Update: The Vienna State Opera announced that Mr. Korchak, in a lengthy statement, asserted that he had no knowledge of the Russian military’s participation or the honoring of officers at the 2024 Petrovsky Ball. He also affirmed that he had never made any political statements. Given this, a termination of his contract by the Vienna State Opera is not legally possible, and he will therefore sing in the current run of “Don Pasquale.” No further performances by the singer are planned for this season or the next.

Dmitry Korchak is being investigated by the Wiener Staatsoper following a report that he has been close to the Russian cultural scene receiving funding for his own projects from the Russian “Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.”

According to a report by Opern news, the publication details the Russian tenor’s recent activity in Russia which includes performing regularly in concerts financed by the Russian Ministry of Culture. Additionally, his name appears in at least five funding documents from the Presidential Fund between 2022 and 2025, including one for an evening entitled “A Tribute to Russian Musicians” and another for a grant application for the current year.

The report also notes that Korchak received financial support for his own concert projects from the Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow, which was inaugurated by Putin and the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic.

The article also notes that Korchak has been performing regularly with Putin propaganda artists as well as with Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, who the Times reported is romantically linked with Mikhail Simonyan, a deputy minister of culture of Novosibirsk region, although her management denied it in a statement to OperaWire.

Opern News noted that the Presidential Fund finances the annual Petrovsky Ball at the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg.

Korchak is currently scheduled to perform at the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Massimo Bellini, and Rossini Opera Festival.

Opern News was the first to break the news of Ildar Abdrazakov’s close ties to the Kremlin before the bass formally endorsed the Russian dictator.

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