Soprano Anna Netrebko sues the Met Opera again

She wants more. In February, Anna Netrebko obtained from an arbitration commission the payment of 200,000 dollars (182,000 euros) in compensation from the Metropolitan Opera. The soprano had then benefited from the “play or play” device which obliges institutions to pay the artists engaged, even if they then decide to deprogram them. Five months later, on August 4, the Russian singer again takes the Met Opera to court, according to information from the New York Times. This time, she is taking the case to Manhattan District Court. She is asking for at least 360,000 dollars (327,000 euros) in damages for around forty canceled performances.

Anna Netrebko also claims the Met's decision has caused her "severe mental anguish and emotional distress". The Russian singer has also filed a complaint against Peter Gelb, general manager of the New York opera, for defamation and abusive breach of contract, among other things. The Met had made the decision to deprogram the singer because it felt that she was too close to the Kremlin. She is "discriminated against because of her nationality," her team wrote in a statement. And to add that she is a "scapegoat in their campaign to distance themselves from Russia and support Ukraine".

In February, Anna Netrebko won her case. But she too had been sentenced to 30,000 dollars, for having made “highly inappropriate” remarks on social networks after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022. At first, the soprano had refused to s express about the war. Subsequently, she condemned the conflicts on social networks.

Asked by the New York Times, the Metropolitan Opera claimed that Anna Netrebko's latest complaint had "no basis".