Verona cancels performance of Ildar Abdrazakov, the Russian opera star close to Putin
While some doors are opening - for example, the famous singer Anna Netrebko, who has said she regrets her support for the separatists in Donetsk and her closeness to the Kremlin and has been offered engagements in Naples and Zurich - there are others for whom the doors are closing in the face of tacit (or not) support for Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Russian opera singer Ildar Abdrazakov will not be performing at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Italy, where he was due to appear in "Don Giovanni" in January 2026.
The Verona Arena Foundation, which organises the opera performances, curtly announced in a brief statement on Thursday that it had withdrawn Abdrazakov from the programme.
It was the Liberi Oltre le Illusioni association, which had already worked for the cancellation of Valery Gergiev's concert in Italy, that opposed his appearance, accusing Abdrazakov of having "supported Putin's list during the Russian presidential elections" and of "attempting to return to the Italian stage after the cancellation of his concert at the San Carlo in Naples last January".
This is a national organisation involved, among other things, in "information campaigns" and whose scientific committee includes university professors and economists.
"Once again, we have defeated Putin and the Kremlin's propaganda", wrote European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picerno on the social network X on 6 November. She thanked the Anti-Corruption Foundation and Yulia Navalnaya for their support.
It was the Russian Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) that launched the campaign against Abdrazakov's performance in Verona, and after the organisers' decision, the organisation of the late Alexei Navalny commented on a special page dedicated to the campaign: "Victory! The concert by Putin's accomplice and confidant, Ildar Abdrazakov, has been cancelled! Together, we have ensured that there is no longer any room for Putin's propagandist on the Italian stage".
As Meduza recalls, in 2024 bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov became Vladimir Putin's "trusted advisor" during the presidential campaign. He was subsequently appointed a member of the Russian Presidential Council for Culture and the Arts.
He now directs the State Opera and Ballet in Sevastopol, in Crimea illegally annexed and occupied by Russia.
Prior to Russia's war in Ukraine, Abdrazakov, 49, performed in the world's greatest concert halls, including London's Covent Garden and New York's Metropolitan Opera.
As a result of his support for Putin, Abdrazakov has reportedly been banned from major concert halls in the United States, Paris, Zurich and Vienna.
His contract with the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples was also terminated in January 2025 - the same San Carlo that recently engaged Netrebko.
Italy's Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, issued a statement supporting the cancellation of Abdrazakov's show, stressing that it was not just a question of safety, but also of rejecting propaganda.
"I approve of the Verona Philharmonic Theatre's decision to cancel Ildar Abdrazakov's performance," he said. "This is not primarily a question of security, however important that may be: the arts, and Russian culture in general, like any other, are always welcome in Italy when they serve as a vehicle for dialogue and peace between peoples.
"However, this is not the case when they become a propaganda tool in the service of a despotic power that cannot and must not be allowed citizenship in the free world", he added.
So, more often than not, the proximity at the head of Russia's murderous campaign in Ukraine proves harmful to any artist.
For example, the famous Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, one of Vladimir Putin's most vocal supporters, was refused the right to performon 27 July as part of the Un'Estate da Re (A King's Summer) festival, organised in the courtyard of the Vanvitellian complex in the Palazzo di Caserta.
Similarly, the Athens State Orchestra has announced the cancellation of a concert by the famous Russian pianist Denis Matsouïev on 21 November. The fifty-year-old native of Irkutsk (Siberia) is known for his friendly relations with the Russian president.
And will German conductor Justus Frantz also be one of his undesirables in the West? The German star conductor was recently awarded an Order of Friendship by the Kremlin, having personally travelled to Russia to receive the order, despite Western sanctions. Justus Frantz described it as "a great honour to be here today and to receive such an important decoration".