(Credit: Achim Graf)

The Staatsoper Unter den Linden has announced that mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča will not be appearing in the title role of Camille Saint-Saëns’ opera “Samson et Dalila” for the entire run ending Dec. 19, 2021.

The mezzo-soprano already missed the opening night performance on Dec. 5 and was replaced by mezzo-soprano Anna Lapkovskaja. Lapkovskaja will now take over the full run, and will join a cast that includes Michael Volle, Jongmin Park, Paul Gay, Magnus Dietrich, Benjamin Chamandy, and Andreas Schager in the title role. Thomas Guggeis conducts a production by Damián Szifron.

Lapkovskaja is a well-known mezzo-soprano who has appeared at the Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Nürnberg, and Staatstheater Wiesbaden, among others. She is slated to appear in a series of concerts at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg in February 2022.

Garanča is sheduled to go back to the stage in the role of Santuzza in Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” at the Opernhaus Zürich in January 2022.