Update: Shortly after this article was published, the Metropolitan Opera announced that, after “not complying with the Met’s condition that she repudiate her public support for Vladimir Putin while he wages war on Ukraine, soprano Anna Netrebko has withdrawn from her upcoming Met performances in Puccini’s ‘Turandot’ this April and May, as well as the run of Verdi’s ‘Don Carlo’ next season. ‘It is a great artistic loss for the Met and for opera,’ said Met General Manager Peter Gelb. ‘Anna is one of the greatest singers in Met history, but with Putin killing innocent victims in Ukraine, there was no way forward.'”
I wonder what it was like to sit in the Bolshoi for the company’s September 2020 season-opener of Verdi’s “Don Carlo.” Especially as the monks in San Jerónimo de Yuste summarize the cautionary tale of a fallen dictator: “His arrogance was great, his madness immeasurable.” Were there any Russians in that pandemic-soaked audience who sensed a double meaning? Or were most of them preoccupied with the role debut of Anna Netrebko as Elisabetta, the woman betrothed to—and in love with—Carlo, until political alliances re-broker her to a loveless marriage with Carlo’s father?