Virginia Opera Announces Cast Changes For THE VALKYRIE

Virginia Opera announces a change in the cast for its upcoming production of Wagner's The Valkyrie. Due to health issues, Bryan Glenn Davis has withdrawn from his contract to sing the role of Wotan. The role will now be sung by bass-baritone James Johnson.

Maestro Joseph Rescigno, guest conductor for The Valkyrie, has worked with MR. Johnson on Strauss' Salome and Wagner's Die Walküre at the Florentine Opera Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor. Maestro Rescigno remarks, "James Johnson is a distinguished Wagnerian singer, a specialist in this music, with a long and notable career." Rescigno continues, "He is absolutely terrific. I am glad to be working with him again."

One of the leading Helden baritones today, James Johnson is singing at the foremost operatic stages, among them the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, La Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the opera companies of Barcelona, Vienna, Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Tokyo, and the festivals of Bayreuth, Salzburg, and Aspen. Johnson has also sung with the Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras of Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vienna, Stuttgart, and Munich.

He has collaborated with many renowned conductors such as James Levine, James Conlon, Georges Prêtre, Michael Gielen, Michael Schoenwandt, and Joseph Rescigno; and has recorded a wide variety of works, among them, for DVD, Wagner's RING with the Royal Danish Opera. His repertoire encompasses, in addition to Wagner and Strauss, a wide variety of styles from Baroque to contemporary composers.

Learn more about Virginia Opera and the production of Wagner's The Valkyrie at VaOpera.org. For tickets to performances call 1.866.Opera.Va (1-866-673-7282) or visit VaOpera.org. Contact Communication Specialist Katie Shubert at 757-627-9545 ext. 3323, or via e-mail at Katie.Shubert@VaOpera.org for more information.

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