Anna Netrebko in hospital recovering from Covid-19

Anna Netrebko has been in hospital in Moscow recovering from pneumonia for the last five days. While she was in the hospital she was tested for the coronavirus and found to be positive.

Now that she is starting to feel better, she decided to announce the news on Facebook and according to her manager, was starting to sing in hospital.

Netrebko was appearing in Don Carlo at the Bolshoi Theatre where there is social distancing and mask-wearing for the audience, but Covid-19 testing for the singers who perform normally on stage, though are required to wear masks in other areas of the building. She had sung on 6 and 8 September, but the performance scheduled for 10 September was cancelled after the bass Ildar Abdrazakov was unwell with a fever and was found to be positive. The day after, in a social media post, Netrebko announced that she'd tested negative but would be self-isolating for a week, however soon after she felt unwell and a day later went to the hospital.

In her post earlier today, she wrote,

I am doing well but also have COVID-related pneumonia, so I need medical supervision. I knew of course there was always going to be a risk that I might get infected. But I don't regret going back to performing because I strongly believe that we need culture, now as ever.

Netrebko has cancelled her upcoming concert performances of Il trovatore at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Eugene Onegin at the Mariinsky Theatre.

She added,

I am expected to make a full recovery thanks to the wonderful care I'm receiving. We are very, very grateful that Yusif and Tiago have tested negative for the virus. Yusif has tested positive for antibodies so he is clear to perform, which makes me very happy. 

Her husband Yusif Eyvazov and son Tiago were at their home in Vienna.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.