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By Matthew Westphal
06 Aug 2007
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Anna Netrebko |
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| photo by Clive Arrowsmith/DG |
Anna Netrebko has withdrawn from her appearances at this year's Salzburg Festival. She was to have performed Pergolesi's famous setting of the Stabat Mater with countertenor Andreas Scholl and the Venice Baroque Orchestra on August 8 and 10. A statement released this morning by the Festival's press office said that the soprano is suffering from an inflamed larynx.
Substituting for Netrebko will be soprano Christine Schäfer, who has won praise for her performances and recordings in a repertoire ranging from Bach to contemporary music. (She is considered, among other things, perhaps the most prominent interpreter of Berg's Lulu currently active.)
The program remains as announced: in addition to the Pergolesi, the concert will feature several of Antonio Vivaldi's less familiar concertos for strings, as well as his secular cantata Cessate, omai cessate, sung by Scholl. (Even that program is not the original one, however: Netrebko had been slated to perform several Baroque duets, including the Pergolesi Stabat Mater, with mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca until the latter withdrew for personal reasons earlier in the summer.)
Netrebko last performed on Friday night (August 3) in a grand opera gala at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany, with soloists Elina Garanca, Ludovic Tézier and Ramón Vargas (filling in for Rolando Villazón) and the SWR Symphony Orchestra under conductor Marco Armiliato.
Netrebko's U.S. spokesperson told Playbill Arts that "she has come down with a severe case of laryngitis following her concerts in Baden-Baden. She greatly regrets having to withdraw from these performances, but she has been put on strict vocal rest by her doctor. At this time she is not planning to cancel any of her other scheduled appearances in August, as she hopes to recover quickly."
The next of those scheduled concerts is on August 13 at the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy, in the same program with Scholl and the Venice Baroque Orchestra.
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