Anna Netrebko And Yusif Eyvazov Cover OK! Magazine Russia

Anna Netrebko, in New York City for the debut of a new production of Verdi's Il Trovatore opening on September 25 at the Metropolitan Opera, graces the new Russian edition of OK!

Magazine with fiancé and tenor Yusif Eyvazov who will make his debut in Puccini's Turandot in November also at the MET. Inside the magazine, the interviewer asks questions regarding the soprano's weight; a one-time trip to the spa for a facial; her shopping habits; parenting a son with autism; wanting another child (perhaps a little sister for Tiago); the couple's meeting in Milan for the first time; details of the pre-nuptial contract; the plans for their upcoming wedding in Vienna scheduled for December 29; their first joint album together singing music of Igor Krutoy; and plans to return together for Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2016; and more. Read the full article by clicking here. See more pictures after the jump.

Ljuba Kazarnovskaya Gets Blacklisted By Azerbaijan Foreign Minister

"'Lyubov [sic] Kazarnovskaya has violated Azerbaijan’s law on 'State border' and illegally visited our country’s territories occupied by Armenia,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told APA-Economics while commenting on illegal visit of Russian opera-singer Lyubov Kzarnovskaya to Azerbaijan’s occupied territories. According to him, this person will be added into the list of “undesired persons” as a result of relevant investigation: 'Kazarnovskaya’s speeches in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories promote Armenia’s aggression and occupation against Azerbaijan, bloody ethnic cleansing committed against Azerbaijanis in the occupied territories and Armenia, while the art figures should serve peace and truce. Speaking about establishment of Music Center in the occupied territories, Kazarnovskaya must know that as a result of aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and barbarism committed in the occupied territories, Azerbaijani people’s material and cultural heritage, as well as Karabakh music school underwent destruction and devastation.'" [Source] Read more about the soprano, watch a performance and interview, after the jump.

Venera Gimadieva To Perform At Royal Festival Hall On April 1

"Leading Tartar soprano Venera Gimadieva introduces the music of Tatarstan. Following on from a performance that won her critical acclaim at Glyndebourne this summer ('a sensation' in the words of The Guardian), Gimadieva joins conductor Guerassim Voronkov and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra for a celebration of recent works by composers from Tatarstan, alongside vocal masterpieces by Sergey Rachmaninoff, himself of Tatar descent. Highlights include songs such as 'Vocalise' and 'Ne poy krasavitsa pri mne' and arias from Francesca da Rimini as well as Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden."[Source] Click here to purchase tickets. See the concert program, and learn more about Ms. Gimadieva, after the jump. Watch the soprano sing "Salammbô's Aria," by Bernard Herrmann from the movie score of Citizen Kane, in the video below.

Will Russia Charge Timofei Kulyabin With "Hooliganism" Over Wagner?

Dazed and Confused: A scene from the reportedly 'obscene' production

"Two men went on trial in Russia on Wednesday over their staging of Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser opera, which a senior Orthodox cleric complained was offensive to religious believers. Prosecutors said the modern-day staging, which fuelled [sic] anger among Orthodox Russians after it premiered in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk last December, 'desecrated' the image of Jesus Christ. A complaint by a senior cleric led to charges being filed against the head of Novosibirsk's State Opera and Ballet Theatre, Boris Mezdrich, and director, Timofei Kulyabin, who face fines of up to 200,000 rubles ($3,243) if found guilty. The original opera, considered one of Wagner's most controversial with its focus on sexuality and spirituality, was first performed in 1845. The hero, Tannhäuser, goes from frolicking with the goddess of love Venus, to seeking religious salvation from the Pope for his sexual excesses. Kulyabin's production shifts the action to the present day, with Tannhäuser a movie director making a film about Jesus visiting Venus's erotic grotto....'The question being decided now is whether we have religious censorship in our country,' Mezdrich said in court. The case comes three years after a probe against the Pussy Riot punks who were sentenced to two years for 'hooliganism', specifically offending believers, after a performance in a Moscow church. While the two men are currently charged with a civil misdemeanour, they still risk criminal charges on a new offence introduced by Russia in 2013 after the Pussy Riot case -- carrying out public acts that offend believers -- which carries a jail sentence of up to three years." [Source]

Vienna Opera Ball 2015 Shows No Political Bias To Sopranos

Dominique Meyer, Director of the Vienna State
Opera, flanked by Olga Bezsmertna (left)
 and Aida Garifullina (right)

Two sopranos from political hotbed countries performed for the 2015 Wiener Opernball: Ukranian Olga Bezsmertna (singing "Dove sono" from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro) and Russian Aida Garifullina (singing "Je veux vivre" from Gounod's Romeo et Juliette). "The Crimean crisis was an international crisis in 2014 that instigated the ongoing dispute involving Russia and Ukraine over the control of the Crimean Peninsula, culminating in its annexation by the Russian Federation and incorporation as two separate federal subjects. The crisis was part of the wider 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine which also includes the Donbass region of Ukraine. The current international status of Crimea and Sevastopol as federal subjects of the Russian Federation is only explicitly recognized by five UN member states, other than Russia. All other countries recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine....On 17 April 2014 Russian president Vladimir Putin confirmed Russian involvement in Crimea, remarking that 'of course, Russian servicemen backed the Crimean self-defense forces.' In an interview on 22 January 2015 Igor Girkin, one of the major 'Russian self-defence' commanders in Crimea at that time, explained that the 'overwhelming national support for

Aida Garifullina singing Juliette's Waltz

the self-defence' as portrayed by the Russian media was fiction, and they actually had to 'forcibly drive the deputies to vote [to join Russia].' Majority of the law enforcement, administration and army did not support the 'self-defence' (one notable exception being Berkut) and only the presence of regular Russian army in Crimea 'made the whole thing work.'" [Source] Politically-neutral Spanish baritone Carlos Álvarez also sang, "Fin ch'han dal vino" from Mozart's Don Giovanni, at the Opera Ball. See more photos of the performances, as well as other opera attendees including Angelika Kirschlager, Isabel Leonard and Naomi Campbell, after the jump.

Ildar Abdrazakov Gets His Close-Up In Vanity Fair Magazine

Abdrazakov in St. Petersburg (Photo: Jason Bell)

"It could almost be the plot of an opera: a dark, dashing descendant of both Genghis Khan and Tamerlane appears and sweeps all before him. But in the case of Russian-born bass Ildar Abdrazakov— 'I’m one-fourth Tatar and three-fourths Bashkirian,' he says with a smile—it happens to be true. A native of Ufa, the capital of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan (also known as Bashkiria), Abdrazakov, 37, has emerged in the past few years as one of the most sought-after young basses in the operatic world. He was pitch-perfect as the brooding prince in the Metropolitan Opera’s production last season of Borodin’s Prince Igor. But what Abdrazakov actually likes best is Italian opera: 'I only started singing the Russian roles when I came west,' he says. His supple, burnished bass shines in the lyrical Rossini-to-Verdi canon, along with his comedic flair." [Source] Read the full feature by clicking here.

Opera World Filled With Perverts According To Russian Official

Politician and mezzo-soprano fights for gay rights

"Opera diva Maria Maksakova, an MP for the ruling United Russia party, says the controversial ban on propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors, dubbed the 'anti-gay' law in the West, must be revised as it damages the investment climate...Maksakova specifically drew attention to the negative impact of this initiative on Russian artists working in the West, who are now facing 'discrimination' because of the so-called 'anti-gay' law. A mezzo soprano soloist with St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater, she said her colleagues 'are being kicked out from plays and orchestras' in Europe...Meanwhile, the author of the law, St Petersburg municipal deputy Vitaly Milonov hit back saying he is 'totally opposed' to the singer’s proposal. In his words, Maksakova is an artistic person coming from the world where 'perverts' are not uncommon." [Source]

The Russians (Netrebko And Hvorostovsky) Are Coming To Red Square

Click the above photo to watch a video from the press conference in Russia for this evening's concert in Moscow's Red Square featuring Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Anna Netrebko with conductor Constantine Orbelian. Global listings for live streaming of the concert can be found after the jump.

(Photo: Victor Vasenin/WP)