Classical Music and the Invasion of Ukraine

Mark Rothko

Untitled ("Blue and Yellow", 1954)

It appears that the international career of Putin-loving conductor Valery Gergiev is over. Here are links to a few articles.

• Critic's Notebook: Putin’s Maestro, and the Limits of Cultural Exchange in Wartime. Zachary Woolfe, NY Times
• For musical artists aligned with Putin, the Ukraine invasion brings a reckoning. Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle
  
• Valery Gergiev and the Nightmare of Music Under Putin. Alex Ross, The New Yorker
  
• Reporting in The NY Times, all by Javier C. Hernández
• Munich Philharmonic fires Gergiev (3/1)
• Gergiev faces removal from podiums (2/25)
  
• Gergiev won't conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall (2/24)

Related: Anna Netrebko won't be singing at the Met this season or next, and Peter Gelb says it's hard to imagine a scenario where she returns. The soprano and her husband withdrew this week from some European engagements as well. It's a big deal for the Met; Netrebko is one of the very few singers who reliably sell out the giant theater. Another is no longer appearing with the company for heinous personal behavior.

At the Teatro Real in Madrid, this happened at the last performance of Robert Carsen's Götterdämmerung:

I imagine there was a collective gasp from the audience. The performance, under Pedro Heras-Casado, sounds crackling. Gutrune is Amanda Majeski; Hagen is the great Stephen Milling. Adreas Schager is presumably under the shroud.

All over the world, performers are dedicating performances to Ukraine and Ukrainians; the Ukrainian national anthem is being sung before performances (Metropolitan Opera before Don Carlos; Czech Philharmonic, where Semyon Bychkov denounced the invasion), and so on.

Now Playing at the Met

The Met rang in the new year with a new-to-them production of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, which has co-producers as follows:

Co-Production of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona; Wiener Staatsoper; San Francisco Opera; and L’Opéra National de Paris

Yeah, that doesn't include the Met, but whatever. I've had this opera and production listed in my Operatic Future Seasons page for I don't know how long, but originally I thought it might star Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, so, yeah, a while ago.

The current cast includes Anna Netrebko (not seen at SFO since 2009), Piotr Beczala (seen regularly), Anita Rachvelishvili (seen here as Carmen in 2011), and Maurizio Muraro. I would be fine with this cast! 

I mean, it's not exactly a deep opera, and I rather suspect that it falls into the same category as Andrea Chenier and Cyrano de Bergerac: very pretty, mostly forgettable music. Still! It was once a repertory staple and so I'd like to see it -- although I'd rather see La Gioconda a lot more.

Six, No, Five of Nine

Anna Netrebko has withdrawn from the last of her six scheduled San Francisco Opera appearances as Violetta in La Traviata. That's the July 1 performance. Ailyn Perez, a 2005 Merola Fellow, replaces Netrebko; Elizabeth Futral performs on June 29, July 2, and July 5.

Me, I'm just wondering when Trebs will withdraw from performances one through five. Remember, you read it here first.