Anna Netrebko is selling up in New York

Anna Netrebko is selling up in New York

News

norman lebrecht

June 23, 2022

The Russian soprano has put her Lincoln Square apartment on sale with realtors for $7.5 million.

She clearly does not expect to be singing in New York any time soon, and the cash will have to be deposited on some lawyer’s table if she proceeds with plans to sue the Metropolitan Opera for $350,000 over cancelled engagements.

Either way, in New York she’s through.

Comments

  • Nutty says:

    Crazy amount for that place, despite the size. Anyone would want to get renovate it to replace her gaudy interior design. Plus, that area west of Lincoln center is such a dump. It feels so remote from any public transportation, good shops/grocery stores.

    • Imbrod says:

      I was on that block last week for the first time in a few years, and barely recognized the neighborhood. You wouldn’t mistake if for pre-pandemic Madison Avenue, but there are plenty of shops and services, including a cinema multiplex. Most of the grubby low-rises have been replaced by shiny new towers. It’s a 10 minute walk from the Met, or from Columbus Circle with its luxury shops.

      • Nutty says:

        That movie theater closed down before the pandemic. It’s a dump. Like a dirty, poor man’s Hudson yards (one of the worst developments in modern Manhattan’s history)

        • Tiredofitall says:

          Not quite a dump, but you are correct, that movie theater complex is long gone. Too bad, it was great and one of the few places left in NYC to see non-commercial releases, plus it had a fairly nice bar. Getting there was a nightmare unless you lived near the river.

          (I totally agree with you about Hudson Yards, BTW.)

          While Manhattan has always been all about change–for better or worse–and development along the Hudson River continues, but getting there remains a long slog. With food and restaurant deliveries and Amazon, living in these remote areas is more doable; logistics don’t matter as much as in the past.

          That all said, real estate sales in Manhattan remain more than strong. I live not far from Anna’s apartment, and everything goes for much more than asking, despite rising real estate taxes and onerous city regulations.

          New York, New York…

        • IntBaritone says:

          This guy does not get it. LOL. Lincoln Square, especially with the new restaurants at Waterline Square is anything but a dump. Enjoy the Negative Nancy vibes, haha, probably a T-rump voter who thinks NYC is “over”

          • Tiredofitall says:

            If you live in the middle of Manhattan (40+ years), the jury is definitely out. Not a pleasant place to be at the moment, despite an income sufficient to enjoy what the city has to offer. (Democrat here…)

    • Hri says:

      Jealous?

    • Tom Phillips says:

      The area immediately “west of Lincoln Center” is roughly 2 blocks from the 1 train and not far from Columbus Circle, Whole Foods, Trader Joes etc. Hardly a retail or transit desert. The only dumpy section are the projects on Amsterdam which are in fact quite unobtrusive.

      • Tiredofitall says:

        The residents of the “projects” are not worthy of living on Manhattan island? Dear heart, they were there long before the Trump “projects” on the Hudson.

        P.S. The blocks from Anna’s apartment to the transportation and stores you reference are long-ass blocks.

    • Paul R. says:

      It was a good nesting place for her as she was not there much anyhow. Public transportation? Puh-leez. And the shops and groceries came to her.

    • jp says:

      I’m trying to imagine Netrebko schlepping to Trader Joe’s or catching a downtown 1 train.

  • PS says:

    She should only accept payment in rubles, or whatever new global reserve currency the BRICS countries come up with. But what should they call it? Gold rubles? Gold-BRICS? How about Yuris? Divas?

    • Potpourri says:

      Hello, PS:;The value of the ruble has increased because Europeans spend one billion (billion with a B) dollars every day for Russia’s oil.The topic was discussed at a luncheon in Santa Barbara yesterday by the founding executive director of the German Marshall Fund’s Transatlantic Center.That is the real threat, not Anna Netrebko.

      • Tamino says:

        Maybe the real threat is, that the US since the fall of the iron curtain is destabilising and dividing Europe and particularly Ukraine, for their unipolar global hegemony agenda.

        “Fuck the EU!” Remember?

        Yes, Putin is a villain. But even he had options in his personal development, depending on outside factors. It didn’t have to come to this, and it’s not only his fault. He would most like not even be there for a long time, had the EU and Russia been allowed a collaborating course and Russia prosper and open up.

        • MuddyBoots says:

          So the Ukrainians, Poles, Latvians/Lithuanians, Estonians etc etc etc should not be allowed self-determination? The Ukrainians are not fighting for US “unipolar global hegemony”, they are fighting for their own country. Other eastern European countries are supporting Ukraine because they don’t want to be next. And the West was more than open to Russia until this invasion. I would argue too open after the invasion in 2014.
          Tamino wants his name back. You are no Tamino.

        • M2N2K says:

          If there is any justified blame that can be directed toward USA and its allies, it is that they did not respond sufficiently decisively and strongly to Putin’s expansionist policies and actions many years earlier.
          He said long time ago that the collapse of the USSR was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the last century and that is clearly his belief. Consequently he considers it his “sacred”mission to restore the empire by (no pun intended) “putting” it back together as much as possible. In the best, or possibly the worst, of Russian traditions, the number of lives lost in pursuit of such a “noble” goal does not bother him or his supporters. Unfortunately for themselves and their neighbors, most Russians just love that kind of “strong leader”. This and nothing else is the only real serious threat in that part of the world.

        • Paula says:

          Not sure the Ukrainians who are suffering would support your assessment here. Putin pulled the trigger…. he had choices. HE chose brutality and disregard for human life not bettering the lives of people through collaborative efforts. The lives and well being of both the Ukrainian and Russian people directly and many other indirectly.

