Anna Netrebko

At 53 years old, Anna Netrebko has this physical status:

Under Gergiev's guidance, in 1994, Netrebko made her operatic stage debut at the Mariinsky at age 22 as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro despite initially being billed as Barbarina. In the same year, she also performed as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute with the Riga Independent Opera Avangarda Akadēmija under conductor David Milnes. She subsequently became associated with the Mariinsky Theatre.

In autumn 1995, Netrebko made her American debut with Lyudmila at the San Francisco Opera. Following this successful performance, she was enrolled in the Merola Opera Program in summer 1996 and became a frequent guest singer in San Francisco in the next seasons, performing in L'elisir d'amore (Adina), Betrothal in a Monastery, Idomeneo (Ilia), La bohème (Musetta), The Tsar's Bride (Marfa), Don Giovanni (Zerlina), Falstaff (Nannetta). In 1998, she performed Lyudmila when the Mariinsky production of the opera was presented at the Metropolitan Opera House, and made Salzburg Festival debut in Parsifal conducted by Gergiev. She sang her first Violetta in Verdi's La traviata in the same year in Saint Petersburg, and her first Amina in La sonnambula the following year. In October 1999, she performed Gilda in Rigoletto at the Washington National Opera.

Netrebko made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera company in February 2002, as Natasha in the Met premiere of Prokofiev's War and Peace, and performed as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Her international breakthrough came in August 2002, when she sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Salzburg Festival, where she would be particularly associated. In September 2002, she returned to the Royal Opera for Servilia in La clemenza di Tito, and in next two seasons for Don Giovanni and Rigoletto. She then returned to Washington National Opera for Ilia in Idomeneo. In 2003, she made her Vienna State Opera and Bavarian State Opera debuts, both with Violetta in La traviata. In November 2003, she made her Los Angeles Opera debut with Lucia di Lammermoor, and would return in 2005 for Roméo et Juliette and in 2006 for Manon.

In February 2004, she returned to Vienna for Don Giovanni, and was subsequently invited as the guest performer at the Vienna Opera Ball, where she returned in 2007. She then starred in a Japan tour of La bohème in Robert Carsen's staging as Musetta conducted by Seiji Ozawa, and subsequently returned to San Francisco Opera in the same role. After withdrawing from two engagements, citing exhaustion, she returned to scene in November in Metropolitan Opera's La bohème. In summer 2005, she starred in the premiere of Willy Decker's new staging of La traviata in Salzburg, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. In December 2005, she sang Gilda in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera, and was featured in the premiere of Otto Schenk's new production of Don Pasquale and Japan tour of Don Giovanni in the same season.

In 2006 she sang Susanna in the new Claus Guth production of The Marriage of Figaro in Salzburg.

She sang Elvira in I puritani at the Metropolitan Opera in January 2007, and on 30 May 2007, Netrebko made her Carnegie Hall debut with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, which was originally scheduled on 2 March 2006 but she postponed due to not feeling artistically ready. She then performed Donna Anna at Covent Garden, but withdrew from some performances due to illness. She appeared at the Last Night of the Proms on 8 September of that year where she performed excerpts from La sonnambula and Giuditta, and the lied "Morgen!" by Richard Strauss with Joshua Bell. In the fall of 2007 she reprised her role as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera.

In December 2007 Netrebko was invited to honor Martin Scorsese at the 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, performing the aria "O mio babbino caro".

In January 2008 she performed Violetta at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to triumphant acclaim on the opening night, opposite Jonas Kaufmann and Dmitri Hvorostovsky in performances conducted by Maurizio Benini. However, she cancelled three subsequent performances due to suffering a bronchial condition. In May 2008, she made her Paris Opera debut in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Opéra Bastille, with Joyce DiDonato as Romeo. In her first performance after her maternity leave, Netrebko sang Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor when it opened at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on 14 January 2009, in a production from the Scottish Opera led by John Doyle. She then sang the same role in January and February 2009 at the Metropolitan Opera. Netrebko appeared as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Royal Opera House in Spring 2009, and as Violetta in La traviata in June 2009 at the San Francisco Opera.

She presented the Deutscher Medienpreis 2009 to Chancellor Angela Merkel and sang Strauss' "Cäcilie" at the ceremony in Baden-Baden on 9 February 2010.

Through April and May 2010, she made a series of appearances at the Vienna State Opera in La bohème, Carmen, Manon. Originally scheduled in I puritani as well, she cancelled the appearance citing illness. She starred in Laurent Pelly's new Manon production at the Royal Opera, and sang Juliette at the Salzburg Festival. In October 2010, she returned to New York's Metropolitan Opera for Norina in Don Pasquale, the matinee performance on 13 November of which was broadcast nationwide by PBS.

On 2 April 2011, she sang the title role of Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Vienna State Opera for a sold-out premiere there, and the repeat performance on 5 April 2011 was broadcast live to cinemas around the world. On 7 December 2011, she opened the new season at La Scala in Milan, making her house debut, as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. She has the distinction of being invited to appear in three consecutive opening night new productions at the Metropolitan Opera: Anna Bolena in 2011, L'elisir d'amore in 2012, and Eugene Onegin in 2013. Her performance as Lady Macbeth in the Metropolitan's 2014 fall season's production of Macbeth, a revival of Adrian Noble's 2007 production, drew critical praise and demonstrated her voice is still expanding in range and volume. She continued her expansion into heavier Verdi roles at the Met the following year, singing the role of Leonora in Il trovatore to acclaim from both critics and audiences.

