The Met has banned pro-Putin artists. Does that mean Anna?
UncategorizedPeter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, has issued a video statement of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, adding that ‘we can no longer engage with artists or institutions that support Putin or are supported by him.’
The ban would prevail, he said, ‘until the invasion and killing has been stopped, order has been restored, and restitutions have been made.’
Gelb avoided saying whether the ban would include the star soprano Anna Netrebko, who is due to appear as Turandot on April 30. Netrebko, while she now says she is ‘opposed to this war’, has a history of supporting Putin’s Crimea incursions.
Gelb told the New York Times that he may also end the current coproduction with the Bolshoi Theatre, which is building sets and making costumes for next season’s Lohengrin. Gelb personally attended the general rehearsal in Moscow last week. ‘I think we’ll have no choice but to physically build our own sets and costumes,’ he said.
I don’t know why you expect Peter Gelb to single out AN. His statement is clear enough – ‘until the invasion and killing has been stopped, order has been restored, and restitutions have been made.’ AN is scheduled to sing Turandot in two months. If that mouthful of an expectation of Peter Gelb’s can be achieved in less that two months, she will probably sing at the Met. After all, he wasn’t worried about her political orientation before, wasn’t he?
This should be a balm on the worried spirits of a certain group of people commenting here, who are incessantly reminding us of the society’s sacred duty to preserve freedom of expression, particularly of political views, a duty that apparently decreases the farther one travels eastward. Now you can see / hear for yourself – at the Met everybody is free to support any regime from libertarian to totalitarian, from monarchy to anarchy, from democratic to whatever rhymes with ‘democratic’ 😉 , as long as there isn’t a war going on in which the U.S. has an interest. I wish Peter Gelb would also give a thought to singers’ voice condition and musicality, not only to their political views, considering he manages an opera house – but this is apparently too much to wish for.
Gelb has to express some political morality since everyone else decided for a change to do so. But the very idea of AN singing Turandot at this advanced stage in her voice is startling. I still recall the disastrous Gwyneth Jones Gotterdammerung in 1994. A true horror show of a once treasured singer.
The very idea of singing _anything_ operatic at this stage is startling. She can’t sing her old lyric repertoire anymore (I mean only the roles requiring very modest agility, for the others her technique was insufficient even then), she can’t sing roles requiring a more dramatic attack. Musically and stylistically she is as vulgar as they make ’em. The acting is of the clenched fist and pugnacious grimaces variety.
I can simply say that I heartily endorse your view, harsh as it is. Each and every one of us has to face a personal reality. I don’t believe Miss Netrebko or Opera Houses want to actually assert that her best days are long, long gone!
Gelb has no place DISCRIMINATING against anyone given the history of his own race.
Peter Gelb doesn’t discriminate against anyone, personally. You are not so naive to believe this is his own brain child? His carries on orders from above.
Gelb is doing the right thing. Why should artists be allowed to perform if they support Putin. Would they be allowed to continue if they supported Hitler ? This is no different.
No he did not.
Discriminating against any group is bad. Remember WWII?
The newly discovered righteousness of some Westerners in this matter is very Bolshevik in its essence.
Actually, the West is not a free world anymore at the moment. The brutes outside and the brutes inside democracy are doing a great job .
And where, in your opinion, does the flower of democracy bloom at the moment? In Russia? In China? In the Middle East? In Africa? I assume you include Australia in “the West.”
We are watching very closely how Gelb deals with Netrebko’s assignment. This will tell us if his statement has teeth or is mere public relations fluff. I also agree with the other commenter about this needing artistic considerations, too, given the ragged state of her voice and quality of singing.
It would seem that The Met will have to pay any of these artists that they are “disinviting”. Contracts would have been signed some time ago. I don’t see how this could fall under “Force Majeure”, “Act of God”, or “Act of War”. Yes, there is a war…but the situation of disinviting an artist, who has a “belief”, doesn’t fall into the category.
The Met will have to pay only if the artists sue the Met. I don’t think they will sue, unless it becomes apparent the war will go on for a long time. If they sue, they can kiss their future at the Met goodbye, they won’t be invited back. So they won’t sue as long as they believe there’s a chance to come back, and make more money from performance fees than they would otherwise get from a lawsuit.
“In a pugnacious Instagram story that has since vanished, Netrekbo added: “It’s especially despicable from people from the West, seated comfortably in their home, not fearing for their lives, to pretend to be be brave and pretending to ‘fight’ by putting in trouble artists who asked for nothing. This is just hypocrisy of them. These people who think that being on the ‘right side’ allows them everything and excuses their unfair behaviour are just human s***s. They are as evil as blind agressors. No matter which side they are from. ❤”
For god’s sake, look who’s talking about being allowed everything. It is known she isn’t the brightest bulb but if anyone ever doubted it, this is the confirmation they needed.
