The Metropolitan Opera in New York has announced that coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay has withdrawn from their up-coming production of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet due to illness.
Replacing Dessay will be internationally acclaimed coloratura soprano Marlis Petersen who originally was to have sung only the final performance in the run on April 9.
Petersen, who has sung the role previously in Düsseldorf, will now sing the first six performances — on March 16, 20, 24, 27, 30 and April 2. The Ophélie for the final two performances on April 5 and 9 has not yet been announced. Petersen's run of performances will include the Met's live HD simulcast to movie theaters worldwide on Saturday, March 27.
German soprano Marlis Petersen studied singing in Stuttgart with famed coloratura Sylvia Geszty, and got her start in opera as a member of the ensemble in Nuremberg, where she sang such roles as Ännchen, Blonde, Adele, Oscar, Rosina, and the Queen of the Night. As her career developed, engagements took her to other German opera houses such as Munich, Berlin, Hannover, Karlsruhe, and Frankfurt, and eventually further abroad to La Scala in Milan. Equally at home in both baroque and modern music, Petersen has received critical plaudits for her contributions to recordings of Bach cantatas as well as for her portrayal of Berg's treacherous Lulu. A recent DVD of Haydn's Orlando Paladino on Medici Arts (reviewed on MusicalCriticism.com) features Petersen in collaboration with conductor Rene Jacobs at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden. She is currently in Vienna, starring in the world premiere of Aribert Reimann's Medea. Subsequent to her performances as Ophélie, Petersen will remain at the Metropolitan Opera for three performances of Lulu.
Hamlet is making its return to the Met for the first time since 1897. In addition to Petersen, the cast includes the most famous Hamlet of our times, baritone Simon Keelyside, as well as Jennifer Larmore, Toby Spence, and James Morris. Louis Langrée will conduct.
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