Famous opera diva Anna Netrebko turns 50

The opera diva Anna Netrebko will be 50 years old on September 18th. The singer has already had a career of more than 25 years – and the success does not stop there. Since the mid-1990s Netrebko has appeared in the world’s most renowned opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Vienna State Opera. The Russian, who also has Austrian citizenship, also sings regularly at the Salzburg Festival.

Over the years Netrebko’s lyrical voice developed more and more into the dramatic. Her fans love the soft top notes of the soprano, which she masters like no other. She only took a short break from her career as an opera star during her pregnancy and the first few months as the mother of her son Tiago, who was born in 2008.

Operndiva in “Tosca”

Then she took off again – whether as Leonora in the opera “Il trovatore” by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), as Anna Bolena in the opera of the same name by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) or as Elsa in Richard Wagner’s (1813-1883) ) “Lohengrin”. She also conquered Floria Tosca in “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924).

She recently shone again in this role at the Salzburg Festival. Shortly before the premiere, Netrebko had to cancel the dress rehearsal due to illness, but then she was fit again as ever. She more than lived up to the image of an opera diva in a dress with 50,000 crystals. “Perfect replacement” in August. Anna Netrebko embodies Tosca “flawlessly and courageously”.

This is how Anna Netrebko gets her private life and work under one roof

Is there still time for the family in Anna Netrebko’s tight schedule? Recently she’s been appearing more and more often on stage with her husband, the Azerbaijani tenor Yusif Eyvazov (44) – also at the Salzburg Festival. The two also give joint concerts in which they sing selected arias and duets.

“I love when I can work and perform with Yusif, but at the same time each of us enjoys our own career,” said Netrebko in 2020. “If we are on duty in different places for a long time, we just have to plan our get-together.” It is “very important that our family is together,” emphasized Eyvazov, whom the singer married in 2015. “That’s why I try to limit the time we separated as much as possible. It takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it.”

The couple are not alone in looking after their son Tiago, who comes from Netrebko’s relationship with the singer Erwin Schrott (48). “We have a wonderful team that helps us cope with all the demands of our lives and careers,” said Eyvazov. “With his help we have as much time as possible for our loved ones. And whenever Tiago doesn’t have school, we make sure that we take him with us.”

Stroke of fate shortly before 50th birthday

Most recently, Anna Netrebko had to struggle with several strokes of fate. She became infected with the coronavirus in September 2020, followed by pneumonia. The singer was treated in hospital for more than a week. At the beginning of September 2021, Netrebko had to say goodbye to her father Yuri (1934-2021) shortly before her 50th birthday.

“You can never be prepared for the loss of a loved one knowing that it will happen anyway … especially if it is your own and loved father,” she wrote. “Papa, thanks for everything!”

Despite her grief, Anna Netrebko will celebrate her birthday appropriately – with a gala in the Kremlin Palace in Moscow. There are many befriended singers of the opera diva, including stars like Plácido Domingo (80), Cecilia Bartoli (55), Rolando Villazón (49) and of course husband Yusif Eyvazov. Above all, it is the closeness to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that Netrebko has repeatedly created for criticism.

After five years, the singer has another new album on the market: “Amata dalle tenebre” is due to be released on November 5th. Netrebko is then accompanied by the Italian Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala under the direction of Riccardo Chailly (68).