UPDATE: Miss Netrebko regrets
OperaMessage from the Vienna-based Russian soprano:
“I am regrettably obliged to withdraw from my January performances in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Wiener Staatsoper, which would have marked my role debut. Ill health this month compromised the preparation time required before starting rehearsals just after the New Year. I am sad that I will not be interpreting this incredible new role but, because of the time unexpectedly lost, I am unable to prepare it to the standard I demand of myself. I am sorry to disappoint everyone who planned on attending. Since beginning to study the role of Ariadne, I have fallen in love with it and looked forward to debuting it. Bogdan Roščić and I are working to find a new period as soon as possible for me to sing it in Vienna. I am grateful that Lise Davidsen accepted to give the performances and wish her all my best.”
She has been swiftly replaced.
More like she just took a ghastly vocal dump all over the La scala stage with Forza and that dreadful Puccini gala, was roundly booed for it, and now needs to figure out how to retire with some grace.
We are far more civilised in London and Leeds than at La Scala ever is, and there is no place for booing any singer in 2024 or 2025. It is not a bull fight or a boxing match. Don’t like something? Fine! Mve on. Others do like it and are not deaf either or ignorant.
This highfalutin sentiment does NOT work to the advantage of London and Leeds operagoers, it needs to be emphatically communicated to Mrs. Putin that her operatic career is long over and her retirement well overdue.
It doesn’t need to be communicated to Netrebko, it needs to be communicated to the companies which hire her.
Dead on The girl is finished both vocaly and politically. Slink off and let Ms Davidsen shine,.
Ms Davidsen is a horrible singer. Should never sing in the Italian language!
Good job then that she is singing the German translation of Ariadne in Vienna 🙂
Lucky Vienna Staatsoper. They are actually getting a real singer to sing Ariadne instead of this awful self proclaimed “dramatic” soprano.
How cruel. And crude and lacking in empathy. Still, you have to live with yourself.
Yes, as a singer myself far lower down the list but yet successfiul. I wonder if you would say that to Anna to her face? Nah, oh darling Anna, how lovely to meet you. This sc such a treat. Always loved to singing! It is not clever to be so cruel!
Davidsen for Netrebko sounds like a significant upgrade.
Davidsen sounds so much better in German roles than Italian.
I was shocked at the poor level of Davidsen’s Italian pronunciation in Tosca. Has she ever been told about double consonants? Her diction should be required-listening in Italian classes for young singers. And observing her overall blandness, I also wonder whether or not she understands the text.
That’s interesting – I didn’t find her German diction convincing in Munich earlier this year with Wagner.
Well, she is known as Anna No-show.
I remember her War and Peace at the Met for her debut. The raked stage was horrendous and treacherous. But the voice was lovely at that time. Now she almost sounds like a baritone. Hardly what Strauss had in mind for the role of Ariadne. Maybe Harlequin or the music master is more her role at this stage of her career.
Have YOU not changed over the past 25 years??? In the years between her Met debut and today, Ms. Netrebko has given much pleasure to audiences. I’m not a fan of her politics, but I won’t negate Ms. Netrebko’s decades as a musician, much like I won’t dismiss the considerable contributions of James Levine or Placido Domingo.
Ok we get it, you like to defend men with very questionable ethics.
I agree. I just heard a Bohème she did in 2012 in Salzburg with Beczala. Her voice was splendid then. You can make a difference to Forza she did in Milan for the opening of the Scala. Why does she want to be a dramatic soprano? She’s not. Ariadna is not for her. She’s ruining her voice.
As much as the public loved such as Leontyne Price, Joan Sutherland, and others, their voices changed gradually over the decades. They held on perhaps longer than they should have.
I fear that the glorious and glamorous Netrebko sound is far from what made her the singer I couldn’t get enough of. Remembered as one of the great voices of her generation.
Now, I will be the first to say that I’ve never really liked Netrebko on account that you usually need to be able to sing to have an opera career, but regardless of that…why was *that* the picture chosen for this article?
AN has given many fine performances, brought much happiness and sold many tickets. I think the pettiness/negativity shown in many of the contributions here are a sad comment on the contributors. Being booed at LaScala, if indeed she was, is not extraordinary. I was in the audience when Pavarotti was booed in Don Carlos.
Took my sons to see her in naples and Vienna 2 years running, hate to say it not the Anna’s voice I fell in love with, reading this now I understand voices change over time as did the great MC .
Es gibt kein Reich…
Miss Netrebko cancels a role in German that is vocally more complex than ‘Meine Lippen’? How much not surprising.
Are her days as Tatiana in Onegin long past as well?
Seriously: from the day these performances were announced, WHO truly believed that she would sing Ariadne? Even had her voice not deteriorated as it has, Ariadne has some very long stretches alone onstage and in the current production at Wiener Staatsoper there is no place to hide video screens to prompt her. She cannot speak German, even at the level of a second year student.
Her German matches her singing, which has never surpassed the level of a second year student. It was less apparent when there were some looks and less wear and tear on the voice.
Very sensible. If she realizes she’s not ready for the role, then it’s better not to go for it.
Did anyone in this thread actually watch her Forza performance at La Scala? It was generally agreed the booing was for her politics not her singing. You may not agree with this review but at least it was from seeing the performance https://seenandheard-international.com/2024/12/muscatos-compelling-new-la-scala-la-forza-del-destino-is-dominated-by-netrebkos-leonora-and-teziers-carlo/ .
Thank you for posting this review. I read many reviews and all praised the cast, especially Anna Netrebko. It is still available on Medici.tv and operaondemand.com. Excellent production.
I only endured short moments but luckily there was the Liceu Forza with Anna Pirozzi, Spagnoli etc., the real thing.
Seems that to the canary fanciers here there are as many dissing LD as there are AN. Lise shouldn’t sing Italian, one even suggesting German, and the usual crew of Anna shouldn’t be singing anything at all.
Well, at least AN is honest about her reasons for canceling the Ariadnes.
I am getting so tired of these opera singers that cancel all the time, and the reasons given are usually “for personal reasons” or “who is indisposed”, etc.
BP
Such malice and vicious remarks about these artists is reprehensible. These comments are disgusting and unnecessary.
She does not speak the language sufficiently well and the intricacies of Strauss’ music far surpass her vocal, musical, and intellectual capacities, as the Vier letzte Lieder fiasco has demonstrated. I am amazed a contract happened at all.