In one of the worst weeks ever for singer's tonsils, we've had the catastrophic series of defections for Un Ballo In Maschera at Opéra Bastille where Marcelo Alvarez and THEN his replacement Evan Bowers, "également souffrant", fell ill (hilarity did not ensue: Opera Chic's best get-well-soon wishes to Marcelito and Evan); then the (cancellation-prone) Rolando Villazon controversy, will he or won't he show up for Manon at the Liceu? The latest news, thanks to the detective work of Opera Chic's dear readers, seems to be that he hasn't showed up yet, after a cancellation last Sunday in Vienna (and another cancellation in Berlin in May), and he may show up late, but it's still all up in the air. And Anna Netrebko, who must have caught Rolando's kooties somehow, after all that singing together, will apparently call in sick for la prima of her Don Giovanni at Covent Garden (DG is the Bruce-Weber-model-lookalike Erwin Schrott) but she will available for the rest of her engagement. With thanks to our happy bunch of friends who provided the info, gtl torn t, nonothing, colibri, and the shy ones who e-mailed us.
^^^UPDATE^^^
Voce di Tenore has the ROH e-mail, also on musicomh.com:
"Russian soprano Anna Netrebko is unwell and therefore unable to perform the role of Donna Anna on the opening night of Don Giovanni on Monday 11 June. She has been suffering from an infection for several weeks and has not sufficiently recovered to sing the performance on 11 June. The role of Donna Anna will be sung by Jette Parker Young Artist Marina Poplavskaya on the opening night in addition to the performance she was scheduled to sing on 8 July."
