In March of this year, a performance by the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko in the Elbphilharmonie was canceled – it was the time of the big demonstrations shortly after the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. But not even half a year later, Netrebko should be allowed to sing in Hamburg’s flagship concert hall, a concert evening is planned for September 7th, the evening is entitled “Verdi to Puccini”. There are still places available in four categories, the prices are between 279 euros and 440 euros. But it’s not because of this pricing that the evening is controversial.
After the beginning of the war, Netrebko had hesitantly and later in writing distanced himself from acts of war in general. Critics accuse her of being close to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin and expect a clearer demarcation. The appearance of the Ukrainian Consul General in Hamburg, Iryna Tybinka, is particularly bitter. In a letter from Friday she finds clear words: “The Russian opera singer was, is and will remain one of the agents of influence of the Putin regime. It is also a fact that the slight changes in Netrebko’s rhetoric on the “war on Ukraine” (as her statement said) were due to the cessation of cooperation with her in Europe and the US, and not the civic or moral one she expected Enlightenment.” The diplomat sees a “PR campaign” here, on which Netrebko can be congratulated. However, Netrebko had “never heard critical statements about the initiators of this senseless war or the public condemnation of the rapes, executions and mass murders by Russian soldiers of thousands of peaceful Ukrainians.”
Tybinka also addresses the Hamburg audience directly: “It’s a shame that the respectable Hamburg audience helped her without understanding that the aggressor state cynically uses her love of culture to smuggle its, if you will, cultural landing party in northern Germany. It is entirely possible that the significant amount of money paid for the tickets is indirectly used to finance further killings of civilians in Ukraine. The short memory of those who made this incredible concert possible is surprising”. Because the circumstances that led to the cancellation of Netrebko’s concert in the Elbphilharmonie in March would not have changed.
The Elbphilharmonie GmbH itself is not the organizer of the concert, but has rented the hall to the organizer DEAG. A cancellation, as has already been the case in Stuttgart for a concert planned for September 3, is therefore out of the question for Elbphilharmonie Artistic Director Christoph Lieben-Seutter: “There is a signed contract and we are a public company. My heart is not attached to this concert, but: Pacta sunt servanda, and we cannot terminate contracts at will and then compensate from the tax fund,” he told the Hamburger Abendblatt. It is “quite possible” that there will be protests in front of the house on the evening of the concert. Regarding Netrebko’s behavior himself, the artistic director said: “She is the most famous singer in the world and logically she was celebrated and honored for it in Russia. That doesn’t automatically make her a supporter of the Putin regime, but her first statements after the start of the war were too misleading. After realizing that, she probably thought about where she would have better performing opportunities in the future and decided against her home country. It certainly wasn’t easy for her.”
