Soprano Anna Netrebko Sues Met Opera Over Firing Due to Refusal to Disavow Support of Vladimir Putin

Soprano Anna Netrebko is suing the Metropolitan Opera and general manager Peter Gelb after she refused to repudiate Vladimir Putin after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and was forced to step down from upcoming performances with the company.

The Russian soprano is seeking at least $360,000 in damages for lost performance and rehearsal fees. The suit claims that the firing caused ”severe mental anguish and emotional distress” that included “depression, humiliation, embarrassment, stress and anxiety, and emotional pain and suffering.”

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Netrebko stepped down from her Met performances, after refusing to comply with Gleb's request that she disavow her public support of Vladimir Putin. "It is a great artistic loss for the Met and for opera," said Met General Manager Peter Gelb at the time. "Anna is one of the greatest singers in Met history, but with Putin killing innocent victims in Ukraine, there was no way forward." 

Earlier this year, Netrebko was awarded compensation for the lost performances at $209,103.48 in a grievance filed by the American Guild of Musical Artists, after arbitrator Howard Edelman ruled in February that the Met violated the union’s collective bargaining agreement when it canceled Netrebko's contract for Verdi’s Don Carlo and La Forza del Destino and Giordano’s Andrea Chénier.

Edelman’s decision said Netrebko voluntarily withdrew from performances of Wagner’s Lohengrin and Puccini’s Turandot, and therefore was not owed compensation for those performances. Netrebko said she was to receive the Met's top rate of $17,000 per performance.

The new lawsuit now claims that Netrebko was also set for 40 performances of Puccini’s Tosca and Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame during the 2024-25 season and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Verdi’s Macbeth in 2025-26, and that Netrebko was discriminated against because of national origin.

The suit also claims the Met and Gelb “harmed Netrebko’s relationship among audiences, including by encouraging protests against her performances” and “reputation caused by Gelb and the Met has caused other opera houses and cultural institutions in the United States to refrain from hiring Netrebko,” and she was forced to sell her apartment at a loss.

"Due to the Met’s requirement that Netrebko issue public statements opposing the actions of Russian government, Russian politicians have denounced Netrebko, Russian theater companies have canceled contracts with her, Russian audiences have criticized her on her social media channels and in the Russian press, and Netrebko and her family and friends in Russia have suffered the risk of harm, retaliation, and retribution by the Russian government," said the suit.

Netrebko is scheduled to appear at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires this month, and has upcoming performances with Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden, the Vienna State Opera, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and the Paris Opéra.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

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