As much as large segments of the opera community would like to remain unaffected by current events, their reverberations have long since reached the classical music world. It forces us to look at the scene with different eyes and to painfully recognize that - analogous to the approach of "change through trade" - the fair intentions of understanding and reconciliation through cultural exchange have partly failed. We were wrong if we in the classical music world thought that guest performances by Valery Gergiev, Denis Matsuev, Anna Netrebko, Ildar Abdrazakov, Hibla Gerzmava, Teodor Currentzis, Yuri Bashmet and many others would be substantial contributions to securing peace, among other things.

Since February 24, 2022, Valery Gergiev has begun to face the consequences of his decades-long support for Putin's regime. His championing of Putin's policies, while conducting in cities like London, Munich, and Rotterdam, allowed arts and culture to be weaponized against our Western values and liberal democracy. Since the full scale invasion of Ukraine began, Gergiev no longer performs in the West. He has chosen only to lead musical performances in Russia and China. where he doesn't need to minimize his support for both the Russian dictator and the war. The "red line, namely when someone has profited from the Putin system and actively supported it" (Franz Welser-Möst in the ORF TV program "Kulturmontag" on July 27, 2022) has clearly been crossed.

Welcome Propaganda

The case is different for Anna Netrebko, who is struggling to manage a balancing act between Russia and the West. But the balancing act may not succeed: "No wonder, because Netrebko's non-attitude does not fit an art form that strives for social relevance." (SWR, January 27th, 2023)

The Netrebko case exemplifies what we are dealing with, among other things: The reputation acquired in the West by an opera singer is instrumentalized politically against the West, and the power of her celebrity status is wielded as propaganda for a brutal regime.

For a long time, this worked smoothly from the Russian point of view. On the one hand, there was the enthusiastically pro-nationalist opera diva who pandered to a dictator, advocated military aggression and beat the publicity drum for Putin in Russia; on the other hand, there was the public in the West, ready to be lied to, to talk down political extremism and deliberately look the other way.

But then came February 24, 2022, and with it even the last Western wearer of rose-colored glasses realized that like the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia was again attempting to gain European territory by force. The apparent certainty that such a thing would not happen again in post-1945 Europe was lost. Looking the other way was no longer possible.

Nowhere other than in the cultural sector is the desire to be free from political discussions greater than in the opera world, creating art in a world that is disconnected from the world outside the theater walls. But art and politics are not opposites. There has never been a politics-free art, and opera lovers, especially, should know this: Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Wagner and many others were highly political figures who faced censorship and conflict with authorities.

The Case of Wiesbaden

The current situation does not permit an escape from reality and into the world of art, especially when one considers that Netrebko was invited to perform by artistic director Uwe Eric Laufenberg at the Wiesbaden May Festival, which is "dedicated to all political prisoners in this world.” Netrebko was invited to the festival alongside two Ukrainian ensembles from Kharkiv and Kiev. The two Ukrainian ensembles immediately refused to participate in the festival if Netrebko were also involved. According to a decree published by the Ukrainian Presidential Office on January 7, 2023, 119 people, including Netrebko, were placed on a sanctions list. According to the decree, performance festival participation by Ukrainian artists is forbidden if Netrebko is also performing.

Anna Netrebko has affected politics in words and deeds, consciously or unconsciously. In a democracy, one must be allowed to discuss this. To argue that she, as an artist, should be viewed solely from an artistic point of view would exploit art as a shield against criticism of political actions.

The conversation about performances by Russian artists has entered the political realm due to the Wiesbaden situation, and this is a conversation that should be embraced. Uwe Eric Laufenberg has stated that it is not the job of politics to interfere in the casting of singers. Laufenberg ignores the fact that he himself was appointed to his position by politicians, and that responsibility lies with politicians to ensure that tax money is used in accordance with the values of the state.

Like every human being, Anna Netrebko cannot be reduced to her profession alone. No profession in the world, not even an artistic one, absolves a person from his or her responsibility towards others. And that is precisely what politics is - everything that goes beyond us as individuals and connects us with other people.

