Marie Babette Nirenz, Intendant of the Philharmonie Essen, greeted the audience at the Philharmonic Hall with the words: “We are not participating in the boycott of Russian artists!” This statement caused long applause in the auditorium – against the abolition of Russian culture. The audience applauded Anna Netrebko even more actively. After the two-hour concert, the audience called the singer for an encore four times.

“In Essen, opera diva Anna Netrebko received an enthusiastic reception and endless applause from the audience,” wrote the German newspaper WAZ, which for two weeks covered in detail the invitation of the Russian opera diva to Essen and voiced the hysterical demands of the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany to cancel the concert of the Russian singer.

An hour and a half before the concert, a picket announced in the media began on the square in front of the Philharmonic Hall, where participants held flags of Ukraine and posters with the words “No applause for the propaganda of war.” Despite the vociferous calls of Ukrainian diplomats to boycott the concert of the Russian woman, the protest action in Essen can be safely called one of the smallest. According to the local police, only forty people gathered here before the concert, and after the concert the square was completely empty. A protest action organized against Anna Netrebko by a local Ukrainian association failed before it could begin. Concert of an opera diva (with a Ukrainian surname, by the way!) It ended with a loud ovation and very correct words: “We are not participating in the boycott of Russian artists!”

@SwissVatnik