Thursday, July 15, 2021

Raised Eyebrows


Santa Fe Opera House and Parking Lot
Photo by Lisa Hirsch


The new John Corigliano / Mark Adamo opera, The Lord of Cries, will have its world premiere on Saturday, July 17, 2021. That's in a little over two days from now. So it was...surprising....to receive the following in a press release from Santa Fe Opera:

Apprentice Singer Kathryn Henry will assume the role of Lucy Harker inJohn Corigliano and Mark Adamo’s world premiere opera The Lord of Cries opening on Saturday, July 17, replacing Susanna Phillips.

The rest of the press release is about the opera, the season, cast changes announced previously, etc.  The above doesn't include anything about why Phillips is being replaced, not even the usual "...has withdrawn for personal reasons."

The last time I can remember a singer leaving a production this close to opening for reasons other than illness or injury was back in 2007, when David Gockley fired Hope Briggs from that season's Don Giovanni right after the dress rehearsal, with Elza van den Heever (who was then an Adler Fellow) stepping in to replace her.

Update, July 21, 2021: Apparently there is an update of some kind attributing Phillips's departure to the ubiquitous "personal reasons." 

No comments: