At the State Theater of Wiesbaden, the capital of the federal state of Hesse, on Monday the atmosphere was rather tense, but in the end everything ended in a verbal skirmish between the artistic director and individual journalists.
Speaking at a press conference on the occasion of the announcement of the program of the International May Festival – 2023, the mayor of the city emphasized that “culture cannot exist outside of politics, but politics also has the right to express its opinion about art.” Politics expressed its solidarity with Ukraine and opposed the arrival of the opera diva Anna Netrebko to the festival. Culture represented by the theater of Wiesbaden did not change its decision either under pressure from the state government or at the request of the mayor of the city. “Anna Netrebko has signed a contract and she will sing the part of Abigail in Nabucco,” said Uwe Eric Laufenberg, artistic director of the Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden and the May Festival.
It was this final decision that provoked an emotional and loud reaction from journalists. Is the artistic director afraid of protests because of Anna Netrebko’s performance? In an interview with DW, Laufenberg noted that he did not see a big protest either in Cologne or in Frankfurt am Main, where she had already performed, although there were symbolic protest actions, and if someone had a desire to protest in Wiesbaden, then “let it be, we have a free country.” And what would happen if the State Minister for Culture and Media of Germany, Claudia Roth, asked the festival to abandon Netrebko? To this question, DW’s artistic director emphasized that she had not done this already, and this was “a matter of local politics.” Recall that the German Minister of State, despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, urged to maintain openness towards Russian culture.
The story continues
It seemed that the story with the participation of Anna Netrebko could be put an end to, but she received a continuation. At the moment, we are talking about who will replace the Ukrainian musicians and drama artists who refused to come to Wiesbaden.
Instead of the choir of the National Opera of Ukraine and the National Symphony Orchestra, the punk band Pussy Riot was invited to the festival – with a rock concert based on the book “Days of the Rebellion” by Maria Alyokhina. However, on Monday evening it turned out that the team refuses to participate – out of solidarity with the Ukrainians. Maria Alyokhina told Meduza that no one had told them about Netrebko’s participation in the festival: “Equally, no one told us that they were just trying to plug a hole with us by placing Ukrainians in place of those who refused to perform.”
Earlier, Ukrainian conductor Mykola Dyadyura also said in an interview with DW that he did not know anything about the participation of Anna Netrebko. In an interview with DW, Uwe Eric Laufenberg stated that “this is definitely not true.” One way or another, the festival lacks two points of the program – instead of “Requiem” performed by musicians from Kyiv and instead of “Caligula” staged by the Kharkiv State Academic Ukrainian Drama Theater. Taras Shevchenko.
The International May Festival in Wiesbaden is dedicated this season – from April 30 to May 31 – to the theme of freedom of speech and political prisoners around the world. To the question of one of the journalists at a press conference in Wiesbaden, can the artistic director of the theater sleep peacefully, knowing that those people to whom this festival is dedicated will now be in the shadow of Anna Netrebko, Uwe Eric Laufenberg replied that “because of this, He has no insomnia.” According to him, he sleeps very well precisely because “he does not try to throw mud at and make a scapegoat of one artist.”
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