Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott have withdrawn from their long-booked 2011 New Year's Eve and 30 December concerts at Dresden Semperoper, citing insufficient preparation time.
Having successfully stepped into last year's Dresden concerts with less than a week's notice, the excuse is an unexpected one.
They apparently hope the programme of of Franz Lehar operetta highlights can be rescheduled at a later date. That's a grain of comfort to ticket holders for the long sold out shows.
But the solution won't help the ZDF channel. They're due to broadcast the New Year's Eve concert in fierce competition with rivals ARD, who've snaffled the Berlin Phil. It's not clear at this stage whether ZDF had finalised contractual arrangements with Netrebko and Schrott.
Their replacements are Angela Denoke and Ana Maria Labin.
Ana Maria Labin? God almighty, she was totally inadequate as Armida in the GOT Rinaldo...
Posted by: Lauren | 02 December 2011 at 03:17 PM
Nice picture. Not the recalcitrant Diva 2 ???? Different treatement?! And yes, Anna WAS scheduled to sing.
Posted by: Chris | 02 December 2011 at 04:02 PM
they look quite an "in my life attitude" in this picture ... I would drink some red wine and chat a little with them one day with pleasure ;)
Still hope Anya will go for "Lucrezia" at last ;)
Posted by: Alexander | 03 December 2011 at 12:12 AM
Yet another reason never to buy a concert ticket. The operas are higher profile, so they don't cancel them. Short-sighted, since concerts are the real moneymakers for singers.
Posted by: Sheila | 06 December 2011 at 02:32 AM
Lauren has no ears. Labin is fantastic to look at and, especially, to listen to, unless you are a fan of the modern tiny tinny soprano voice that passes for "pretty" these days.
Posted by: Larry | 06 December 2011 at 01:52 PM