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African American soprano pulls out of Italian opera because Verona amphitheater staged blackface performance: Singer blasts 'archaic' venue for hosting Aida with white Russian woman as Ethiopian princess
Daily Mail ^ | 12:04 EDT, 16 July 2022 | PA Media

Posted on 07/21/2022 11:22:47 PM PDT by Zhang Fei

African American soprano Angel Blue has said she will not perform in an opera in Italy this month because another production held at the theater earlier this year featured performers in blackface.

The 38-year-old Grammy Award-winner announced she is bowing out of La Traviata at Verona Arena, in Verona, Italy, later this month.

She blasted the theater as 'archaic' for mounting another Giuseppe Verdi opera, Aida, that featured performers in blackface.

They include Anna Netrebko, a white Russian soprano, has been cast in the titular role of Aida in Verdi’s opera - despite the character being an Ethiopian princess.

In promotional material, Netrebko appears with dark makeup over her face and body, and wearing a wig with long black braids.

Angel Blue called the practice 'offensive, humiliating, and outright racist'.

Angel Blue, however, was still listed on Saturday on the arena's website as singing the role of Violetta in La Traviata on July 22 and 30.

The theatre said it was hoping that Blue, who is black, would accept an invitation to meet with Arena officials for 'dialogue' over the issue.

The arena said it had 'no reason nor intent whatsoever to offend and disturb anyone's sensibility'.

For decades, US civil rights organizations have publicly condemned blackface – in which white performers blacken their faces – as dehumanizing black people by introducing and reinforcing racial stereotypes.

This summer, the arena has mounted performances of Aida based on a 2002 staging of the opera classic by Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019. That staging uses blackface.

'Dear Friends, Family, and Opera Lovers,' began the soprano's Instagram post. 'I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I will not be singing La Traviata at Arena di Verona this summer as planned.'

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: aida; italy; latraviata; opera
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To: Zhang Fei

The hypocrisy and their blindness to it is amazing.

They blather on and on about “cultural appropriation”. OK...what are you doing singing Opera? That’s for White people only - according to YOUR OWN ideology.

For that matter, what are you doing using electricity, air conditioning, radio, television, antibiotics, airplanes, cars, bicycles, diesel engines, telephones, the internet, universities....the entire modern world. That was invented by White people. So therefore you using any of that is cultural appropriation according to YOUR OWN ideology.

Fortunately I’m not a Leftist so I’m not bound by their idiotic ideology but Alinsky tactics would require us to hold them to theirs.


41 posted on 07/22/2022 3:57:32 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: Zhang Fei

Good riddance to her/it.


42 posted on 07/22/2022 3:58:44 AM PDT by WashingtonSource
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To: Zhang Fei

The opera will survive.


43 posted on 07/22/2022 3:59:42 AM PDT by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump. )
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To: Zhang Fei

OK Angel, do what you gotta do - it’s your paycheck. But going to the press and whining is just stupid. Nobody really cares why you quit. So just revel in the satisfaction with your own moral superiority - quietly.


44 posted on 07/22/2022 4:07:56 AM PDT by ByteMercenary (Slo-Joe and KamalHo are not my leaders.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Spoiled American blacks rise up again.


45 posted on 07/22/2022 4:08:27 AM PDT by eartick (Stupidity is expecting the government that broke itself to go out and fix itself. Texan for TEXIT)
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To: Zhang Fei

But it’s ok for a black man to play Alexander Hamilton in that abomination of a so-called musical titled ‘Hamilton.’


46 posted on 07/22/2022 4:08:37 AM PDT by Avalon Memories (Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats. -- P.J. O’Rourke)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie
Ruby Elzy.....an elite black soprano that deserves recognition.
47 posted on 07/22/2022 4:13:00 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: Avalon Memories

I never saw “Hamilton”, but have seen previews of it on TV before it came to a TN theater. Hamilton was black, amd so was EVERYONE ELSE that I could see. WTF? How offensive.


48 posted on 07/22/2022 4:17:20 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam
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To: lee martell

“Her best singing days may already be behind her.”

I’m not sure, but didn’t Beverly Sills have strong career maybe into her 50s? I guess it depends on what a person’s range is, as you say. (Julie Andrews — love her voice.)


49 posted on 07/22/2022 4:22:39 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam
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To: Zhang Fei

I’m sure that guy doesn’t work for Disney,checkout the Fairy Godmother in the new pinochio


50 posted on 07/22/2022 4:24:47 AM PDT by ballplayer
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To: MarvinStinson

Wait! I think I’m beginning to see the problem…


51 posted on 07/22/2022 4:26:15 AM PDT by stormhill
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To: Zhang Fei

The Amazing Criswell
3 days ago
Blue’s approach is anti-black. The character of Aida is a black Ethiopian slave in the charge of Pharaoh’s daughter, the princess Amneris. Amneris loves army general Radames, but Radames loves the slave Aida. The blackness and slave status of Aida strengthens the drama of the love triangle, especially in 1870 when the show premiered. Think Othello and the opera Otello. So Blue and other deniers are essentially saying that if a white plays Aida, she must play the character as a white person. Why? The converse would be that if a black plays a white character, she must play it as a white. Why?

If a character is supposed to be black it should be played as black, as has been done since before Shakespeare. Otherwise it changes and weakens the story.


52 posted on 07/22/2022 4:29:37 AM PDT by Captain Jack Aubrey (There's not a moment to lose.)
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To: ScaniaBoy

Netrebko does still sing opera, just not in New York where she was fired for politically incorrect thoughts.


53 posted on 07/22/2022 4:30:51 AM PDT by Captain Jack Aubrey (There's not a moment to lose.)
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To: lee martell
Julie Andrews is a "Coloratura Soprano"?


54 posted on 07/22/2022 4:37:00 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: Zhang Fei

Yet Jake From State Fame became Watermelon Man overnight

And this bitch nor anyone else didn’t say a word


55 posted on 07/22/2022 4:41:03 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat ( Liberty Valance Time. The point of a gun is the only law the left understands)
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To: Zhang Fei

Didn’t ‘Hamilton’ use a lot of black actors playing white men? I guess I’m missing something.


56 posted on 07/22/2022 4:42:58 AM PDT by redangus
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To: Mark17

The Blue Man Group vehemently object


57 posted on 07/22/2022 4:43:13 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat ( Liberty Valance Time. The point of a gun is the only law the left understands)
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To: MayflowerMadam

And all those token blacks on Renaissance-type TV commercials

But whatever favors blacks, no matter how stupidly racist or contradictory, is the rule.

Just like drug addled, overdosed career criminal Georgie F, they are ALL VICTIMS !!


58 posted on 07/22/2022 4:47:08 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat ( Liberty Valance Time. The point of a gun is the only law the left understands)
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To: Guenevere
What about Othello?……Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence Olivier, etc have played the role…..as well as black actors

Not to mention Placido Domingo in Verdi's "Otello", since the topic is opera.

59 posted on 07/22/2022 4:51:56 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: Zhang Fei

prima donna walks with chip on shoulder


60 posted on 07/22/2022 5:04:38 AM PDT by elpadre (W )
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