Netrebko’s husband is … Algerian

Netrebko’s husband is … Algerian

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norman lebrecht

September 25, 2019

In the Met’s roll of artists, Yusif Eyvazov lists his home town as Algiers, Algeria.

Come again?

It appears Yusif was born in May 1977 in Algiers, the son of a Soviet meteorologist, a professor at the university.

The family eventually went home to Baku in Azerbaijan, which Yusif regards as home.

But maybe the Met knows better.

 

Comments

  • Erin says:

    Artists have no control over what the Met prints – and they print your birthplace. They list mine as Calgary, where I was indeed born but where I lived for only a few months. That’s just the way they have always done it.

    • Penelope says:

      Not true. They send emails to managers and your manager may have elected to tell them your birthplace or your hometown. My manager asked me what I wanted and that’s what was printed for the 7 seasons I have been on the roster. Your management approves everything.

      • Not a bot! says:

        I’ve worked in management for 19 years and I’ve never had approval over a Met bio. They have asked me to send a bio so they can refer to it when they write their own, but I’ve never been given the right to approve the finished product before it goes to print. A savvy singer might go to the publicity department and ask to see it before it goes to print. But no, the Met do not voluntarily send it out for approval like other companies.

    • John Borstlap says:

      It appears that artists also don’t have control over the place where they are born. It’s a careless lot.

  • V.Lind says:

    In the link it says his hometown is Baku. No mention of Algiers. Corrected since you saw it?

    Even if he was born in Algiers (to expat Azerbaijanis) there is a big difference between birthplace and home.

    Is anyone assuming Joanna Lumley is Kashmiri?

    • Anon says:

      Who is Joanna Lumley, and what does she even have to do with this? Another obscure reference which most non-Britons will not understand, I fear.

  • MusicBear88 says:

    Looking at it right now it says: Baku, Azerbaijan

  • S Heba says:

    Why are you so shocked knowing that He’s born in Algiers!!!

    • Lala Jabiyeva says:

      It’s really matter to people of Azerbaijan. We know him very well and when we’re seeing negligence like this it hurts our feelings. My regards.

  • Anon. says:

    Does it matter where he’s from? I am struggling to see the news story in this post.

    • john Borstlap says:

      He always said that he was born in Algiers. But it is quite a shock to find-out that all your life you have been telling the truth.

  • Olassus says:

    … and Seiji is Chinese, etc.

    Where are you from … ? But where are you originally from? It’s a national pastime, despite identity politics.

    But there are so many dumb things on the Met website. “The Creators,” for composer, librettist, and stage director? Yuck. This is Broadway stuff. And they still refuse to write opera titles correctly.

  • Where someone was born and where they call home aren’t necessarily they same thing. Boris Johnson was born in New York lived in America until he was five. As far as I know, he considers himself British.

  • And lived in America, I mean.

  • Nick says:

    Who cares where his mother decided to give birth?!?

    • The Other Anon says:

      The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the US does. Anyone born in the U S is automatically a US citizen & subject to U S taxes no matter where they live the rest of their lives. Boris Johnson apparently had to officially renounce his US citizenship – an expensive and complicated process which average folks often don ‘t have the resources to do – in order to avoid this problem.

  • Florestan83 says:

    This is such a futile, bullshit argument. Your industry and profession is full of racist, misogynistic , paedophile sex pests, that kiss up to dictators and human rights violators in order to keep the lights on and all you can complain about is where a fat talentless tenor was born? I hope the Met closes and Lincoln centre get bulldozed and turned into affordable housing.

    • Kay Langford says:

      Florestan,

      Much of what you say is true.

      Ironically Lincoln Center sits on a site that was bulldozed already to destroy slums.

      If you’ve ever seen the movie of Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” you can see a little bit of what it looked like before Lincoln Center was built.
      Tearing down Lincoln Center and putting up new affordable housing would bring that site full circle, wouldn’t it?

  • Kay Langford says:

    Wherever he was born and whatever he is, the best thing Yusif ever did was to marry that Russian soprano.

  • Papas says:

    What about you Mr Lebrecht? Who and what do you consider yourself to be? Numpty.

  • Ilse Burger says:

    What’s the issue?? He sings fantastic!!! Does it matter where you are born?

  • Robert Groen says:

    At the time of writing, there were already 26 comments on this thread. Have we all gone crazy? Who cares a.here he was born?

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