Russian soprano Anna Netrebko’s discrimination case against the Met Opera to proceed

A US federal judge has said that Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, who is said to be close to Russian president Vladimir Putin, can move forward with her case claiming national origin discrimination by the Metropolitan Opera.

Despite Netrebko clarifying that she has no relationship with Putin and explaining in interviews in Le Monde in 2022 that she could not repudiate Putin and Russia's campaign against Ukraine publicly as a Russian citizen, the Met dropped her.

The decision by US District Judge Analisa Nadine Torres in Manhattan was made public Wednesday, a day after it was issued.

The case, which will proceed alongside Netrebko's claim of gender discrimination, has yet to be scheduled for trial.

Last August, District Judge Torres dismissed the performer’s national origin discrimination claim, when she also threw out allegations of defamation and breach of contract. However, in her latest decision, the judge wrote that the “allegations support the inference that Netrebko’s replacement by non-Russian artists occurred under circumstances giving rise to at least a ‘minimal’ inference of discrimination.”

The American Guild of Musical Artists filed a grievance on Netrebko’s behalf and arbitrator Howard C. Edelman ruled in February 2023 that the Met violated the union’s collective bargaining agreement when it cancelled deals with Netrebko for three productions.

Torres allowed Netrebko to proceed with her separate allegation of gender discrimination under the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law. She said the Met treated Netrebko's male counterparts with connections to Putin and the Russian government more favourably.

Torres cited bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin and baritones Igor Golovatenko and Alexey Markov, who have continued to sing at the Met.

The Met said in a brief statement that the case “was reinstated on technical grounds” and expressed confidence that Netrebko's claims would not succeed.

Met General Manager Peter Gelb had demanded that she repudiate Putin shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but she refused and was withdrawn from three Met productions.

The Met replaced her with Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska in at least one of those productions.

“Together with our recent request to add new claims for retaliation and defamation based on Peter Gelb’s renewed public campaign to disparage Ms. Netrebko, this decision sends a powerful message that Ms. Netrebko will continue to stand up for her rights as an artist," the singer's lawyer, Julie Ulmet, said in a statement.