Homophobia scandal forces Opera Australia to dump diva

Following 48 hours of intense drama, the contentious opera singer Tamar Iveri has been released from her Opera Australia contract.

Image via www.tamariveri.com

Opera Australia this morning announced that the Georgian soprano would no longer be performing in the company’s production of Otello, due to open in Sydney in July.

In a statement released this morning, the company said: ‘Opera Australia has agreed with Tamar Iveri, to immediately release her from her contract with the company.

‘Ms Iveri and her husband have both made public statements in the last 48 hours with regards to comments attributed to Ms Iveri. She has unreservedly apologised for those comments and views.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts