After publicly criticizing Anna Netrebko due to her past actions in Russia, former chancellor Angela Merkel attended a performance of “La Forza del Destino” at teh Teatro alla Scala.

In a now-deleted Tweet, Merkel was spotted sitting in the performance with a purple velvet blazer.

Merkel was critical of Netrebko at the beginning of the war in Ukraine stating that she would not invite her to dinner. She said, “no, I will not invite her to dinner. Politically, she has already done things that I absolutely condemn” without giving further details.”

The comments made headlines especially since Merkel had attended many of the Russian soprano’s early performances and the two shared pictures at the German Media Awards.

Netrebko recently completed performances at the Teatro alla Scala in “la Forza del Destino.” She next makes her role debut as Ariadne in “Ariadne auf Naxos” before going on tour and returning to the United States for a recital at the Palm Beach Opera.

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