As an opera manager, it is difficult to praise Arturo Toscanini for turning his back on the Nazi regime or to show solidarity with Kirill Serebrennikov because he is a critic of the Putin regime - and at the same time overlook the fact that Anna Netrebko willingly supported a dictator, incited the belligerence of her countrymen, and has not yet recanted any of it.

The request by Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein and Wiesbaden's Lord Mayor Gert-Uwe Mende to the artistic director of the Hessisches Staatstheater Uwe Eric Laufenberg to not invite soprano Anna Netrebko to the Wiesbaden May Festival 2023 should be seen in this light. The highest federal authority, Claudia Roth's State Ministry of Culture, stated, "If individuals such as Ms. Netrebko have shown support for the Putin regime in the past and have allowed themselves to be photographed with the so-called separatists of the Donbas region - after the occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine - the Minister of State for Culture can well understand that there is criticism of a performance by Ms. Netrebko and that Ukrainian artists do not want to participate in a festival together with her." (Crescendo, Feb. 1, 2023)

Doubtful Alliance

Laufenberg sees Netrebko as a political ally: "We in the Western world, who are currently experiencing how our freedom in Ukraine unfortunately has to be defended even with weapons and human lives, must never exclude artists and people who belong to us and whom we urgently need on our side for the fight against unjust regimes like Vladimir Putin's." A sentence that leaves one stunned. Probably no public figure would be less apt for this than Anna Netrebko. Peter Gelb, director of the Metropolitan Opera New York, at whose house Netrebko worked for several weeks at a time for years and sang countless premieres, probably knows her better than the Hessian opera director, who would be hiring Netrebko for the first time. Gelb told Van magazine, "Anna Netrebko is a close personal ally of Putin, both in terms of her actions and her mindset - and I know that from personal experience, because I've talked to her and known her for many years (...) what I tolerated for a long time is now unacceptable." (June 29th, 2022)

Would it be conceivable for another state educational institution, such as a school, to hire someone who has been exposed as having engaged in extremist acts directed against democracy and the rule of law, even as a janitor? Probably not. The Staatstheater Wiesbaden would pay a reported fee of €100,000 for the two "Nabucco" performances into the coffers of the Putin faithful: "The public conflict (...) started when Uwe Eric Laufenberg, the belligerent artistic director of the Staatstheater, told the Wiesbaden magistrate in a confidential meeting on January 10th about the commitment from the star soprano six months prior for a proud sum of 100,000 euros”, wrote Eva-Maria Magel in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on January 29th, 2023.

Comparable Whitewashing

Not only the Hessian State Theater, but also the Austrian federal theaters are masters of "whitewashing." In response to the sanctions imposed on Anna Netrebko by Ukraine, they responded with a press release in January 2023, stating, as they had the previous year, that they saw "no basis" for artistic cooperation with individuals who identify with the war, its operators, or their goals. All three points demonstrably apply to Anna Netrebko and still do. Nevertheless, they engage her in Vienna. Unlike in Germany, Austrian politicians do not express any reservations.

A state-funded cultural institution in a democratic nation is using tax money to finance an honorarium for a person who has supported her country's descent into dictatorship. She has twice called for Putin to be elected; she has cheered for the annexation of foreign territory in violation of international law; she has publicly appeared wearing a shirt with the words  "To Berlin!", expressing the revanchist desire to once again expand the Russian sphere of political influence to Berlin, and at a press conference she expressed support for violent separatists.

Regarding all these political statements, Anna Netrebko, in a statement published by her lawyer on March 30, 2022, has only to say that she "regrets that some of her actions and statements in the past could be misinterpreted." Which is an apology that someone took offense, but not an apology for the content of those statements, let alone their retraction.

