Metropolitan Opera Cast Change: Aida

From the Met:

George Gagnidze will sing the role of Amonasro in five performances of Verdi’s Aida this season, replacing the originally announced Andrzej Dobber, who has withdrawn from the performances. Gagnidze will sing Amonasro on December 26 and 29 and January 2, 5, and 10 matinee. 

Gagnidze first sang Amonasro at the Met in 2012. He will sing the role in a new production at La Scala this spring. The Georgian baritone made his Met debut in 2009 in the title role of Verdi’s Rigoletto, a role he repeated with the company in 2010 and 2013. His other Met performances have included Scarpia in the 2010 season-opening new production of Puccini’s Tosca, the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth, and Shaklovity in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina. This April, he will add a new role to his Met repertory when he sings Tonio in a new production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.
 The December and January performances of Aida are conducted by Marco Armiliato and also star Tamara Wilson and Marjorie Owens, both in their Met debuts, in the title role; Violeta Urmana as Amneris; Marcello Giordani and Carl Tanner as Radamès; Dmitri Belosselskiy as Ramfis; and Soloman Howard as the King.