A new production of Puccini’s “Tosca” is typically a surefire crowd-pleasing opener for an opera company’s season.
But this is not a typical year at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London.
On Thursday night, glamorous patrons had to walk between two rows of chanting, placard-carrying demonstrators protesting the company’s decision to engage Anna Netrebko, the superstar Russian soprano, for the role of Puccini’s tragic heroine.
Though Netrebko has said that she opposes Russia’s war in Ukraine, posting her opposition on Instagram, she has declined to criticize the president, Vladimir V. Putin, whom she has praised over the years. The Royal Ballet and Opera paused engagements with Netrebko after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, like most major opera houses around the world — including the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The performance Thursday was her first in London since then.
As the curtain rose, some audience members were nervous that demonstrators protesting Israel’s war in Gaza might disrupt the performance. That conflict and the desperate plight of Palestinian civilians has also reverberated at the Royal Ballet and Opera, which had planned to collaborate with the Israeli Opera to send the new “Tosca” to Tel Aviv. Over 180 staff members signed an open letter criticizing the move, noting that the Israeli Opera had offered free tickets to members of Israel’s military. That opera partnership was canceled last month.
Peter Smallwood, 81, said he understood the protesters’ motivations, but said politics was better kept out of the opera house. “Opera is about music!” he said.
Henry Askew, 85, another patron, said he would “hit on the head” any protesters who dared disrupt the show. In the end, there were no disturbances inside the house.
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The post Ukraine and Gaza Fallout Share the Spotlight With Anna Netrebko appeared first on New York Times.
