Aleksandra Kurzak is opening up about her high-profile cancelation at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in a new production of “Tosca.”

Following an exchange between her husband Roberto Alagna and the General Director of La Monnaie, Kurzak told the Polish Press that she had signed a contract for Puccini’s “Tosca” not “Pisellini di Pasolini.”

As Alagna stated in his interview with Conessi dell’Opera she said, three years ago after “Pagliacci,” “​​we received an offer from ‘Tosca,’ there was no question that it would be a new staging. We found out about it after the 2022-2023 artistic season was announced. And from Facebook, where our fans wrote: ‘We don’t believe Aleksandra and Roberto will perform in something like this.’ Then I found a link to the recording of this production from Brussels. After what I saw, I knew that I would not be playing it. Even though I had this date booked in my calendar for three years.”

She added,  “I also ask myself this question: where does play end and kitsch, made only to attract attention, begin. Everything is a stretch in opera now. There are no directors who understand this genre. With their own hands, they kill this genre of art.”

She did, however, state that she is not a traditionalist and loves modern productions by directors like Calixto Bieito. “The point is that opera theater is being directed by people who have no idea what opera is, what singing is, and the profession of a singer, how many sacrifices it requires in order to achieve the best possible form. They come from a movie and complain that they don’t like the opera.”

She also assured in the interview that she is not prudish but noted that this production had “Pedophile, masochism, sadism” and it was plain disgusting. She said, “On the one hand, it is disgusting, and on the other hand – full of grotesque. I thought I was going to die laughing when I saw Scarpia wearing a sex shop collar around his neck. It was so unsuccessful … And I, in the role of Tosca, should I be afraid of him?  ”