Tosca's Russian soprano row sees politics replace performance for Royal Opera

In other circumstances, it would be heartening to see an opera getting national attention. Yet once again, the recent buzz around Covent Garden concerns politics rather than performances. 

The latest furore follows the Royal Opera’s decision to cast Anna Netrebko in a new production of Puccini favourite Tosca (until 7 October; with Aleksandra Kurzak sharing the title role). The Russian soprano is a major draw, filling opera houses around the world. She’s also accused of supporting the invasion of Ukraine after a photograph taken in 2014 – still available on X – appears to show her holding the separatist flag.

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In response, Netrebko claimed not to know what the flag (nor donations to the Donetsk Opera Theatre) meant, but when war escalated, several organisations dispensed with the soprano’s services. Not the Royal Opera. Its Tosca, conducted by incoming music director Jakub Hrůša, has the strapline: ‘The splendour of Rome. The devastation of war.’ Protesters who gathered outside the opera house ahead of Nebrenko’s opening night argued that management had forgotten the devastation of a real-life war. ‘While Netrebko sings, Ukraine bleeds’ read one sign; ‘Behind the curtain [are] blood and tanks’ claimed another. 

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, former military commander in chief and now Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, called the performance a “betrayal”, writing that “Artists like Netrebko are the Kremlin’s ‘soft power’, an instrument to make the world see Russia not as an aggressor, but as a country of ‘great traditions’… I am not calling for censorship. I am calling for memory and honesty.”

Netrebko, now based in Austria, has distanced herself from Putin, with official statements condemning the war. Yet she remains a cultural symbol of the regime, and the Royal Opera’s decision to include her is at odds with its recent suppression of a cast member’s support of Palestine because it has a “commitment to political impartiality”. 

Read more:

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Singers should not be marginalised simply for being Russian, just as, despite previous suggestions from Ukrainian ministers, Russian repertoire should not be removed from concert halls. But the Royal Opera, which once projected the colours of the Ukrainian flag onto its facade in a show of solidarity, needs to accept – and acknowledge – that it is a long way from impartiality. 

Sometimes, a keenness not to take sides can be equally divisive. At the recent Coldplay residency at Wembley Stadium, Chris Martin asked audiences to direct positive thoughts towards Ukraine, Russia, Palestine, Israel, and, after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, the US. It was well intended, like when a therapist once advised me not to read the news, but ultimately over simplistic.

As one Royal Opera House protester’s sign said, ‘neutrality kills’. Anyway, despite his desire to appear apolitical, Martin’s curation was intentionally inclusive: support acts included Palestinian Chilean singer Elyanna and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (SBSOV).

It was for the latter that I ventured to Wembley, where, alongside Coldplay, the SBSOV – conducted by its music director Gustavo Dudamel – performed to around 900,000 people over the 10-day stint. The ensemble grew out of El Sistema, a programme that uses music for social justice, now based at the Center for Social Action Through Music in Caracas.

Some of the string players appeared on stage for “Viva La Vida” and “feelslikeimfallinginlove”; the cellists danced with their instruments, smiling into a sea of flashing wristbands and bobbing balloons. Everything was bright, colourful – and extremely loud (ear protection was encouraged; I used concert earplugs that reduced sound levels by 12dB). 

As dancers threw shapes on kinetic floors – the energy harvested here and from surrounding bikes was then used to power the shows – the SBSOV played Beethoven and Vivaldi to attendees wearing
t-shirts reminding us ‘everyone is an alien somewhere’. It was the first time an orchestra had played a dedicated set as part of a headlining stadium show; thanks to the SBSOV’s energetic spirit, it won’t be the last.

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