after the war and you ll be surprised! Anna is of course doing the right thing, as a nationalist and lojal to her country.She is as strong and true and lojal to her country as she is strong and true to her Art: singing !
    One of the best singer in the world acts as a model.As an example . FOR TRUE PATRIONISM.

    • Gustavo says:

      “Wait and see till after the war and you ll be surprised!”

      Which “war” do you mean, my dear?

      Got ya!

    • guest says:

      What on Earth do you, Christina, know of that, other than the propaganda on Russian TV? Tell dear Anna to send a more intelligent keyboard warrior next time, you are not worth the money she pays you. More finesse, Christina, more finesse. You are laying it on with a trowel. You may also want to look up words before using them. Thanks for a good laugh over the “globalists”, and it’s “loyal”, not “lojal”. Being loyal to a regime is not the same as being loyal to a country. If the Russian population was called to vote the invasion of Ukraine in a referendum, I must have missed it.
      Dear Anna never was a good singer, as for her artistry, it never happened.

    • Harry Dahlsjo says:

      Christiana, of course you know that “globalist” is an anti-Semitic slur, right?

    • Information specialist says:

      I’ll use propaganda and disinformation interchangeably, though they are not totally synonymous.

      Yes, propaganda is being deployed on both sides, and what makes it most convincing is when it has a thin core of truth.

      The difference on this occasion is that the Russian state is deploying its disinformation in a such a nonsensical way, that claims can be fact-checked and dismissed almost immediately. This, in my opinion, is why they have made such a push to close down and contain the flow of information.

      Putin’s claims of genocide, threats to Russia and a neo-Nazi regime of Ukraine have evidence, but not substantial or substantive enough to be considered facts. And, in terms of response to these claims, any of them could have been addressed in diplomacy rather than through a “special military operation” in the form of a full-scale invasion – the action places doubt on the motivation.

      Likewise, you can point to the UK government’s preferred contractor for dissemination of propaganda, who were actively recruiting Ukrainian speakers back in Nov/Dec, to surmise that there has been a flow of propaganda towards the region from the West too.

      As for Netrebko, she did put out a statement calling for peace, but failed to condemn the actions of the state. Given that she has had previous links to the Kremlin and Russian separatists, her only course of action to avoid this backlash would have been a full condemnation of Putin and the regime. Either this was something she wasn’t prepared to do, or she received very poor advice.

      • Musa says:

        Putin was addressing those issues for years. Meanwhile 14 000 people died in Donbass. Noone ever cared. If you don’t believe the prominence of far tight parties in Ukraine just check Wikipedia or any other Western sourde of information. tRegarding Netrebko she is from Donbas region. It was always normal for her to support her people which were refusing to recognise the results of government ‘change’ in 2014. These people were refused right to use Russian language. How democratic is that?

    • Tancredi says:

      Mindcontrolled? Russia, under Putin’s directions, invaded Ukraine, gratuitously bombing and killing citizens of a neighbouring country because once upon a time the Ukraine formed part of the Russian empire. What is your version?

  • Tom says:

    Just because someone is an asshole, doesn’t mean they should be ostracised. I don’t see why anyone should be interested in her political views anyways, she’s a singer, not a politician. People’s political views are supposed to be personal. Pretending a predetermined political statement from someone just because they are from a certain country is just another form of racism. She probably has more reason to be scared of Putin than to lose her job. It’s easy to be a hero sitting in your living room and criticising others.

    • guest says:

      Other artists sitting in their living rooms had the guts of criticizing Putin. In case it has escaped your attention, AN has Austrian citizenship and lives in Austria with her family.

      “People’s political views are supposed to be personal.”
      But AN’s political views are’t personal, she has aired them openly, this is how the world came to know them

  • Gustavo says:

    Why so late and why is her hubby still in?

    So they can still milk the cash cow?

    • Eva Brown says:

      I agree! All Russian people around the world should say they denounce Putin or else lose their jobs and all they have. Particularly artists and public figures. We will not tolerate Putin who broke international law which Western countries never did!

  • Dora Holden says:

    No great loss for the Opera world.

  • Margit says:

    Kein Mitleid!

  • Styliani Stella says:

    Absolutely…..

