O’Flynn to Sing Magda Jan. 13; Chávez to Sing Orfeo Jan. 14

By PlaybillArts Staff
January 13, 2009

In a bit of last minute casting news, the Met announced that Maureen O’Flynn would sing the role of Magda in the Jan. 13 La Rondine and Kirsten Chávez will sing the role of Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice on Jan. 14. They step in for Angela Gheorghiu and Stephanie Blythe, respectively.

O’Flynn made her Met debut in 1998 as Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, a role she repeated in 2005, substituting at the last moment for an ailing colleague at the premiere of a new production. She has also sung Gilda in Rigoletto, Micaela in Carmen, and Violetta in La Traviata at the Met. The American soprano has also performed at La Scala, the Hamburg State Opera, Berlin State Opera, and many other opera companies and orchestras both here and abroad.

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Kirsten Chávez steps in Wednesday for an ailing Stephanie Blythe.

She was a winner of the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her company debut in 2005 as Mercédès in Carmen. At the Met, she has also appeared as Sondra Finchley in Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy and as Bersi in Andrea Chénier.

For further information, visit The Metropolitan Opera.