War and a Prima Donna

In the turmoil surrounding the Russian invasionn of Ukraine, you might have not noticed this piece of news. It took me a while to comment on it, but I thought it was important that I do, being an opera afficionado. Anyway, so Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will not be performing for the Metropolitan Opera because of her refusal to condemn her country's actions. From what I understand, she will not be performing for the time being. And I don't know what you think of it, but I'm glad and I think the Met took the right decision. I know of Netrebko's status in the operatic world, but I have not been following her career and she is not my favourite soprano. In fact, she'd ranks fairly low on my list, if I had a list. Something about her voice. But whatever her skills as an artist, I never liked how in the past she showed no reservation about backing up Putin as if she was a friend of his regime. I know it is difficult for an artist to be the citizen of a country ran by a despot, I know Putin is not the kind of person you want to cross. But she could have been discreet in the past instead of showing support for his warmongering. She did not. Also, her post on Facebook regarding the whole affair, trying to dismiss it as personal political opinions that should remain private, was nothing short of disgusting. She came off very much like the prima donna she is. Arrogant, capricious, self-entitled and self-centered. She may be a great artist, but she proved to be a very small person.

"Men, Women and Sexual Politics"

This title is not about a philosophical essay, but about Cosi fan tutte by Mozart. I stumbled on YouTube on the overture of last year's production of the opera by the Metropolitan Opera and I really loved it. It is a clever way to get the spectator involved in the story from the overture onwards. More importantly, it sums up perfectly what the opera is all about. Men, women, lust, chocolate (no kidding), poison, lies, etc. And, explaining its essence in one single brilliant line: "A sophisticated analysis of men, women and sexual politics in two acts." This is Cosi fan tutte in a nutshell. Like one of my friends said on Facebook when I shared it: "I wanted to keep watching." Now to try to find the whole thing.