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Originally published on our sister site, Ungarn Heute
Anna Netrebko will give a concert at the Hungarian State Opera on September 25. It will be the first time the world-famous soprano has stepped onto the country’s main opera stage.
After a politically-induced hiatus, the artist has been back on the big stage since April. She, along with Valery Gergiev and other Russian artists, had to put up with a series of disinvitations and dismissals on the grounds that she did not distance herself clearly enough from the politics of her home country. After taking a stand against the war in Ukraine, she has been allowed to perform in Western opera houses but not in Russia.
The Miklós Ybl-designed Hungarian State Opera will reopen to the public on March 12 after a renovation that has restored the Budapest building to its original splendor, the opera announced Thursday. In addition to songs by Debussy, Dvořák, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Richard Strauss, Anna Netrebko will perform excerpts from operas by Cilea (Adriana Lecouvreur), Charpentier (Louise), Tchaikovsky (Queen of Spades), Leoncavallo’s (Bajazzo), Saint-Saëns (Samson and Dalila), and Offenbach (Tales of Hoffmann), the opera house announced on Thursday.
The soprano will be accompanied by Pavel Nebolsin on piano, mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova, and violinist Kurt Mitterfellner.
The cooperation between Anna Netrebko and the Hungarian State Opera has existed for several years. In August 2017, for example, the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra performed at Berlin’s Waldbühne as part of a gala evening with a major television broadcast of the world-famous soprano and her husband Yusif Eyvazov, followed by a concert performance of Andrea Chénier at the Erkel Theater in December 2017. Netrebko and Eyvazov returned to Budapest in 2021 as guests of MÜPA Budapest, where the orchestra, chorus, and children’s choir of the Hungarian State Opera once again gave a Tosca concert.
After graduating from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Anna Netrebko made her debut at the age of 22 as Susanna in the Mariinsky Theater’s production of The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Valery Gergiev. A year later, she made her U.S. debut in the title role of Ruslan and Ludmilla at the San Francisco Opera, and in 2002, she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in the role of Natasha in Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace.
Her international breakthrough came with the role of Donna Anna in the production of Don Giovanni conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Salzburg Festival. This highly successful performance was followed by an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and a series of invitations from renowned opera houses around the world.
Featured Photo: Facebook Anna Netrebko