Nor has Netrebko distanced herself from Putin to date. On March 30th, 2022, her lawyer released a statement saying she is not "connected with any leader of Russia." The fact that she has demonstrated this connection in the past, and what connection she may have at present, is not addressed. The Putinist, who has been a fervent supporter of Russia for years, has not yet clearly distanced herself from it. On the contrary, in an interview for "Die Zeit" on June 2, 2022, she explained that "you can't do something like that" because he is her president. With this and in Russia, Netrebko has not fallen into great disfavor, as is often claimed. On the official Kremlin website, Putin expressed his well-wishes to Netrebko on her 50th birthday in September 2021 (this was still viewable online as of February 3rd, 2023). 

Some people argue that it is unfair to demand one publicly and clearly renounce a dictatorship, if doing so would put that person or their loved ones in danger. But this is debatable if that same person has consciously and consistently supported that dictatorship, contributing to the repression they would then face. Whoever collaborates with a despotic regime has to bear the consequences for it. Additionally, Netrebko has no relatives in Russia: her parents are deceased; her married sister has resided in Denmark for many years.

Duplicity

What is frightening is that Anna Netrebko's double-dealing continues unabated. A sign to the Russian side that one approves of their aggression; an apology and a half-hearted plea for peace to reassure the West. To this day, lies are spread, even in situations where one wonders why. This was the case most recently in response to the imposed Ukrainian sanctions. Netrebko's manager Miguel Esteban stated via the German Press Agency in January 2023: "She has no assets in Ukraine, she has never performed in Ukraine, and she has no plans to do so." Anna Netrebko sang with Erwin Schrott in Odessa and at the Kyiv Palace of Culture in December 2010.

It is striking that Anna Netrebko's political actions and patterns of argumentation bear astonishing similarities to those of the Putin regime.

Together with the Donbass separatist leader Oleh Tsaryov, Anna Netrebko and her husband Yusif Eyvazov gave a press conference in 2014, posing behind the flag of Novorossiya in front of the cameras. To this day Netrebko, who wore a dress in the colors of Novorossiya, pretended not to have known who Tsaryov was, and that the flag of Novorossiya was used in the press conference. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/08/opera-singer-anna-netrebko-ukrainian-separatist-flag) Similarly, Putin also claimed to not know who the "little green men'' were in Crimea in 2014. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26532154) 
This press conference was (supposedly) only for making a private donation to the Donetsk Opera House (in the same way Wagner mercenaries fighting for Russia merely comprise a “private organization,” according to the Kremlin).

When more and more Russian troops were massing on the Ukrainian border in early 2022 and Western politicians spoke of the danger of a Russian attack, the Kremlin said they were "misinterpreting here - as in the case of Netrebko's Donbas press conference."
In a June 2nd, 2022 interview with “TIME” magazine, Netrebko saw her task as “fighting against any Russophobia by performing and singing on stage..." Quite in line with Putin, who stated in his speech on the partial mobilization of Russian forces on September 21st, 2022, that "the West is fomenting Russophobia, especially in Ukraine, which it has designated as a foothold of anti-Russian sentiment." In the face of Russia's murdering and bombing invasion of a neighboring country, to speak of a “phobia” — a disproportionate fear — is hard to beat in hypocrisy.

Russia's attack on Ukraine's right to decide its own future has brought immeasurable suffering. One still waits in vain to hear from Netrebko's mouth honest words of regret and a clear distancing from the Kremlin's policy.

The Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts has drawn conclusions from this. It said it had "no intention of supporting opera performances with Ms. Netrebko." The invitation of Netrebko, and the fact that her name is mentioned alongside the names of victims of unjust regimes in a press release by the Wiesbaden State Theater, is "perceived as an insult to all those who suffer from Russia's daily attacks on Ukraine or seek protection from them in our country."

Human consideration dictates not adding to people's pain by promoting those who support their tormentors. In a democratic constitutional state, there is currently no basis whatsoever for hiring Anna Netrebko for a stage financed by taxpayers' money.

Martin Kienzl worked in the cultural sector from 1988 to 2020, including ten years as Universal Music's Austrian product manager for classical music. In this capacity, he collaborated with Anna Netrebko professionally and was a personal friend to her until 2014. (added 02/13/2023)

We thank Migdalia R. Tracy for her valuable help in ensuring that this English translation is at a professional level.

Original German verison

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