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By Matthew Westphal
11 May 2007
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| Nathan Gunn as Billy Budd, seen here at San Francisco Opera. |
Star baritone Nathan Gunn has withdrawn from the final two performances of Britten's Billy Budd at Pittsburgh Opera this week. The title role is one of his signature parts.
Company artistic director Christopher Hahn told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Gunn started feeling feverish toward the end of Tuesday's performance (May 8); he developed a full-fledged viral infection with acute laryngitis by the following day.
Finding a substitute on such short notice wouldn't be easy even for a role as common as, say, Don Giovanni, let alone a part like Billy Budd. But Pittsburgh Opera had a major stroke of luck: baritone David Adam Moore knows not just the role but also Francesca Zambello's staging, which he had done at Tel Aviv's New Israeli Opera in 2002 (a performance that jump-started his career).
Moore sang last night's performance and will perform again tomorrow night at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh; more information is available at www.pittsburghopera.org.
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