San Francisco Opera Announces LES TROYENS Casting Updates

American mezzo-soprano Michaela Martens will make her San Francisco Opera debut as the prophetess Cassandra in the Company's upcoming production of Hector Berlioz's grand-scale opera Les Troyens (The Trojans) on Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 20. San Francisco Opera today announced that Martens replaces mezzo-soprano Daveda Karanas, who has withdrawn from the physically demanding role due to pregnancy.

Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci, who was previously announced to sing three performances of Cassandra on June 7, 16 and 25, has now agreed to add a fourth on Wednesday, July 1. Antonacci, one of the most sought-after and acclaimed European singing artists today, also sings the principal role of Cesira in the world premiere of Marco Tutino's lush and highly dramatic opera Two Women (La Ciociara) for five performances on June 13, 19, 23, 28 and 30.

Recent and upcoming career highlights for Michaela Martens include Gertrud (Hänsel und Gretel), Marilyn Klinghoffer (Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer), Judith (Bluebeard's Castle), Kundry (Parsifal), and the Second Norn (Götterdämmerung) with the Metropolitan Opera; Gertrud with Munich's Bavarian State Opera; Herodias (Salome) with Santa Fe Opera; Ortrud (Lohengrin) with the Vienna State Opera and in Graz; Kostelni?ka Buryja (Jen?fa) in Zurich; Judith, Marilyn Klinghoffer and Kostelni?ka Buryja with English National Opera; and Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten) with Lyric Opera of Chicago and in Graz. Additional credits include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival, and Spoleto Festival U.S.A. She is a past winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and holds a degree from the Juilliard School.

ABOUT LES TROYENS (THE TROJANS)

French composer Hector Berlioz, one of the leading innovators of 19th century French grand opera and symphonic music, set his five-act opera to Virgil's classical poem The Aeneid in two parts: "The Capture of Troy," the Greek siege of ancient Troy including the famed Trojan Horse, and "The Trojans at Carthage," the escape of the Trojans to the North African Mediterranean city of Carthage.

San Francisco Opera's presentation of this epic French opera features an international roster of the world's leading singers including Anna Caterina Antonacci, Michaela Martens, Susan Graham, Bryan Hymel, Sasha Cooke, Brian Mulligan Christian Van Horn and René Barbera. Deutsche Oper Berlin General Music Director Donald Runnicles conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Chorus, and corps of dancers and acrobats. The massive production by the esteemed director Sir David McVicar is the biggest and heaviest physical production ever to be presented on the War Memorial Opera House stage. McVicar's Les Troyens (The Trojans) first opened in 2012 at London's the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and later at Milan's Teatro alla Scala. Following the San Francisco Opera premiere, this co-production will be seen at the Vienna State Opera. Les Troyens (The Trojans) is presented in six performances June 7-July 1, 2015 at the War Memorial Opera House.

For tickets to San Francisco Opera's 2015 Summer Season, which also includes Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), call the Opera Box Office at (415) 864-3330 or visit www.sfopera.com. All performances are presented at the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue and feature simultaneous English language supertitles projected above the stage.

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