Metropolitan Opera Announces Cast Change For LA BOHEME

Tenor Yusif Eyvazov, who was scheduled to sing Rodolfo in the upcoming four performances of Puccini's La Bohème, is ill and has withdrawn. He is being replaced by Matthew Polenzani, who will sing the performances on May 16 and 24; Stephen Costello, who will sing on May 20; and Russell Thomas, who will sing on May 27.

Matthew Polenzani is currently appearing in Verdi's La Traviata at the Canadian Opera Company, and Russell Thomas is currently appearing in Verdi's Aida at LA Opera. The Met is grateful to both companies for releasing them between their performances.

American tenor Matthew Polenzani, who has previously sung Rodolfo with the company, has sung more than 400 performances of 40 roles at the Met since his debut in 1997 as Boyar Kruschov in Boris Godunov. Other Met roles include Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth, the Italian Singer in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Tito in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Nemorino in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, the title role of Mozart's Idomeneo, Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Hoffmann in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto, and role debuts as Nadir in the Met new-production premieres of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles, the title role of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, and most recently, the title role of Verdi's Don Carlos earlier this season.

American tenor Stephen Costello made his Met debut in 2007 as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, with other roles for the company including Lord Percy in Donizetti's Anna Bolena, Camille de Rosillon in Lehár's The Merry Widow, Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and Alfredo Germont in Verdi's La Traviata. He will sing the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto beginning May 28.

American tenor Russell Thomas, who has also sung Rodolfo previously at the Met, made his company debut in 2005 in Verdi's Don Carlo, with other appearances including Malcolm in Verdi's Macbeth, Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Uldino in Verdi's Attila, the Steersman in Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, Andres in Berg's Wozzeck, Tito in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, and Ismaele in Verdi's Nabucco.

Franco Zeffirelli's staging of La Bohème also stars soprano Eleonora Buratto as Mimì, soprano Aleksandra Kurzak as Musetta, baritone Quinn Kelsey as Marcello, baritone Iurii Samoilov as Schaunard, bass-baritone Nicolas Testé as Colline, and baritone Donald Maxwell as Benoit/Alcindoro. Eun Sun Kim conducts.

Performances are May 16, 20, 24, and 27.

For more information, visit metopera.org.

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