Since 2014, the group Arts Against Aggression has been advocating for Western theaters to cease collaboration with Putin’s propagandist artists. However, it was only with the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that the directors of these theaters suddenly saw the light and began to cancel performances by Putin’s artists en masse. Among them was the Artistic Director of La Scala, Dominique Meyer, who terminated the contract with Valery Gergiev but allowed Anna Netrebko to «temporarily suspend her activities.» However, just three months later, Dominique Meyer was completely satisfied with Netrebko’s «anti-war» statements; he believed all Netrebko’s false claims and reinstated her on the stage of Teatro alla Scala with a program that included works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky. Anna Netrebko herself, who not only verbally but also by actions actively supported Putin’s regime and engaged in political activities in Russia, stated that «forcing artists, or any public figure to voice their political opinions in public and to denounce their homeland is not right..»
Dominique Meyer preferred to quickly «forget» that Netrebko was a trusted representative of Putin during the election, received a state award and the title of People’s Artist of Russia from him, celebrated her 50th anniversary in the Kremlin, sang the Russian national anthem at the Sochi Olympics, the day after which Russia illegally annexed Crimea, donated one million rubles to the leader of the Donbas separatists, Oleg Tsarev, and never condemned Putin for the invasion of Ukraine. On the contrary, Meyer stated that Netrebko’s performance at Teatro alla Scala should serve as a «signal for other theaters to open their doors to her» and announced that the new season of Teatro alla Scala plans to open with the Russian opera «Boris Godunov,» featuring Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role. Defending his decision against criticism, Dominique Meyer claimed that «Boris Godunov» is a great work and has nothing to do with Russian propaganda. He was echoed by Italian journalist Alberto Mattioli, who referred to calls for Western theaters to sever ties with Putin’s artists as a «witch hunt.»
Russian state media viewed Netrebko’s return to Teatro alla Scala and the opening of the season with a Russian opera as a significant victory for Russian cultural propaganda in the West. The main propaganda mouthpiece of the Kremlin, the TASS agency, enthusiastically reported that «Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko has returned to the stage of Teatro alla Scala for the first time since the start of Russia’ [so called] ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine.» It is important to note that all other Russian cultural figures who actually condemned the war and left Russia have been declared «foreign agents» by the Russian authorities, their property confiscated, and criminal cases initiated against some of them.
With even greater enthusiasm, the state propaganda agency TASS reported on Ildar Abdrazakov’s performance at Teatro alla Scala, dedicating six publications to it. One of it noted that Ildar Abdrazakov was personally greeted by the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, who was present at the season opening. It also mentioned that “Apart from the Italian president, the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Urdula von der Leyen also attended the Russian opera, which involved Russian artists singing in Russian… The audience at the premiere accepted the theater administration’s decision to say «no» to the cancellation of Russian culture…. Members of Italy’s high society, including politicians, businessmen, actors, directors, fashion designers and architects, gathered at the theater and considered the Russian opera to be the right choice as the season opener..»
In another TASS publication dated December 27, 2022, it was reported that the opera «Boris Godunov» had been very successful at the Milan Teatro alla Scala, but in the final performance on December 29, the performer of the title role, Ildar Abdrazakov, would not participate due to «family reasons.» However, this report did not explain Abdrazakov’s «family reasons”: After performing at the opening of the season in front of the political, artistic and business elite of Italy and satisfying the interests of the Kremlin’s propaganda, Ildar Abdrazakov canceled his final performance of “Boris Godunov” in order to sing at a propaganda show in Moscow hosted by the wife of Putin’s oligarch Alisher Usmanov. It is very hard to believe that Dominique Meyer was not informed of Abdrazakov’s «family reasons» and did not approve of his replacement.
On February 22, 2023, investigations into Ildar Abdrazakov’s ties to Putin’s regime, published in the Austrian music magazine OPERN•NEWS, led to the cancellation of the Russian singer’s performances in Boston with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Due to threats of protests from the Ukrainian community in Chicago, Italian conductor Riccardo Muti had to replace his protégé Ildar Abdrazakov for a performance in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Following their example, Carnegie Hall also announced the cancellation of Ildar Abdrazakov’s performance in New York. Abdrazakov himself explained these cancellations to TASS as «family reason» and stated that he had put his relationship with the «Metropolitan Opera» on hold in solidarity with the Russian singers Anna Netrebko and Hibla Gerzmava, who were dismissed due to their closeness to Putin. The General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, refuted Abdrazakov’s claim in an interview with the Associated Press, stating, «It is important to stand on the side of those who are right. I would not be able to look at myself in the mirror if I knew that supporters of Putin were performing on our stage.»
Apparently not sharing Peter Gelb’s position, the Artistic Director of Teatro alla Scala, Dominique Meyer, was nonetheless forced to part ways with the increasingly toxic Putin-supporting singer, but he allowed him to save face. Soon, the TASS news agency reported that «Ildar Abdrazakov, due to family circumstances, will be unable to participate in Jacques Offenbach’s opera ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’ at the La Scala theater, scheduled for March 15, 2023. The singer thanked the management of La Scala and the theater’s General Manager, Dominique Meyer, for their understanding and cooperation.»
However, Anna Netrebko and Ildar Abdrazakov are far from being the only pro-Putin Russian singers who were willingly invited to Teatro alla Scala after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The theater provided its stage to Yulia Matochkina, Dmytry Korchak, Vasilina Berzhanskaya, Elena Stikhina, Ekateryna Semenchuk, and Alexey Markov, who have repeatedly participated in propaganda concerts in Russia.
For example, Dmitry Korchak regularly participates in Russian propaganda shows, and in August 2024, he took part in the Petrovsky Opera Ball in St. Petersburg, where funds were raised to cultivate the «New Regions of Russia,» i.e., the occupied territories of Ukraine.
In addition to participating in Russian propaganda shows herself, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya is also the wife of a Putin ally. Her husband, violinist Mikhail Simonian, is a confidant of Putin and an advisor to the governor of the Novosibirsk region. He is also the head of the Novosibirsk Regional Military Commissariat and regularly travels to the occupied regions of Ukraine. Mikhail Simonian is included in the report «1500 warmongers» compiled by the Free Russia Forum.
On December 7, Teatro alla Scala will, for the third consecutive year since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, open the season with an opera featuring Putin’s artists, this time Anna Netrebko and Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera «La Forza del Destino.»
One cannot help but ask what causes such love from the Artistic Director of Teatro alla Scala, Dominique Meyer, for Putin’s propagandist artists? Is it somehow connected to his Russian girlfriend, self-proclaimed dance expert Anna Olkhovaya, for whose advertisement he used the façade of Teatro alla Scala, removing the flags of Italy and the European Union? And is the absence of Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for the second year in a row at the season opening of La Scala related to their unwillingness to participate in Russian cultural propaganda?
Arts Against Aggression was originated from a protest against Vladimir Spivako’s performance at Harvard University in 2014 and has since grown into an international movement against Russian cultural propaganda. Now Arts Against Aggression sees its mission not only in combating Russian propaganda but also in exposing Western institutions and their leaders who, wittingly or unwittingly, contribute to Russian cultural propaganda.