The Mayor of Arezzo is supporting Anna Netrebko in her upcoming performance at the Teatro Petrarca.

In a statement, Mayor Alessandro Ghinelli said, “From the very first moment we have been involved in aiding Ukraine, with missions also led by me. And we have acquired a generator that is crucial for overcoming the cold of the most critical season. That generator is also financed with proceeds from the Anna Netrebko concert. For us, she is one of the most important sopranos in the world, an artist: our condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine is clear. Another thing is the Russian culture. We keep the level clearly separated.”

That same sentiment was held by the Presidente della Fondazione Guido Monaco who said, “We are with Ukraine and therefore close to the Arezzo community, we have demonstrated it in a thousand ways: however their representatives must not exceed the limit. We do not accept democracy lessons or calls for censorship.”

The statements come after a group of Ukrainian activists, led by Natalya Gebrich, are threatening to protest the concert on Feb. 7. The activists have called for the cancelation of the recital and claim that Netrebko performed for terrorists in 2014 at the Teatro Donestk. The petition also claims that in 2014 Netrebko’s concerts were canceled in New York in Berlin.

Following the petition, Netrebko’s manager corrected many of the statements from the Ukrainian activists noting that Netrebko “has never performed either at the Donetsk Opera or anywhere in Ukraine.”

He added, “Anna appeared in 12 Met shows in 2014 and 14 more in 2015.”

Her manager also added that following the donation of Netrebko to the Donestk Theater, the Metropolitan Opera said, “We don’t have to agree with artists’ opinions. We support Netrebko as one of the leading opera singers in the world, we are proud to sing here.”

Netrebo has been under fire since March 2022 for her alleged support for Putin back in 2012. She has since condemned the war on three occasions and has vowed not to perform in Russia.