San Francisco Opera Cast Change: Don Giovanni

War Memorial Opera House

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Soprano Carmen Giannattasio, recovering from surgery and in need of more time and physical therapy before she will be ready for staged performances, has withdrawn from SFO's new production of Don Giovanni, which opens on June 4. She will be replaced as Donna Elvira by Nicole Car, who was scheduled to make her SFO debut in the end-of-season Verdi concert.

Best wishes to Giannattasio, a memorable Tosca several years ago, for a full and complete recovery.

Here's most of the press release:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 18, 2022) — San Francisco Opera today announced a cast change for its new production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni, opening June 4. Soprano Nicole Car will make her San Francisco Opera debut as Donna Elvira, replacing Carmen Giannattasio who has withdrawn from the production.

 

Giannattasio said: “I am incredibly sad to share that I will not be singing Donna Elvira in San Francisco Opera’s new production of Don Giovanni. I had been postponing a necessary surgery in my abdomen for quite some time. Between my performance schedule and COVID delays at the hospital it was not possible to have this procedure until just weeks ago, and I am facing a more difficult recovery than expected. I had hoped to be completely recovered by the time I started rehearsals, but unfortunately, I am not healed properly and must return home for additional physiotherapy to be able to meet the physical demands of singing in a staged production. I want to thank the San Francisco Opera and my colleagues, as well as my family and friends for their support, especially during these last couple of months. I look forward to returning to the stage this summer to sing Tosca in Macerata, Italy.” 

 

San Francisco Opera’s Tad and Dianne Taube General Director Matthew Shilvock said: “We are deeply saddened that Carmen is having to withdraw from the role of Donna Elvira this summer, but we wish her all good health as she continues her recovery. Carmen is a great friend of San Francisco Opera, having made such an incredible impact on our stage as Tosca in 2018, and both we and our audiences were so eager for her return this summer. We look forward to working with Carmen in the future. We are deeply grateful to Nicole Car for joining this new production, making her house debut a few weeks earlier than planned.”

 

Nicole Car, who was already scheduled to make her first appearance with San Francisco Opera at the Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi concert on June 30, now makes her debut with the Company in the fully staged production of Don Giovanni. Car has performed the role of Donna Elvira on many leading stages, including in March 2022 at the Paris Opera under the baton of Bertrand de Billy, who also conducts San Francisco Opera’s performances. In San Francisco, Car joins a cast headed baritone Etienne Dupuis, her husband and occasional onstage colleague, who is making his Company debut as the title role of Don Giovanni.

 

Car regularly performs on the stages of the Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin. Opera News praised her 2017 appearance in Puccini’s La Bohème at Covent Garden as “the evening’s exceptional vocal performance” and said “Car’s long-breathed, assured Mimì suggested a star in the making.” The Australian soprano’s repertory features leading operatic heroines, such as Mimì, Donna Elvira, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Marguerite in Faust and Micaëla in Carmen. Her recordings include Andre Messager’s Passionnèment for Palazzetto Bru Zane and two recital discs, Heroines and The Kiss, and Brahms’ A German Requiem for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).