Sonya Yoncheva will make her North American role debut as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata at the Met this January. Yoncheva was originally scheduled to sing Musetta in La Bohème at the Met this season. Instead, she will sing Violetta, one of her most acclaimed roles, as a replacement for Marina Poplavskaya, who has withdrawn from the performances. Yoncheva sings the role on January 14, 17, 21, and 24.
Marina Rebeka will replace Yoncheva as Musetta in the three performances of La Bohème she was scheduled to sing: January 15, 19, and 24 matinee. The performances will mark Rebeka's company role debut as Musetta; she also sings Violetta at the Met for the first time this season.
Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva made her Met debut last season as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, as a late replacement for a colleague who withdrew due to pregnancy. She has sung Violetta with the Berlin State Opera; Bavarian State Opera; Opera Monte Carlo; Palau de les Arts, Valencia; Chartres Festival; and Malaysia Philharmonic, and will sing the role this spring at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.
Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka made her Met debut as Donna Anna in the 2011 new production premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni. She will sing her first Met performances of Violetta on December 11, 16, 19, 22, 27 (matinee), 30, and January 7 and 10. Her other engagements this season include Donna Anna at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Violetta at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Liù in Puccini's Turandot at Latvian National Opera; and Mathilde in Rossini's Guillaume Tell at Bavarian State Opera.
The January 14-24 performances of La Traviata, conducted by Marco Armiliato, also star Francesco Demuro in his Met debut as Alfredo Germont and Ludovic Tézier as Giorgio Germont.
The January performances of La Bohème are conducted by Riccardo Frizza and also star Kristine Opolais as Mimì, Jean-François Borras as Rodolfo, Mariusz Kwiecien as Marcello, Alessio Arduini as Schaunard, David Soar as Colline, and John Del Carlo as Benoit and Alcindoro.
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