A Russian soprano has received a $200,000 payout from the Metropolitan Opera after it canceled a number of her performances when she refused to denounce leader Vladimir Putin last year.
Anna Netrebko – who backed Putin as a presidential candidate in 2012 and called his Western critics “evil” – was one of the Met’s biggest stars until she was suddenly banned from 13 shows following last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A referee has now ruled that she should be compensated for the canceled performances, claiming that there is “no doubt” that she is a Putin supporter but has “every right” to be.
Netrebko – who was also embroiled in a blackface scandal last year – argued she was entitled to the money under a “pay-or-play” agreement that obliges institutions to pay performers even if they later choose to do so to terminate them.
But bosses argued she was not entitled to the money because she had breached the company’s conduct clause.
Anna Netrebko, who backed Putin as presidential candidate in 2012 and called his Western critics “evil”, was one of opera’s biggest stars before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Netrebko has distanced himself from Putin over the past year but has not publicly condemned him. She is pictured with him in 2013
She had denounced the war last February and distanced herself from the leader – but failed to publicly speak out against him.
In a verdict presented to the New York Times, adjudicator Howard C. Edelman said, “There is no doubt that she was a Putin supporter because she had a right to be.”
He added that this was “certainly not a moral reproach or in and of itself worthy of criminal misconduct”.
The verdict was handed down last month but only came to light this week.
Netrebko originally requested $400,000 in fees for future performances, which she had discussed with the opera but had not yet formally agreed to.
She was paid around $15,000 for each performance — the Met fee for top artists.
However, Edelman said she was not entitled to those fees for those performances as there were no official contracts.
She was also fined $30,000 for making “inappropriate” statements about the invasion.
On social media, she called Western critics of the conflict “as evil as blind aggressors.”
Last year she was criticized for wearing black makeup at a performance of Verdi’s “Aida” in Italy.
The series saw leading soprano Angel Blue condemn it as “insulting, demeaning and downright racist”.
She was also fined $30,000 for making “inappropriate” remarks, such as calling Western critics of Russia “evil.”
Netrebko originally requested $400,000 in fees for future performances, which she had discussed with the opera but had not yet formally agreed to
Last year she came under fire for an “offensive” performance of Verdi’s “Aida” in Italy, in which she wore black makeup
Met general manager Peter Gelb told the New York Times: “Although our contracts are ‘pay or play,’ given her close association with Putin, we felt it was morally unrighteous to pay Netrebko anything.
“It’s an artistic loss for the Met that they don’t sing here. But there is no way either the Met or the majority of its audience would tolerate their presence.’
Separately, the Met announced on Friday that it would fire Netrebko’s husband.
Tenor Tusif Eyvazov has been dropped from a production of “Tosca” scheduled to air on March 30.
And Netrebko is also struggling with a number of cancellations worldwide. She was banned from a concert in Taiwan at the last minute this month because of her ties to Putin.
After news of her cancellation of Met performances first broke, she told French newspaper Le Monde: “The Met was the first to insist that I clarify my position on what I was doing. But I was also asked to declare myself against Vladimir Putin.
“I replied that I have a Russian passport, that he is still President and that I cannot utter those words publicly. So I declined.’
She added: “We can’t terminate all my future contracts just because they think I’m too close to Putin.”
Met general manager Peter Gelb told the New York Times that he didn’t think it was “morally right” to pay Netrebko given her ties to Putin
When tensions between Russia and Ukraine began to escalate in March last year, many Russian celebrities and sports stars were pressured into publicly condemning the conflict – although many refused to do so.
Earlier this week, Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova received a formal warning for wearing a Spartak Moscow football shirt before her match against American star Jessica Pegula.
The Women’s Tennis Association informed the player that the jersey was “not acceptable or appropriate”.