She participated in the gala concert inaugurating the Mariinsky Theatre Second Stage on 2 May 2013. She was invited to perform the Olympic Anthem, in Russian, at the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

In April 2016, Netrebko announced her withdrawal from productions of Bellini's Norma at the Royal Opera House's 2016/17 season and the Metropolitan Opera's 2017/18 season due to the change in her voice. The vacancies were filled respectively by Sonya Yoncheva and Sondra Radvanovsky. She then made her debut as Elsa in Lohengrin at the Semperoper in Dresden, and then went to Saint Petersburg for the same role at the Mariinsky Theatre.

She made several role debuts in 2017, including the title role of Adriana Lecouvreur at Mariinsky Theatre in June, the title role of Aida at Salzburg Festival in August, and Maddalena in Andrea Chénier at La Scala in December. In 2018, she debuted as Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in April and performed at the Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn on 31 May.

In 2018, she performed in both gala concerts at the Red Square on 13 June and at the Bolshoi Theatre on 14 July, respectively commemorating the opening and closing of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. On 8 September 2018 she took part in the inauguration gala concert of Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow, which was streamed on Medici.tv. In February 2019, she opened the 2019 Vienna Opera Ball. She was featured in the opening ceremony of 2019 European Games in Minsk on 21 June and inaugurated the first concert season of the Congress Hall at the Yekaterinburg Expo on 30 August 2019.

In June 2020 Netrebko performed highlights from Verdi's Don Carlo in reduced concert form at the Semperoper as part of its "Aufklang!" series which reopened the theatre after the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany. She went on debuting at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples for semi-staged Tosca with her husband and Ludovic Tézier. In September 2020 she had to self-isolate after her co-star in Don Carlo at the Bolshoi Theatre, Ildar Abdrazakov, was tested positive for COVID-19. She was soon hospitalised in Moscow, being treated for COVID-19-related pneumonia for about a week.

On 26 February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Netrebko released a statement in which she voiced her opposition to the warfare but also expressed disagreement on forcing one to voice one's political opinion. Despite her statement, she faced pressure from performance institutions for failing to distance from Russian president Vladimir Putin. On 1 March 2022, she shared she would "retire from concert life until further notice". Immediately prior to her announcement, she withdrew from opera productions in Milan and Zürich, while the Bavarian State Opera cancelled existing engagements with both her and Valery Gergiev. Two days later, the Metropolitan Opera removed her from the upcoming Turandot and Don Carlo in the next season. Berlin State Opera and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden also cancelled her appearances, with the latter not ruling out future cooperation. Finn McRedmond of The Irish Times commented such "Wholesale boycott of Russia" would be "a dangerous departure from Western values", in reference to Netrebko's exclusion.

On 30 March 2022, Netrebko released another statement, where she announced plans to resume her public performances from May 2022, and repeated her condemnation of the war in Ukraine, distancing herself from Putin.

Netrebko was denounced as a traitor of the Russian State after her second statement on 30 March 2022. Her Russian performances were cancelled while a Duma deputy suggested that she resign from her Russian titles. Mathias Schulz later announced that he had been contacting Netrebko about performances scheduled in 2023.

In June 2022, Netrebko filed a labor grievance against the Met with the assistance of the American Guild of Musical Artists.

After her pause, linked to the war of aggression against Ukraine, Netrebko came back on stage in Monte-Carlo as Manon Lescaut in April 2022, where she stepped in for the ailing Maria Agresta. She was unanimously praised for her performance, which was called "triumphant".

In May 2022, for her official comeback on stage, she received "triumphal" welcomes and ovations from audiences in Philharmonie de Paris and Teatro alla Scala.

During the summer, she sang Aida (Verdi) and Turandot (Puccini) in Arena di Verona. She was praised by critics as "superlative" or "masterful" for the first one, and was acclaimed for her vocal and acting interpretations for the second one. Her name was applaused by the audience during the cast announcement.

Between these performances, she sang some concerts, including in the program arias from Roméo et Juliette, Anna Bolena or The Queen of Spades, showing her vocal range.

In September 2022, she opened the season of the Wiener Staatsoper, singing Mimi in La Bohème. Around twenty people protested against her performance outside the opera and at her entrance, few protesters, occupying the famous standing places, booed her, while she was in return widely applauded by the rest of the audience. Critics praised her performance and noted that the booing was totally unjustified and ultimately covered by ovations at the end of the performance. The last performance of La bohème took place on her birthday and was broadcast on ORF3, press calling it another triumph.

Netrebko has often performed the titular character in Aida, an Ethiopian princess, with face-darkening makeup, including her role debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2017, and at the Metropolitan Opera in 2018—despite the opera company's 2015 pledge to eliminate the use of face-darkening makeup in its productions. In June 2019 she defended such choice in the comments under her Instagram post for a performance.

In July 2022, Netrebko and the Arena di Verona Festival faced heavy criticism for performing in blackface, following the release of publicity photos for a performance of Aida. Subsequently, American soprano Angel Blue canceled her upcoming performances of La traviata at the Festival, citing the company's insistence on maintaining the practice. Blue's cancellation initiated heated discussion. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov, Netrebko's husband, criticised Blue's actions, while mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry offered a conciliatory perspective.

Other notable singers to have publicly spoken out against the use of blackface in Opera include the mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton who named Netrebko directly, and Stephanie Blythe, who suggested an abstention from performing operas that have typically featured white singers made up to appear as other ethnicities.

Responding to the controversy surrounding blackface, the Arena di Verona Festival cited historical precedent claiming it is "very hard to change" the production to avoid the use of blackface (this staging dates from 2002). The Festival also stated that when Blue signed her contract for La traviata, this staging of Aida was already planned and she should already have known that blackface was to be used.

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