  • MJA says:

    The amount of appalling bile in this thread directed against a singer and probably driven by jealousy (judging by the poisoned tone of some of the language) says little about her and, frankly, so much about its authors, including how music clearly does not have an influence for the good on all those who are (supposedly) within its orbit. Remember McCarthy and “Have you no sense of decency?”

  • Fernando says:

    Shame on them! We the People are entitled to our free opinion. And no government may force us to express it or change it! We must be measured by our talents, not by our capacity to humiliate ourselves in front of the government. Banning Tschaikovsky or Chejov??? What a shame I would have never thought I could live it, as when Wagner was banned during decades because “Hitler liked it”.

    • guest says:

      What kind of lunacy is this? No one banned Tchaikovsky or Chekhov. No one banned Wagner either. The Bayreuth Festival went on after the war, year for year. In Vienna the public got over 700 Wagner performances alone in the first two decades after the war. The Met programmed well over 400 Wagner performances in the same period. Even the Italians, who aren’t much into Wagner as a rule, had no less than 36 Wagner runs at La Scala in the same period.

      “We the people” are entitled to free opinion, but you Fernando aren’t entitled to disinformation. Shame on you!

      • Susa says:

        Thanks to people like you dear guests children’s show Masha and the Bear was banned on Warner Media channels.What am I supposed to say to my 5 year old? That Masha is Putin collaborator? Shame on you!

        • guest says:

          Have you smoked something before writing your comment? How is my debunking Fernando’s gross untruth about Wagner being banned after the war related to your kid’s show? If you have a complaint, write Warner Media. Even better, find a substitute online show for your kid, can’t be so difficult.

          Wait a moment, are you Russian? How come you are allowed internet access? There’s this sob story circulating about how internet deprived people are in Russia, kept away from all sources of information. Yeah.

          Be grateful your child is alive. The Russian army killed hundreds of innocent children in Mariupol alone, and you come here and whine your kid can’t watch a show?! What’s going on with you, people? Are you completely devoid of the most basic compassion feelings? Me me me me me me me me me. This is all you chant. God knows I don’t wish to screw your head right at the price of losing your child.

  • Guest says:

    Destiny repeats itself! AN started her “career” not because she sang so well with that obviously horrendous Technique, false Intonation, wrong repertory, but because she knew to turn on the right key…. her ugly makeovers made her a “Diva” for some musically underdeveloped tastes. In the meantime her vocal possibilities have lost even that small glow. There was no artistry, and never will be. I know people who went to the Opera with binoculars not to hear, but to SEE…her vulgarity, her ordinary behaviour made people to Voyeurs! Austria has to withdraw her austrian passport immediately! She never uttered a German word up to this day. If Madame is loyal to her country why is she still living in Europe or the US? She should follow her Master and sing with the remaining voice in a bunker. Gergiev as conductor. Many russian singers wrote a pleading letter to Putin to stop the war. She didn’t! I am not happy writing this comment, nor feel satisfaction. AN started to sing as a mediocre singer and ended as such. Self-made destiny !!

  • pvl says:

    CSAM /Universal made lots of money on her.

  • Martina says:

    There’s no way Judith Neuhoff dropped Netrebko. Anyone who believes this is naïve. It’s possibly the other way round seeing the mess unfolding!

  • Pono Von says:

    I am not a sincere fan of Ms. Netrebko. However, her place in opera should supersede politics. This public move and display by management and general directors only highlight this opportunity as propaganda. Not unlike the mask mandate. Just no science to prove its’ potency.

  • MMcGrath says:

    Ouch!!! Had she been more dubtle and circumspect in her posts and PR generally , this might not have happened.

    Ah, the wicked bite of past posts and e-mails.

  • Ana says:

    Indeed, there are traces of Anna’s Putin marks everywhere, but the worst of all is Ms. Aida Garifullina, who’s family has close ties with Putin and the oil world – quite literally funding missiles killing innocent Ukrainian people. If anyone has a ton of blood on their hands, it is her. And she has no shame posting about her glamorous, blood stained fashion and photo shoots at the moment! How is this acceptable?

  • Cara Cara Meravigliosa says:

    Nothing about this makes me happier than knowing that Parterre’s editor James Jorden will never be able to see or rave about that unmusical dummy on his gossip site ever again.

  • Emma koepke says:

    Your attacking an artist for the country she is from is shortsighted and lame. Music is universal and heals. Considering Germans don’t do this to Israel this must be a us demand. Lame

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