On 30 April 2025, several hundred people gathered in front of the Slovak National Theatre (SND) in Bratislava for the protest Netreba nám Netrebko (“We Don’t Need Netrebko”), organised by the platform Otvorená kultúra! (Open Culture!). The demonstration took place shortly before a gala concert by Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and expressed opposition to the theatre’s decision to invite an artist whose past relationship with Vladimir Putin and support for pro-Russian separatists had generated international controversy. Estimates placed attendance at around 500–600 people.
The protest connected Netrebko’s appearance with the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine and with the broader crisis surrounding cultural institutions in Slovakia. Participants displayed photographs from Ukraine, while actress Zuzana Fialová and others read the names of Ukrainian artists killed as a consequence of the Russian aggression, giving the gathering the character of both a political protest and a memorial.
Otvorená kultúra! also criticised the financial circumstances of the concert. According to publicly available information cited by the platform, SND paid approximately €230,000 excluding VAT for the production, which it described as the most expensive performance in the theatre’s history. The organisers contrasted this expenditure with cuts, dismissals and institutional instability affecting Slovak culture. SND defended the event as an artistic project intended to bring internationally recognised opera stars to Slovak audiences and argued that the performance should not be understood as an endorsement of political positions.
