The court ordered the Metropolitan Opera to pay Anna Netrebko $200,000 for canceled performances

The Metropolitan Opera will pay Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko more than $200 for canceled performances after she was fired in 000 because she refused to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. Writes about it The New York Times.

The arbitration court, in an unreported decision in February, ruled that the Metropolitan Opera must compensate Netrebko for 13 canceled performances - including appearances in Don Carlo this season and La Forza del Destino and Andrea Chénier, due to for a pay-or-play contractual agreement that requires institutions to pay performers even if they later decide not to hire them.

The Metropolitan Opera argued that Netrebko, one of the opera's biggest stars, was ineligible for payment because of her refusal to comply with the company's demand after the invasion of Ukraine. Netrebko supported Putin in his 2012 presidential race and spoke well of him before the full-scale invasion began.

The arbitrator, Howard Edelman, found that "there is no doubt that she was a supporter of Putin, and she had a right to be." But he added that agreeing with Putin was "certainly not very moral or decent behavior."

Netrebko was to receive $400 in performance fees for commitments in coming seasons that were discussed but not agreed upon, including leading roles in Manon Lescaut and Tosca, as well as Macbeth and The Queen of Spades. Netrebko, as one of the leading artists, received about $000 per performance.

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But the arbitrator found that Netrebko was not entitled to money for these performances because the contracts were not fulfilled. In addition, he imposed a fine of almost $30 on her for "grossly inappropriate" statements after the invasion, including a social media text exchange that used swear words to insult his critics.

In addition to endorsing Putin, Netrebko has occasionally provided support for his policies. In 2014, she donated to an opera house in Donetsk, a war-torn city in Ukraine controlled by Russian separatists, and she also posed for a photo with a separatist flag.

The Metropolitan Opera did not comment on the specifics of the decision, but defended its decision to cancel Netrebko's performances.

“Even though our contracts will force us to pay her, we didn’t think it was morally right to keep her in performances given her close association with Putin,” said Peter Gelb, CEO of the Metropolitan Opera.

Sam Wheeler, national executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union that Netrebko represented, approved of the arbitrator's decision, saying it would help protect the rights of artists seeking compensation for canceled performances.

“Pay-or-play is the backbone of contracts across the country and we will always protect pay-or-play clauses to the fullest extent possible,” he said.

Netrebko still has a relatively busy schedule, although she continues to face protests and says she has been banned from the world stage. A scheduled concert this month in Taiwan was canceled at the last minute due to concerns about her ties to Putin. She is set to perform a concert at La Scala, in Milan, and will return there this summer for a production of Macbeth.

Faced with a series of cancellations in the West last year, she sought to distance herself from Putin, issuing a statement saying she had only met the president a handful of times and that she was not "associated with any Russian leader." She also canceled her performances in Russia. But she avoided directly criticizing Putin.

The Metropolitan Opera also announced on March 17 that dismisses Netrebko's husband, tenor Yusif Eyvazov. Eyvazov, who was supposed to play the role of the painter Cavaradossi in six performances of Tosca, will be replaced by Matthew Polenzani.

Gelb said he hoped Eyvazov would leave the project himself, but decided to fire him primarily because of comments he made last year criticizing Sopranos Angel Blue, after pictures of Netrebko and other artists performing there at dark makeup.

Gelb also said that Eyvazov's marriage to Netrebko was also a problem and that he did not want to disrespect Ukrainian Lyudmila Monastyrskaya, who would also be in the play.

The Metropolitan Opera stated that he would be compensated for the canceled performances.