(Credit; Vladimir Shirokov)

Following the announcement that Anna Netrebko will return to the Royal Opera House after six years, new Music Director Jakub Hrůša is defending his choice to hire the soprano in “Tosca,” “Turandot” and a recital.

When asked in an interview with the Times of London why he hired Netrebko, Hrůša said “You ask me about Anna. What made me decide to engage those two singers [Netrebko and Kurzak] is quality — the need to have an absolutely first class artistic approach. And I see it in both ladies.”

He added that she is “one of the best performers in that fach [category of role]. The ROH should be connected to the best singers, and she belongs to their number.”

Hrůša was also asked whether Peter Gelb was correct in firing Netrebko from the Metropolitan Opera and stating that her condemnation of the War in Ukraine was “disingenuous.” The conductor said, “I know she condemned the war and I have no reason not to take her statement seriously.”

Netrebko last performed at the Royal Opera House in 2019 in a production of “La Forza del Destino.” She was set to star in “Tosca” and “Nabucco” but was canceled due to COVID and travel restrictions.

In April of 2024, she worked with the Royal Opera House General Director Oliver Mears at the Salzburg Easter Festival and at the time, Mears and Sir Antonio Pappano said, “There’s a lot of inept cancelling going on in the world”  and added that Netrebko was a “a very warm and talented human being” and that she had “distanced herself from any kind of perception of support for the war and for the regime.”

Pappano added, “I do think that in all this you do have to consider that these people have families in Russia. So one has to be careful what one says and, and how one attempts to cancel somebody from the horizon of their work and their life.”

The 2025-26 season will see Netrebko perform in all major opera houses in London, Milan, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, and Zurich.

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