Ms. Netrebko used the Instagram post largely to defend her decision to go to back to work. I had two choices, she wrote: to stay at home and be afraid of getting infected or start working, traveling around, performing at the risk of getting sick.
I unconditionally chose 2 and do not regret anything, she said.
The incident is not the first to affect a Russian cultural institution since music and dance performances resumed shortly after President Vladimir V. Putin declared in July that the battle against the coronavirus had been won. Last month, the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg suspended all performances, classes and rehearsals after over 30 people in the company contracted the virus.
Those infections occurred despite the ballets adopting a wide range of measures to keep staff members safe, such as regular testing, temperature checks and mandatory mask wearing. Similar safety measures were in place at the Bolshoi, Ms. Novikova said, though regular testing is not.
Other countries in Europe have also seen outbreaks since performances resumed. In Austria, the health authorities reported a cluster of 46 infections after an operetta performance by students at the Vienna Music and Arts University early this month.
Among those infected was a member of the Vienna State Opera who was at the event, Bernhard Mayer-Rohonczy, a spokesman for the university, said in a telephone interview. Two other State Opera employees became infected in a rehearsal with that person, the opera company said in a statement, and all three have been in quarantine since.
On Wednesday, the Budapest Operetta and Musical Theater in Hungary also canceled all performances after an artist tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a statement on its website.read more
Opera Star Anna Netrebko Is Hospitalized With Covid-19
