Chief Conductor of the Odesa Opera, Vyacheslav Chernukho-Volich has created outrage in Ukraine after conducting at the Baku National Opera and taking pictures with the newly appointed director Yusif Eyvazov.

Chernukho-Volich, who hails from Belarus, conducted a production of “La Bohème” on April 8 and following the performance took pictures with Eyvazov, who was in Azerbaijan to accept his new position. The pictures, according to the Chief Director of the Odesa Opera put the company at risk because Eyvazov is the husband of Anna Netrebko, who is sanctioned by the Ukrainian government for her alleged support of Putin.

According to the conductor, he was unaware that the tenor would be at the performance. He added that he had accepted the contract long before Eyvazov was appointed director.

He said, “If we are talking about the wife of Yusif Eyvazov, then in our country the son is not responsible for the father and the husband for the wife. There is a presumption. I have not seen the public statements of the new head of the Baku Opera about his support for the war in Ukraine. Instead, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he wrote on social networks, which condemns any war and has many friends in Ukraine.”

He added, “I have been cooperating with the Baku theater for more than 10 years. It was very important to cooperate when the war started and when the former director of the theater offered to support Ukraine. A year ago, our baritone Bohdan Panchenko performed – I had ‘Carmen’ and ‘Boheme.’ The same director invited me to ‘Boheme,” which was played on April 8. I told him then that I would not play the Russian repertoire and cooperate with Russian artists – he took everything into account. From the first day of the war, I remained in Ukraine and worked to make Ukraine known, for our victory.”

The conductor also noted, “When I arrived in Baku, I was told that the director left the theater yesterday, and a new director appeared on the day the performance was scheduled. I am not personally familiar with Mr. Eyvazov, I saw him when he went on stage. I have no relationship with him I don’t have it.”

In response to the pictures Managing Director of the Odesa Opera Nadiya Babich, “Vyacheslav Chernukho-Volich did not go at the invitation of Eyvazov, who was appointed only a day before the performance. As far as I know, our conductor was invited by the previous manager. He was already announced in the performance. So these are not interconnected facts.”

She added that the Odesa Opera will no longer support cooperation with the Baku Opera now that Yusif Eyvazov will become the director. She also emphasized that she did not support Vyacheslav Chernukho-Volich’s choice to conduct the performance.

She added, “There should not be such events related to our theater. The position of the theater is as follows: I believe that we should break these ties with the opera in Baku after the appointment of Yusif Aivazov. In general, categorically not.”

Chernukho-Volich was appointed chief conductor of the Odesa Opera and has been a guest conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre and Novaya Opera in Moscow, the Kazan Opera House, the Baku State Opera and Ballet in Azerbaijan, the Tashkent Opera, the Russian National Orchestra, the Saratov Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Belarus.

Eyvazov released a joint statement at the beginning of the war with Netrebko in which he condemned the war. However, he recently performed in Russia at the Bolshoi Theatre and in a concert with Ukrainian singer Kirill Turichenko. The tenor has also been a big supporter of the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, who has been called a dictator and has been accused of corruption.