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Just in: Netrebko to perform at Winter Olympics closing ceremony

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norman lebrecht

January 15, 2014

No surprise. Putin’s the casting director. Details here (in Russian).

Anna Netrebko The Woman The Voice

Comments

Mikey says:

January 15, 2014 at 7:28 pm

All I can say is “who cares?”

I won’t be watching any part of these olympics. They betray everything the olympic movement represents.

David H. says:

January 15, 2014 at 9:09 pm

Agreed. But that betrayal we have for many years, including London, Salt Lake City, Peking and all the other places where the Olympic commercial circus is sold to the masses.

Reply

Laurence Glavin says:

January 15, 2014 at 8:21 pm

I read an English-language account via Google News. Rehearsals will be soon, so maybe we’ll learn the selections that will be performed before the live event. In the US, there’s a tendency to minimize and truncate any classical or operatic performances. That’s why “O mio babbino caro” is the aria of choice for talent shows; it’s brief. If Netrebko were to sing the “Song to the Moon” from Rusalka, or maybe Rachmaninoff’s “How beautiful a day it is here”, something that the general public is not familiar with and that they might find enchanting, would emphasize that there is more beautiful music there is than they’ve experienced.