All tickets have been bought for the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini at The Royal Opera in London, where Russian singer Anna Netrebko will take the stage in the main part. This is evidenced by the data of the official website of the theater.
The first performance with Netrebko is scheduled for September 11, and the world-famous soprano will take the stage on September 15, 18 and 21.
Despite the fact that allegedly tickets for performances with Netrebko are available, and the Sold out poster is provided only with the opera on September 21, there is not a single ticket for the Russian singer left.
When trying to buy a ticket, a potential spectator is transferred to the remaining seats on sale on September 24 — from that moment until October 7, the part of Floria Tosca will be sung by Polish singer Alexandra Kurzak. Performers of the Cavaradossi parts (Freddy de Tomazzo), Baron Scarpia (Gerald Finley), Spoletta (Carlo Bosi) and Angelotti (Ossian Haskinson) remain unchanged.
The new musical director of the theater, Yakub Grusha, will conduct all the performances of Tosca. The Russian singer will appear on the London stage for the first time after a six-year break.
Earlier, Grusha said in an interview that Netrebko is "one of the best" sopranos in the world.
"The theater should be associated with the best singers, and she is one of them," he emphasized.
In the event that protests of Ukrainians begin in front of the theater, Grusha expressed his readiness to "act according to circumstances.
"He also noted that Netrebko will appear in Puccini's opera Turandot and in one of the concerts accompanied by a piano.
As EADaily reported, earlier more than 50 Ukrainian artists, an inter-party group of deputies of the British parliament and the former Prime Minister of New Zealand in an open appeal demanded that Netrebko not be allowed to appear on the stage of the Royal Opera in London in the new season.
The organizer of the signatories is the first Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Sergey Kislitsa, he was sure that Netrebko could and should simply be replaced by someone unrelated to Russia.
The appeal was signed by Ukrainian writers Andrey Kurkov and Sergey Zhadan, director Mstislav Chernov, as well as chef and writer Olya Hercules. Former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark, a group of MPs and French philosopher, journalist and public figure Bernard-Henri Levy also joined the persecution of the singer.
Earlier, a similar situation — a confrontation and a full house — was observed in Berlin. On September 15, 2023, Netrebko appeared on stage as Lady Macbeth for the first time since March 2022 in the opera by Giuseppe Verdi amid the indignation of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the protest of activists before the performance.