Opera lovers arriving at Covent Garden this week for the start of the new season were greeted by Ukrainian flags and scores of picketing protesters. “While she sings, Ukraine bleeds,” read the placards, while megaphoned messages were yet angrier. “There’s blood all over the floor of the Royal Opera House tonight,” said one.

No, the controversial casting of the great Russian soprano Anna Netrebko – who was previously banned by houses across Europe owing to her historical support for Vladimir Putin’s regime – in the Royal Opera’s new production of “Tosca” did not pass without a fuss, said Richard Morrison in The Times .

Netrebko has publicly denounced her country’s invasion of Ukraine , but her critics want her to speak out against Putin too. The Metropolitan Opera in New York co

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