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The star Russian soprano Anna Netrebko filed a lawsuit on Friday in opposition to the Metropolitan Opera, in search of a minimum of $360,000 in compensation for work she misplaced when the corporate parted methods together with her after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Netrebko was fired by the Met final yr after refusing to denounce Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, whom she had publicly supported within the years earlier than the invasion. Within the grievance, she accuses the Met of discriminating in opposition to her as a result of she is Russian; of issuing “defamatory” statements about her within the press; and of breaching contracts by not paying her for some misplaced work.
The Met disputed her claims. “Ms. Netrebko’s lawsuit has no advantage,” the corporate stated in a press release.
Netrebko has in current months taken purpose on the Met, submitting a grievance final yr by the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union representing opera performers.
In February, an arbitrator in that dispute ordered the Met to pay her greater than $200,000 for 13 canceled performances due to a contractual settlement referred to as “pay or play,” which requires establishments to pay performers even when they later resolve to not interact them. The Met had argued that Ms. Netrebko was not entitled to fee due to her refusal to adjust to the corporate’s demand that she denounce Mr. Putin, which the corporate stated had violated its conduct clause.
Nonetheless, the arbitrator refused Ms. Netrebko’s request for a further $400,000 in charges for engagements in coming seasons that had been mentioned however not formally agreed to, together with main roles in Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” and “Tosca,” in addition to Verdi’s “Macbeth” and Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades.” Ms. Netrebko was incomes the Met’s present charge for prime artists of about $15,000 a efficiency.
The grievance filed by Ms. Netrebko on Friday stated that the Met nonetheless owed her most of these extra charges, in addition to compensation for emotional misery and injury to her repute. The grievance accuses the Met and its normal supervisor, Peter Gelb, who has been important of Ms. Netrebko within the information media, of main a “defamatory campaign” in opposition to her.
The swimsuit notes that even after she publicly acknowledged that she opposed the struggle, Mr. Gelb spoke together with her on the telephone and requested her to particularly denounce Mr. Putin. “Gelb indicated that if Netrebko issued such a press release, the Met would proceed its relationship together with her,” the swimsuit stated. “Netrebko responded that, as a Russian citizen, she couldn’t make such a press release.”
The grievance is the most recent effort by Netrebko, a serious star and box-office draw, to rehabilitate her picture. Netrebko nonetheless has a busy worldwide performing schedule, largely in Europe. However because the invasion, she has confronted cancellations and protests elsewhere, together with in america and components of Asia.
She has struggled to get past questions on her previous assist for Putin. She endorsed him for president in 2012, and has spoken glowingly about him over time. And in 2014, when she donated to an opera home in Donetsk, a war-torn metropolis in Ukraine managed by pro-Russian separatists, she was photographed holding a separatist flag.
For the reason that invasion, Ms. Netrebko has sought to distance herself from Putin, saying they’ve solely met just a few instances.
Mr. Gelb has defended the Met’s resolution to chop ties with Ms. Netrebko and different artists who’ve voiced assist for Mr. Putin. “It’s extra necessary than ever that our place doesn’t change,” he stated earlier this yr, “till the struggle is received by Ukraine.”
Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.
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