Pussy Riot join Netrebko boycott

Pussy Riot join Netrebko boycott

News

norman lebrecht

March 03, 2023

Moscow Times reports that the punk anti-Putin group has pulled out of Wiesbaden’s May Festivl on learning that soprano Anna Netrebko was scheduled to appear. Previously, all Ukrainian performers had withdrawn.

‘No one had told us about Netrebko’s participation in the festival. Equally, no one told us that they were just trying to plug a hole by replacing the Ukrainians who refused to perform,’ Pussy Riot said.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has meanwhile opened a criminal case against Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova for ‘insulting religious sensibilities.’

Comments

  • Affreux Jojo says:

    Imagine this blog had the same group defaced a synagogue…

  • Giuseppe says:

    It’s a shame Anna Netrebko has taken on Abigaille, a voice-damaging role.

    But both (unstaged) performances in Wiesbaden are sold out.

    • Tom Phillips says:

      It’s a shame she still has a career at all. In any case, having just suffered through her Vienna Aida and La Scala Lady Macbeth a year ago, its clear that her voice is already damaged.

      • Ms.Melody says:

        Why would anyone pay high prices in Vienna and Milan to suffer an opera with inadequate singer in the title or very important role? Netrebko ‘s voice is damaged, so why attend her performances and thus, indirectly, support her?

  • Music fan says:

    ‘Insulting religious sensibilities’…seems like the Russian government is the new Taliban.

  • william osborne says:

    Tolokonnikova was imprisoned in 2012 for religious insults.
    Is she being investigated again?

  • Potpourri says:

    I didn’t know Pussy Riot was still around. They probably decided they would get more publicity by boycotting Anna Netrebko instead of performing at a music festival. Netrebko has condemned the war several times, her performances in Russia have been cancelled, she has been called a traitor, and she has not returned to Russia since the the invasion of Ukraine. High profile critics who attack Putin have a fear of heights because they are clumsy and fall from tall buildings. Pussy Riot has been jailed for less serious offenses like insulting religion. Have they heard only the lies and distortions about Anna Netrebko?

  • Tamino says:

    “ no one told us that they were just trying to plug a hole by replacing the Ukrainians who refused to perform”

    Wasn’t the truth actually that the Ukrainians very much wanted to perform (they are happy about any paid gig in the west) but their government threatened them?

  • Nina says:

    Oh, they are still alive and now they are “against Putin”. I remember that they were convicted in 2012 for obscene dancing at the altar of Russia’s main temple. Do you think this is their position? To have a position, they need to have heads on their shoulders. They don’t have it.

  • Anna N. says:

    This goes to show that all the best people are against Putin.

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