(Credit: Fay Fox)

The LA Opera has announced that Angela Meade will be performing the role of Elizabeth I in its upcoming production of “Roberto Devereux.”

Meade will be replacing Davinia Rodriguez, who was originally scheduled to take on the run, but is withdrawing due to illness. Rodriguez is the third high-profile cast change for this production after the withdrawal of Plácido Domingo in the midst of his sexual harassment scandal in late 2019. Alice Coote also withdrew from the production.

Meade, who is set to perform this very role at the Metropolitan Opera in the September and October 2020, is a renowned interpreter of the bel canto repertory. She has appeared in such roles as Elisabetta in “Don Carlo” as well as “Norma” and “Ermione” throughout the 2019-20 season. Meade made her LA Opera debut in 2012 in “Don Giovanni” and returned in 2015 for “Norma.”

She joins a cast led by Ramón Vargas, Quinn Kelsey, Ashley Dixon, Raehann Bryce-Davis, and Kihun Yoon. Eun Sun Kim conducts.