Calling in an understudy? Definitely not. While Elina Garanca, the Latvian mezzo-soprano, may be phoning in sick to this Sundays Metropolitan Opera performance, audiences will be pleased to know the Anna Netrebko intends to stand at the plate for her.
And as The New York Times indicates, don't think of it as losing an Elina; think of it as gaining an Anna.
Cute, for sure, but the Russian diva is coming in at clutch time to save a fellow singer. Netrebko may have had a few bad spells herself last year with phoning out of performances for sickness, thus, Anna must empathize.
Ms. Netrebko will sing the "Song to the Moon" from Dvořák's Rusalka and Richard Strauss's Cäcilie, rather than the originally planned "Seven Early Songs" by Berg. The rest of the program, which is to be conducted by James Levine, will remain unchanged: Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, Carter's Three Illusions, and Schumann's Symphony No. 2.
Ms. Garanca, though, plans to singe the title role in Bizet's Carmen tonight, Friday, Feb. 6, as scheduled, but the Met said that she had to scale back to amount of rehearsal and additional commitment the role demands. As she is recovering from the flu, additional exertion would be a bad regiment.
Ms. Netrebko, though, is currently at the Met singing the title role in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, which was very recently interrupted by a pro-Ukrainian protestor, Roman J. Torgovitsky, slighting the Russian conductor, Valery Gergiev, and Anna Netrebko's apparent support of pro-Russian separatists.
Perhaps this will curb the criticism for the time being.
For now, here's 'Trebko below.
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