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 is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts