The Berlin Philharmonic has announced a cast change for its upcoming performances of “The Queen of Spades.”

The company noted that “due to ill health, Asmik Grigorian has to cancel her participation in the opera performances of Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Queen of Spades’ with the Berliner Philharmonic conducted by Kirill Petrenko at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden on 9, 12, 15 and 18 April. She will also be unable to participate in the concert performances of the opera at the Philharmonie Berlin on 21 and 24 April. In the concerts she was to have taken on the title role of Lisa.”

As a result, Russian soprano Elena Bezgodkova will sing in her place.

Bezgodkova made her debut as Lisa in “The Queen of Spades” at the Stanislavsky Opera in Moscow in 2017 and is a winner of several first prizes at singing competitions in St. Petersburg and Moscow. At the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, she appeared as Tatiana in “Eugene Onegin,” in the title role in “lolanta,” and as Semfira in Rachmaninov’s “Aleko.”

The soprano joins a cast that includes Arsen Soghomonyan, Vladislav Sulimsky, Boris Pinkhasovich, Doris Soffel, and Aigul Akhmetshina.