Ukrainian musicians were banned from performing at a festival in Germany due to the participation of Anna Netrebko

Consul General of Ukraine in Hesse Vadim Kostyuk said that Ukrainian artists will not participate in the International May Festival in Wiesbaden (Germany) on May 5 and 7, at which Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko is scheduled to perform. Artists from Ukraine were banned from participating in this event, since Anna Netrebko is under Ukrainian sanctions.

“They are forbidden to do this,” Vadim Kostyuk told the newspaper. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The performance of the Kharkiv Shevchenko Theater and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine was planned at the festival. According to Mr. Kostyuk, during the coordination of the speech, Anna Netrebko’s participation was unknown. In addition, at that time she was not under sanctions. The Consul General said that representatives of the Kharkiv theater would notify the organizers of the festival of their refusal to participate in the near future.

On January 23, the authorities of Wiesbaden and Hesse sent a joint letter to the director of the Wiesbaden State Theater Uwe Erik Laufenberg. In a statement, they opposed the participation of Anna Netrebko in the festival, explaining this by solidarity with Ukraine. In response, Uwe Eric Laufenberg said that artists should not be excluded in the fight against Russia. “In our common struggle against injustice and arbitrariness, all Russians must be as desirable as all Ukrainians and representatives of all other peoples,” he said.

Anna Netrebko came under Ukrainian sanctions on January 7 by decree of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The first time after the start of the special operation, the singer did not comment on the conflict in Ukraine. On March 3, it was reported that her concert at the Metropolitan Opera in New York was canceled because she refused to publicly renounce her support for Russia.

At the same time, on March 30, Anna Netrebko publicly condemned the conduct of the special operation in Ukraine, emphasizing that she did not support any of the Russian political figures. She added that she has been living and working in Austria for several years. Following this statement, in April the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater canceled the singer’s concert.

Lusine Balasyan