The management of the Berlin Opera is in favor of a differentiated approach and believes that it is necessary to give the artist a chance, not hide him from the public.
As a result, on September 15, 2023, for the first time in 18 months, Netrebko went on stage at the Berlin Opera House amid a full house and pro-Ukrainian protests.
In early May of this year, it became known about the cancellation of Netrebko’s concert scheduled for June 1 at the Center for Culture and Congresses in Lucerne (Switzerland).
Anna König Jerlmyr
2020 turned out to be a very special year as the pandemic of covid-19 started to spread all over the world a month later. As a child she briefly studied piano and sang in a chorus, and in high school she sang in a traveling musical troupe.
She dreamt about being an actress, but finally changed her path towards opera and entered the St Petersburg Conservatory to study vocal performance in 1990.
Anna Netrebko as a child.
In addition, the opera diva will give a solo concert with piano accompaniment.
Grusha believes Netrebko is “one of the best” sopranos in the world.
“The theater should be associated with the best singers, and she is among them,” the music director is sure.
The premiere with Netrebko is scheduled for September 11 this year, in case protests of Ukrainians start in front of the theater, Grusha intends to “act according to circumstances”.
The publication recalls that Netrebko has not appeared on the stage of Covent Garden since 2019.
For 2.5 years, Netrebko’s concerts were canceled and continue to be canceled around the world.
Her title role debut in Giovanna d’Arco the 2013 Salzburg Festival, and the concurrent release of her Verdi album on Deutsche Grammophon, have marked the major turning point when she began to leave behind the lighter, more lyric roles for which she had first become known.
Anna has performed all over the world, the greatest opera parts in the biggest opera houses.
Thus far the soprano has sung the roles of Violetta in “La Traviata,” Gilda in “Rigoletto,” Nannetta in “Falstaff,” the title roles of “Aida” and “Giovanna d’Arco,” Leonora in “Il Trovatore” and “La Forza del Destino,” Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth,” and Elisabetta in “Don Carlo.” She is set to add Amelia in “Un Ballo in Maschera” in 2025.
And for those not in Berlin for the upcoming performances Netrebko is set to make role debuts in “Ariadne auf Naxos” and Lisa in “Pique Dame.” She is also set to open the Teatro alla Scala for the seventh time in a new production of “La Forza del Destino.”
Some of the soprano’s recent Verdi recordings include “Don Carlo” from La Scala and “Aida” from the Arena di Verona and the Wiener Staatsoper.
At Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, she made her first appearances as Verdi’s Lady Macbeth, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier at her third La Scala opening (2017), and as Tosca at the Met (2018), to name a few. Moreover, the Metropolitan Opera court ordered to compensate for the cancelation of 13 performances of the singer, paying $ 200 thousand.
Berlin Opera in March 2022 reached an agreement with Netrebko in March 2022 that she will not participate in the production of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Turandot”, however, the theater has been trying to find ways to interact with the artist.
Her 2016 solo release, Verismo, debuted at No. 1 on the classical charts in dozens of countries, besides scoring a Grammy nomination and winning the Diapason d’Or de l’Année award in the “Vocal Recital” category. Due to the restrictions regarding the coronavirus, the ceremony was first postponed to 2021 and finally cancelled as the pandemic was still raging in the first part of 2021.
Marie Ledin, MD of the Polar Music Prize interviewed about the Laureates.
Agneta Christiernin, Polar Music Prize's production manager, and Stefan Forsberg, member of the Award committee.
Stefan Forsberg, Anna Netrebko and HM Queen Silvia at Konserthuset Stockholm
HM Queen Silvia presented the Polar Music Prize to 2020's Laureate Anna Netrebko on October 16, 2021, in connection with a magnificent concert at Konserthuset Stockholm.
Back in the spring of 2022, the Metropolitan Opera (New York) as well as the Bavarian State Opera (Munich) stopped cooperating with her. A press conference was held as usual in the Stockholm City Hall where Mayor of Stockholm Anna König Jerlmyr welcomed the guests. Diane Warren and Anna Netrebko were announced as Laureates of 2020 by Alfons Karabuda, chairman of the Polar Music Prize Award Committee, and Marie Ledin, MD of the Polar Music Prize.
Alfons Karabuda announcing the Laureates.
In October, the first premiere performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco took place, where the Russian soprano sang the role of Abigail. In May 2025 there are plans to show Verdi’s opera “Troubadour”, in which the Russian soprano sang the role of Leonora.
