Anna Netrebko Russian Actress From Krasnodar

Early life

Anna Netrebko was born on 18 September 1971 in Krasnodar, Russia, into a family with Kuban Cossack roots. She studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and during those years she worked as a cleaner at the Mariinsky Theatre. When she later auditioned there, the conductor Valery Gergiev recognised her from that job and became her vocal mentor.

Career

With Gergiev's support, Netrebko made her operatic stage debut at the Mariinsky in 1994, singing Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. She made her American debut in San Francisco in 1995 and returned to the company repeatedly in the following seasons. In 1998 she appeared at the Salzburg Festival for the first time, in Parsifal, and sang her first Violetta in La traviata in Saint Petersburg.

Her international breakthrough came in August 2002, when she sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival under Nikolaus Harnoncourt. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut that February as Natasha in War and Peace, and in 2003 she debuted at the Vienna State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, both as Violetta. She has been an exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon since 2003. Her albums include Opera Arias (2003) and Sempre libera (2004). In 2004 she also made a cameo appearance as herself in the film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

In December 2011 she opened the season at La Scala in Milan, making her house debut as Donna Anna. She opened three consecutive new productions at the Metropolitan Opera: Anna Bolena in 2011, L'elisir d'amore in 2012 and Eugene Onegin in 2013. From about 2014 she moved toward heavier repertoire, singing Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth and Leonora in Il trovatore at the Met. She added Elsa in Lohengrin, the title roles of Adriana Lecouvreur and Aida, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier and Tosca. She sang the Olympic anthem at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Games, and in 2019 she opened the Vienna Opera Ball.

In March 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she stepped back from concert life for a time. Several houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, ended their engagements with her. She announced at the end of that month that she would return to the stage in May. She sang Manon Lescaut in Monte Carlo in April 2022, gave recitals in Paris and Milan in May, and in the summer sang Aida and Turandot at the Arena di Verona. She opened the 2022–23 season at the Vienna State Opera as Mimì in La bohème, and in 2023 she opened the 100th Arena di Verona Festival as Aida. In 2024 she sang Turandot at the Wiesbaden May Festival.

Recognition

Netrebko received the Polar Music Prize in 2020. Her other honours include the Casta Diva Award (1998), the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2004), a Golden Gramophone Award (2010) and the International Opera Award for best female singer (2017). She won the Echo Klassik prize as female singer of the year in 2004, 2005, 2014 and 2016, and she also won a Classic Brit Award. The Austrian government named her a Kammersängerin in 2017, and in 2022 she received the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis for Lady Macbeth at the Vienna State Opera. Time listed her among its 100 most influential people in 2007. An asteroid, 31104 Annanetrebko, carries her name.

Public roles

Russia named her a People's Artist in 2008. Azerbaijan awarded her the Order of Friendship in 2018. She is an honorary director of the Russian Children's Welfare Society and has performed at its fundraising Petroushka Ball. In 2007 she became an Austrian ambassador for SOS Children's Villages, and she has supported the charity project Kinderhilfe Kaliningrad since 2005.

Personal life

She applied for Austrian citizenship in 2006. She married the tenor Yusif Eyvazov on 29 December 2015 in Vienna, and in June 2024 she announced their separation. She has homes in Saint Petersburg, Vienna and New York City.