Before the performance of Guiseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth”, about 200 people protested outside the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin against the opera’s decision to carry out the performance with Anna Netrebko.
Anna Netrebko lives in Vienna and is an Austrian citizen. Previously, the Staatsoper in Berlin has been one of the cultural institutions that has suspended cooperation with Netrebko after the Russian singer only condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but not the Russian regime.
Now, however, Netrebko has gone out and distanced himself from President Putin and therefore, writes the opera in one statement on its websiteit was decided to once again let the singer appear on stage.
“She describes Russia as an authoritarian regime with a clan mentality. She does not support Putin, is not supported by Putin, has not been intimately associated with Putin or allied with Putin,” they write, quoting from the Austrian newspaper Die Presse.
According to the German news agency DPA, the performance on Friday was sold out, with 1,400 in the audience. Anna Netrebko was celebrated with a minute’s applause and stood with a smile on stage to receive the audience’s applause.