NEW YORK – Anna Netrebko flounces through the offices of her agent, leaving a trail of men in her wake. “Anna,” one says plaintively, proffering a glass of ice water. “No ice,” the raven-haired soprano commands. As he rushes to fulfill her request, she shrugs her shoulders, and says to the ceiling, “Ice!” as though it’s the most unimaginable thing she’s ever heard.
Netrebko clearly likes having an audience – and she knows exactly what she wants. The lively Russian star has been performing since the age of 16, when she began studying at the St. Petersburg conservatory after a pragmatic exit from acting. “The competition to be an actress was too big, and I decide, okay, I will try to be an opera singer, and after that I always can switch. But it never happened because I fell in love with opera,” she explains in her fragmented English. “I went to see the live performances and it was fantastic and I thought no, nothing can be better than that, and that’s what I want to do.”
It’s certainly worked out so far. On March 31, Netrebko begins a star turn as Norina in “Don Pasquale” at the Metropolitan Opera, on the heels of her Gilda performance in “Rigoletto” there (her official debut was at age 23 at the San Francisco Opera in 1995; she first sang at the Met in 2002’s “War and Peace”), and two weeks ago released her third CD, “La Traviata,” from Deutsche Grammophon. Her popularity at the Met has justified her purchasing an apartment near Lincoln Center, where she will stay when not at her St. Petersburg home. She can’t wait to renovate – but no decorators for her. “I’m always doing everything by myself and I like it,” she says, explaining that she’ll do it whatever way she wants. “I hate the word ‘style.’ Style without a style, that’s what I like.”
When not rehearsing, the woman who’s called the “new Callas” and made Mario Vargas Llosa swoon in print after seeing her perform “La Traviata” at last year’s Salzburg Festival leads a very nonstar life, heading to restaurants like Rosa Mexicana or seeing movies with friends. “I just saw ‘Brokeback Mountain,'” she says. “I like it very much. And I cannot believe that these two guys are not gay, you know. They play so real.”
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The 34-year-old Netrebko is also an avid shopper – all the more important as she refuses to use a stylist for photo shoots. Escada dresses her in formal gowns for performances, but for the rest, she delves into her own closet. Today, she’s wearing her own Escada peasant-style skirt and is carrying a black fur logo-embossed Louis Vuitton bag. “In America, you have the best choice for shopping, that’s for sure,” she says, her eyes growing wide at the thought. “It’s so beautiful, and there are so many things to buy.”
A fan of form-fitting clothes from Dolce & Gabbana, Marc Jacobs, Etro and girly brands like Nanette Lepore and Tracy Reese, she’s particularly proud of an Alexander McQueen jacket scored during a recent outing. “They said it just arrived that morning and it’s the only one,” she says, laughing with delight. She doesn’t exercise to fit into her purchases, but opera is hard work: She rehearses up to six hours a day and each stage performance means a weight loss of two to five pounds.
As for any hopeful male fans, forget it: She’s been with Italian bass-baritone Simone Alberghini for six years. Just don’t look for them to star in anything together. “I don’t like this kind of family performances. Like, oooh, we are a couple who like to perform together,” she says derisively. Nor is a wedding in the cards. “I don’t want to get married,” she says firmly. “I like it free.”