Is this verified?
https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2022/02/27/1083387627/metropolitan-opera-sever-ties-putin-ukraine-gergiev-netrebko
@Tiredofitall Are you so tired of it all you can’t even google? But not tired enough not to comment on SD?
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/27/1083387627/metropolitan-opera-sever-ties-putin-ukraine-gergiev-netrebko
If the western public that thinks is on the “right side”, is evil, than may be she ‘ll run her career in Russia from now on. Better for all sides.
She ‘s a real fighter. After all she’ s russian. She even thinks she is the victim here. Interesting if she decides to appear on scene.what will be the reaction of the public
Being as thick and entitled as she is, i dont doubt she will show up. In which case I would love to see her pelted with dogshit.
She has decided to retire from the La Scala performances in March. She’s going to lie low and hope this blows over soon, after which she will reappear like nothing had happened.
“Interesting if she decides to appear on scene”
This isn’t a one-sided decision, it takes two: The performer and the organizer. The performer might be willing, but if the organizer isn’t… and vice-versa. I bet Gergiev was still willing to perform all over the world, and collect the money. The organizers, however…
Why does this kind of wholesale banning scare me?
Can one believe the Ukraine is part of Russia but condemn the war? Can one like Putin yet condemn the war? Can one like Putin but NOT actively support him and condemn the war? What constitutes supporting Putin?
Who is the ultimate arbiter?
Will the Met similarly filter its audience… banning Trump (who approves of Putin) and those who support Trump or other deranged republicans?
Policies like this are deceptively “simple.” Feels fuzzy and funny. Has a self-righteous saccharine feel-good element to it.
And doubtlessly will provoke lots of BS statements to satisfy the Met Police (once dedicated to pursuing the unvaccinated), thus enabling an artist to earn a living after 2 years in covid limbo (critical if not Netrebko).
We should think about these things. My thinking has been evolving on this topic. You?
My thinking has been evolving on the lines that this is called sanctions, not wholesale banning. Sanctions happen when a war is going on, though Putin prefers to call it “special operation.” Do you call freezing Russian banks accounts in U.K. wholesale banning too? I don’t think sanctions are going to help much but not do anything means handing Putin the Ukraine on a silver platter. In which case I wonder which European country is going to be next? You may wonder whether the Met is going to filter its audience (Peter Gelb is complaining for years he can’t _fill_ the house, so why would he filter the audience?), but I wonder which country is going to be on Putin’s agenda next if governments would wring their hands instead on imposing sanctions, while the population is fretting online in deep intellectual exercises with or without emojis plus cute photos colored in the Ukraine colors. To answer just one of your many questions, the ultimate arbiter is one’s conscience. I am more troubled by Peter Gelb hiring “artists” without paying attention to quality, which has been his strategy for years, than I am troubled by the improbability of filtering the Met audience.
Russian singers, with their overdarkened sound and terrible techniques that carry enormous tension (just look at
Trebs’ machinegun-pulsating tongue) have dominated Opera far too long thanks to the rich Russian oligarchs they buddy up with
This mania of over-darkening the sound has dominated the opera world for longer than I care to remember, and it didn’t originate in Russia. Otherwise I agree with you, many Russian singers exhibit it, but then so do others, non-Russian singers. And the population has listened to this for far too long, so long that they believe this is how it should be, encouraged in this belief by singers’ agents, opera house managers, and “critics” (aka self-appointed gurus.)
Netrebko’s agent and American publicist need to dump her – but so far, complete silence.
They are all holding their breath in the hope this blows over in less than two months, in which case Peter Gelb will take her back to sing the scheduled Turandot (Take her back in a manner of speaking – he hasn’t given her the sack officially for precisely this reason.)
Whatever the circumstances be at present, I believe Miss Netrebko should be relieved NOT to be singing TURANDOT or ELISABETTA DI VALOIS in Don Carlos next year. For the last number of years before COVID, there was a decline in her voice
due to very heavy repertoire that she chose to sing. She was at her best as a lyric soprano; in fact she was great. I cringed when hearing her at the MET in ADRIANA LECOUVREUR or other heavy, dramatic roles she isn’t able to sing well at all any longer let alone in a year or two. I doubt very much she will ever grace the MET stage again. Like many former great singers released by the MET for not being at top vocal range (Ruth Ann Swenson, Deborah Voigt & many more) at least Miss Netrebko seems to have a way out due to this horrific war in the Ukraine. In any case, her voice is presently barely acceptable – In a few years, I’m sure it will have deteriorated even further. No way would the MET want her back. It actually pains me to hear her shriek on stage.