          • Tamino says:

            No Paula. This is not how this developed over the years.
            The feverish nationalism Putin domestically is basing his agenda on, the agenda of someone who feels deeply humiliated and not taken serious, that nationalism has not been a cause only but mostly a symptom.
            The US could have NEVER allowed a peaceful growing together of Russia with western Europe, much like France and Germany, once arch enemies, grew together.
            Why not? Because that would have meant the end of US global supremacy.

            You and the others above are not looking deep enough into that rabbit hole…

    • Toto says:

      Here we trade in worthless… new currency…

  • Simon Scott says:

    So many Russian musicians in the already very full doghouse……

  • Mary says:

    1) Seize it! And apply all the proceeds of the ill-gotten gains to a Ukrainian refugee fund.

    2) Who’s her interior decorator, a set designer from Regietheater?

    3) The most interesting aspect of that apartment is the toilet right next to a floor-to-ceiling window with no curtains facing neighboring high rises. It’s quite the in-thing in New York (google “exhibitionist hotel Highline”).

    • WC says:

      If you’ve been in a comparable high-rise residential building in NYC, you’d know that all the windows are equipped with retractable shades–both “blackout” and sheer–operated at the push of a button (or tap of an app). The realtor photos obviously are not going to obscure the 32nd floor view by keeping the shades down. Please be assured that New Yorkers are not going to the toilet in full view of their neighbors, unless they’re doing it out in the street (as some seem to do without compunction).

    • Just an observer says:

      Why do you say ill- gotten gains? What are her crimes? Did she earn money in a dishonest way?

      • MsFabolus says:

        I agree I have been thinking as well as saying it since the fall of Roman Abromovich ?are we going to sanction the Firestone Family for the Liberia civil war,and take their business the Detroit Lions are GM and Ford for the War in Both Iraq&Afghanistan american oil companies and their family and associate for the destabilize of the Middle east Central America etc This is a international robbery and and Political bully and discrimination.

      • Manuela says:

        Yes she did. Her “Master” to whom she still is devoted to, did finance her engagements, did finance actually her success ! There are more beautiful voices than hers, which no one knows about because of fail of PR !! Even her Vienna Apartment was bought in a most dubious way! There is a shadow on it!! This woman should sell both residences, and go live in her beloved country !! Gergiev is doing so already ! I will not miss her! She is an egoist. Vocally she is burned out anyway!

    • Toto says:

      Seize it… !!!?????… i though that US is about capitalism and not graft…. Ohhh well…

  • Tamino says:

    Thing to do before it might be confiscated by the US government.

  • Concerned opera buff says:

    It will be very interesting should she sue the Met for lost fees, because cancellation of contract was for political reasons, not vocal ones. Not sure this has ever come up before at the Met.

    • jane christo says:

      the MET did not cancel her contract, they cancelled a few of her performances. Her contract goes through 2026.

    • Just an observer says:

      Forcing, even blackmailing an artist into making a political statement against the head of their government? Putin is a KGB thug who poisons his enemies, and she has family in Russia. She would be putting their lives in danger. People who condemn her must be fearless and living impecable lives, that’s why they look down on the rest on the world and give everyone lessons in morality. Such a shining city on the hill indeed.

      • JS says:

        Yeh, look what happened to Olga Smirnova. We certainly don’t want this to happen to Ms. Netrebko.

      • Manuela says:

        No-one did blackmail her ! She voluntarily stood behind Putin holding the flag of the Separatists!! Nobody forced her ! But the fact that she doesn’t care a damn about dying children and parents says everything ! She is a well-known egoist. She doesn’t have family in her country. Parents have passed away, her sister lives in Sweden, she and her family in Vienna ! They got the taste of capitalism.

    • Tom Phillips says:

      Should have been for both. Many of her latest performances (such as the opening night La Scala Lady Macbeth) have been artistically disastrous.

  • Joseph Saints says:

    Fk METs manager

  • Anna Banana says:

    The Met should sue her for all the sloppy singing she has done on their stage…

  • Cyril Ignatius Kendrick says:

    The Met Opera’s treatment of her was shameful. I hope her lawsuit is successful.

    • Manuela says:

      NO ! The contrary should happen !! Not only at the Met, but also in Europe her singing is more than sloppy and full of Tremolos ! And people bying tickets are the idiots who have no knowledge about classical music and vocal Technique.

  • Kathleen King says:

    No loss. But how does she get to keep the money when she is a Putin contributor and supporter… let’s see her donate that to the support of Ukrainian refugees as a demonstration of her good faith. NAaaah. She has no good faith, so prevent transfer of any proceeds, escrow it all and let her go home to Mother Russia and her good buddy the would be tsar.

  • Navi Sterling says:

    She was never a classic diva like Callas, Sutherland , Caballe, Price, Sills and many others. Her heart and lack of compassion towards her brothers and sisters in Ukraine is as cold and deadly like the Siberian Winter. She won’t be missed.

  • Steven R Greenwald says:

    Karajan and Bohm had nothing to say during the holocaust.

  • Mark says:

    I can’t quite figure out what is Slipped Disc supposed to be. A good half of the content is cheap gossip. Why should anyone care about your thoughts on Beethoven when most of what you doe is dish like an old biddy?

  • Jeff Aldridge says:

    Where’s the piano? I’d need a Steinway B so I had something beautiful to distract me from the dreck interiors…….

  • IP says:

    Where is the problem? Properties are sold and bought every day. Of course, it would need redecorating, disinfection and careful checking for active and passive listening devices.

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