Lawrence Brownlee has canceled his Russia concert at Zaryadye Hall.

The tenor issued a statement regarding the cancelation, noting, “To all my fans, friends, and supporters: I have chosen to withdraw from the upcoming performance at Zaryadye Hall in Russia. Thank you to those of you who have voiced your thoughts on the situation – I have taken time to listen to your reactions, and I hear you.”

Moreover, per the state-funded Zaryadye Hall’s official website, the performance set for Sept. 8, 2025 has been canceled outright. The season-opening concert was to have showcased the tenor alongside Russian opera singer Aigul Khismatullina and the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ivan Rudin. The fact that Brownlee’s decision to cancel his participation forced the theater to cancel the entire event outright speaks volumes about his importance to the event at large. He wasn’t just another singer in the program. He was THE irreplaceable centerpiece of the occasion and without him, it seems, for the moment, that the event serves no purpose for the state-funded theater.

The reason for the emphasis on Brownlee’s involvement comes down to the fact that prior to the cancelation, he was primed to become the first major American opera star to make a return to Russia since 2022 when Vladimir Putin’s regime invaded Ukraine. The American tenor would have joined the likes of Vittorio Grigolo, Ambrosio Maestri, and Ferruccio Furlanetto as renowned non-Russian opera stars to accept offers to perform at state-funded venues in Russia.

In his initial statement to OperaWire regarding his participation, Brownlee noted that “as an artist, I believe that my art is the most powerful way for me to create positive change in the world. My decision to sing in Russia is not in any way an endorsement of the policies of their current government, just as my decision to continue to sing in the U.S. is not an endorsement of our current government. For me, the greatest power of music is that it can lift us above the divisive rhetoric of present-day politics, and remind us of what truly unifies us in our shared human experience. I am not a pawn, and will never become one – everywhere I go, I go as an artist, with the goal of bringing people together and spreading joy and peace through music.”

The news comes as the Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb proclaimed “You can’t have cultural exchange with a country that is trying to kill millions of people. Today, it would be a big mistake to even try to divorce art from politics. Art has to be used as a weapon for good. Certainly, Russia and Putin have used cultural propaganda for years. In today’s world, where Russia is trying to annihilate Ukraine and deny its very cultural existence, it is more important than ever that art be weaponised against these forces. When you think about it, this is much bigger than just the war in Ukraine. It’s really a fight for the free world, for the democratic world, and it has to be won. And cultural leaders and cultural institutions have to be part of that fight, in my opinion.”

Brownlee is scheduled for two Met productions this season.