Earlier, the Hungarian State Opera and the Slovak National Theater refused to cancel Netrebko’s concert at Kiev’s call.
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Leonora in Il trovatore at the Berlin State Opera and as the title character in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at the Rome Opera, where she sang under Riccardo Muti opposite Azerbaijani tenor Yusif Eyvazov, who also is her husband.(Source: Private collection courtesy of Anna Netrebko)
Anna Netrebko worked as a staff member at the Mariinsky theatre in St Petersburg before auditioning there. She made her stage debut at the young age of 22 as Susanna in Le Nozze de Figaro under the baton of her mentor, Polar Music Prize Laureate Valery Gergiev.
In her early career she got known for rendition of lyric and coloratura soprano roles, most notably Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Violetta in Verdi's La traviata.
Valery Gergiev
Anna Netrebko, Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra
However, it was in 2002, bookended by memorable first appearances at the Met and Covent Garden, that her triumphant Salzburg Festival performances as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni most decisively announced her arrival as a star.
Later on Anna would draw on the exceptional maturation of her voice to conquer the most demanding roles of her career.
The Polar Music Prize organization was happy and grateful to finally have been able to meet Anna Netrebko and present her with 2020’s prize, however in particular circumstances this time due to the covid-19 pandemic.
More pictures from this fantastic evening here.
HM Queen Silvia presenting the Polar Music Prize to Anna Netrebko
Anna Netrebko and Stefan Forsberg, Executive and Artistic Director of Konserthuset Stockholm and member of the Award Committee
A soprano with star power in the best sense, a charismatic expressivity that pervades every element of her performance.
Anthony Tomassini, New York Times
Anna Jurjevna Netrebko was born in 1971 in Krasnodar, Russia, on the shore of the Black Sea.
Netrebko’s father was a geologist and her mother a communications engineer.
In 2007 she was the first classical artist named to TIME magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people (together with Polar Music Prize Laureate Youssou N’Dour).
Anna Netrebko on singing Verdi
La Scala in Milan (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The Verdi album
Romanza, recorded with Yusif Eyvazov
An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist since 2003, the soprano boasts an extensive discography that includes solo albums, complete opera recordings, and concert repertoire.
Luca Salsi, one of the world’s great baritones, takes on the title role, and Anna Netrebko will sing the role of Abigaille for the first time in a staged production.
Abigaille is one of the most difficult soprano roles in the repertoire due to its extreme vocal shifts from the highs to lows. After many canceling the role in London and Vienna, Netrebko finally sang her first performances of Abigaille in Wiesbaden in two concert performances that critics hailed.
There are also recordings of “Macbeth” and “Il Trovatore” that are highly acclaimed.
Here she is in “Il Trovatore” and “Aida.”
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko is returning to Britain’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden after a six-year pause.
Her previous solo albums for the yellow label – Opera Arias, Sempre Libera, Duets, Russian Album, Souvenirs, In the Still of Night, Anna Netrebko: Live at the Metropolitan Opera, Anna Netrebko: Verdi, Verismo, and DIVA: The Very Best of Anna Netrebko–have all been bestsellers.
Opera Arias
In the still of the night
Live at the Metropolitan
Content of biography is presented here as it was published in 2020.
Header photo and portrait by Kirk Edwards.
Photos from the announcement and the ceremony at Konserthuset Stockholm by Annika Berglund, © Polar Music Prize.
On Oct.
2, 2024, the Berlin State Opera will open a new production of “Nabucco.” The production is one of the high-profile profile productions of the year due to its two leads. Presumably, the Russian singer’s performance was canceled because of a conference on Ukraine scheduled for June 15-16 in the vicinity of Lucerne.
However, in the 2024/2025 season Netrebko will take to the stage of the Berlin Opera (Staatsoper Unter den Linden) in two productions.
Critics said she was “more than convincing” and that “Her last great aria with the plea for forgiveness is the artistic and human event of this evening.” Additionally, they said Netrebko “lent the part all her vocal abilities and revealed interesting facets about this evil character.”
The role marks her latest Verdi opera, the composer she has most often performed.
This was announced to The Times portal by the new musical director of the theater Jakub Grusha.
In particular, Netrebko will perform the main role in the production of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Tosca”, as well as in the renewed Puccini’s opera “Turandot”.
The Laureates of 2020 were announced on February 11, 2020.