The Netrebkos are back at La Scala

The Netrebkos are back at La Scala

Opera

norman lebrecht

June 20, 2024

Anna Netrebko and husband Yusif Eyvazov star in next week’s new production of Puccini’s Turandot at La Scala, directed by Davide Livermore.

No doubt North Korea will be celebrating the cultural cooperation.

Comments

  • Erik says:

    Give it a rest. The war in Ukraine was provoked by the CIA and NATO. Netrebko is a fantastic, hard working singer. If you hear her live, you might even find her to be a wonder of the world. Her distance to Putin is a delicate matter because SHE STILL HAS FAMILY IN RUSSIA. you have no idea what you’re talking about really, so stop embarrassing yourself and losing readers.

    • chet says:

      The creation of NATO was provoked by the USSR.

    • Gabi says:

      Very well said!!!!

    • Carl says:

      I’ll ignore the conspiracy theorizing about the CIA and just address the question of Treb’s family in Russia. She could have just kept her mouth shut about Putin and his imperialist ambitions. Instead, she’s on record as praising him and his regime time and again. She’s clearly a fangirl, gushing over his strong man image, and posing for photos with the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

      • Yuri K says:

        Sepearatists in Serbia were good, separatists in Ukraine are bad? Why is that? Who decides?

      • Tom Phillips says:

        Russians truly seem to lack a “moral gene”.

        • Yuri K says:

          Utter nonsense. There is no such thing as “moral gene”. However, there is such thing as moral narcissism, and it is immanently built into the modern Western man. Though this is nurture rather than nature.

    • AlbericM says:

      It’s so nice that Comrade Netrebko has fellow travellers even in the US.

  • chet says:

    I can’t wait for them to come to the Pyongyang People’s Opera House for this crotch grabbing production of Lady Macbeth of Mzensk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyDK_oEwHnM

    (Wow, I’ve never seen actual crotch grab in an opera, much less one filmed, I mean you could see testicle, the tenor had to go behind a set piece to re-adjust himself! I didn’t even look for this video, Google just recommended it as the top choice, thaaaanks Google!)

    • Kenny says:

      Seen one, seen ’em all.

      (I was going to write to say, “The war in Ukraine was provoked by the CIA and NATO” is beyond ludicrously contentious. But then you gave me a better entry.)

  • Potpourri says:

    Turandot takes place in China, so why does Slipped Disc mention North Korea? The Evil One from Russia recently visited N. Korea and SD wants to smear Anna Netrebko with the connection. SD/NL is a clever nasty boy.

  • Atul says:

    Dear Norman

    I hope you don’t mind my writing to you. I was born and raised in India under two beloved parents who introduced me to the magic of opera at a very young age. My greatest joy, after 40 years based in London, is attending and supporting operas across the EU. I write to you today as I have heard a terrible rumor that breaks my heart. Paris Opera are allegedly attempting to transpose the role of Gandhi in Philip Glass’ SATYAGRAHA for counter-tenor, Anthony Roth Costanzo. I have heard Anthony sing many times in London and New York; he is stellar, of course. But in this age where representation is more possible in opera (there are numerous tenors born and raised in India who can sing this iconic role to perfection, as The Met has shown), how could Paris Opera and Anthony Ross-Constanza (now running Opera Philadelphia, a greatly diverse community) be so insensitive as to remove one of the few roles that includes we people of color – and to rewrite the role for a white male? Surely part of the key to Gandhi’s story is that he was a man of color, on the periphery, and various great vocal talents already exist who can represent Gandhi and the people of India with authenticity. Singers of color are already under-represented – is removing and rewriting a role for a white man considered progress? Please, Paris Opera and Philip Glass, do not make this wrong move. Please show more awareness of the times we live and the man Gandhi was.

    All grace,
    A. Pathak

    • Kenny says:

      I dunno. Richard Croft debuted it at the Met. (He’s pretty white.) Don’t get the problem.

      • Periphery says:

        that was YEARS ago. times have changed. look at their last cast: racially appropriate. the racism on this website is appalling.

      • Rita Rink says:

        Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were great men who used non-violence to achieve their goals. I don’t think Americans would approve of a white man portraying Dr. King for artistic purposes.

        • Equality says:

          Very well said, thank you for your logic. Why does no one see the Issue with casting Gandhi with a white man when plenty of Asian men can do it with equal if not better sound.

    • Tom Phillips says:

      A total non-issue. Nor should all Turandot’s be Chinese, Butterfly’s Japanese etc. (and the finest interpreters of those roles today are certainly not from those nationalities).

      • Rita Rink says:

        Gandhi and King are historical figures. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in1964. The Peace Prize was not awarded in 1948 because Gandhi had been recently assassinated, but was given a tribute by the Nobel committee. Turandot is a fictional character.

  • zandonai says:

    No doubt the Neo-Fascists from Italian Parliament will be in attendance like they did on the season opening night.

    • Tom Phillips says:

      Another country that lacks a “moral gene” and seemingly addicted to mob criminality and thuggery.

  • Roderick Nash says:

    Anna Netrebko, a truly modern tragedy. I heard her many times at the Met Opera. Breathtaking performances. I met her in person and she was beautiful and breathtaking!

    • Save the MET says:

      She was….ever seen the pic she posted on Facebook digging in and indulging in a giant turkey drumstick with her sister? Go through her photos, it was there last time I looked.

    • Ms.Melody says:

      Last time I heard Netrebko live was 2019 in an awful Macbeth at the Met. This was the last time I knowingly paid to hear her. Her singing has only gotten worse over the years with artificially lowered chest notes and suspect high notes. She never had the true belcanto technique and has never been a true dramatic soprano. Her recent Gioconda is a prime example. What she is, her politics aside, is the most overrated, over-hyped, over promoted soprano of the twentieth and twenty first century. He “tenor” husband does not deserve a separate comment. The storied La Scala has certainly sunk deeply.

    • Tom Phillips says:

      Hardly equivalent to the sopranos of earlier generations, i.e. Callas, Tebaldi, Price, Milanov, Freni etc. Far from “breathtaking” especially now with her horrible wobbling. Her youthful beauty diminished once she gained all that weight.

  • M.Arnold says:

    So how many countries has NATO invaded since its incipience? Putin is trying to put the old USSR together, piece by piece. As for Netrebko, I was at her Met “War and Peace” debut years ago and almost fell out of my family circle box when she started to sing.Maybe, the most beautiful soprano voice I’d ever heard. Shimmering!

    • Yuri K says:

      1. NATO invaded Bosnia, Serbia (technically, still Yugoslavia back then), Afghanistan, Iraq (although, avoided being called NATO since some members bailed out) and Libya.
      2. Putin is not trying to put the old USSR together. What Putin is doing is trying to kick the USA out of Russia’s sphere of influence.

  • Potpourri says:

    Anna Netrebko has lost a lot of weight and enjoys wearing her new glamorous clothes and costumes.

  • zandonai says:

    I met Netrebko in the 1990’s in San Francisco Opera before she became famous. Saw many Bolshoi productions in SF with her in it…what a lovely young voice.
    I still like her, but not her husband — purely on vocal grounds, the dude just sucks at singing. The politics I could care less.

  • MOST READ TODAY: