Oksana Lyniv will perform at the May Festival in Wiesbaden.

The Ukrainian conductor told Opern News that she will conduct a production of “Tosca” that she is scheduled for even though Anna Netrebko will perform in the festival in a production of “Turandot.”

She told the news outlet that, unlike the Vienna Festival where Teodor Currentzis was forced to cancel because she found his participation unacceptable, this situation was different. She said, “The situation is different at the May Festival in Wiesbaden. I was not invited to the festival as an individual artist, but rather as part of the entire ‘Tosca’ production by the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. It was a total invitation for an entire opera house including an orchestra, choir, soloists, directing team and technical accompaniment. This is about major international cooperation on many levels. As far as I can see, only a few orchestras are going on tour this year, such as the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Our tour to Wiesbaden is almost the only guest performance by a major Italian opera house in Germany – in Puccini’s anniversary year and after the art of Italian opera has just been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

The conductor added that while the contracts were signed at different moments and that she was not aware of who would be invited to the festival, she found Netrebko unacceptable and said, “I would very much like the intendants to take moral responsibility for their decisions and defend European values ​​for which Ukrainians are currently fighting and dying.”

Lyniv also noted that the reason that Netrebko was more accepted today was due to the invitation by the Berlin State Opera and noted that when the performances were held in September she “signed the letter from the Ukrainian Institute, which called for Anna Netrebko to be uninvited as a soloist. I also know that the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin had a personal meeting with the director of the State Opera at the time. Unfortunately, all attempts were unsuccessful. My attitude towards her hasn’t changed. I can’t imagine any artistic collaboration with her.”

Lyniv is currently conducting at the Metropolitan Opera in a production of “Turandot.” Netrebko, who condemned the war in Ukraine in three statements, is set to open a production of “La Gioconda” at the Salzburg Easter Festival.