Overview

• About 50 demonstrators gathered outside Covent Garden on 11 September with Ukrainian flags and protest signs, while the performance went ahead without disruption and the noise was not heard inside.
• Royal Ballet & Opera defended the booking, citing its mission to showcase leading singers and noting Netrebko’s public condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine, while her manager called propaganda allegations preposterous.
• Critics pointed to a 2008 state honor from Vladimir Putin and a 2014 donation and photograph with a separatist flag that Netrebko later said she did not understand and has expressed regret over how her actions were interpreted.
• Netrebko has not performed in Russia since 2022 and was dropped by New York’s Metropolitan Opera, which she is suing for discrimination, even as major European houses have continued to engage her.
• Calls to cancel her London appearances came in a letter from British MPs, international politicians and Ukrainian artists, including former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, and the company has scheduled further performances later in the season.