Russian singer Ildar Abdrazakov has been removed from the cast of the opera Don Giovanni at Italy’s Fondazione Arena di Verona, European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno reported. In 2024, Abdrazakov became a trusted representative of Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections and the artistic director of a theater in annexed Sevastopol, as well as a member of the cultural council under the Russian president.
“Once again, we have defeated Putin and Kremlin propaganda. Abdrazakov will not perform at the Arena di Verona,” Picierno wrote.
Abdrazakov’s performance was scheduled for January 2026. The campaign against his appearance in Verona was led by the Italian association Liberi Oltre le Illusioni, which highlighted his support for the war against Ukraine. Picierno and Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation joined the association’s call.
In 2023, the Austrian publication Opern News reported that Abdrazakov had participated in a New Year’s party hosted by then-Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, where he sang Moscow Nights alongside him. This year it became known that Abdrazakov and his former wife, Olga Borodina, own a villa in Massa, Tuscany, measuring 343 m² on the second line of the Ligurian Sea, with a total of two plots covering 1,262 m². The property is not subject to EU sanctions.
Abdrazakov was one of five classical music figures involved in a “voter assembly” supporting Putin’s independent candidacy in the 2024 presidential elections. After this, he was removed from the cast of Don Quixote at the Paris Bastille Opera, where he was to perform the lead role, and for similar reasons was dropped from Naples’ Teatro di San Carlo.
Other participants in the group supporting Putin included Yuri Bashmet, Hibla Gerzmava, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, and conductor Valery Gergiev. In July 2025, Gergiev was also scheduled to perform in Italy at the Un’Estate da Re festival for the first time since the war began, but his participation was canceled following public protests.
