(Credit: Tatyana Vlasova)

The Riga Jurmala Music Festival in Latvia has announced that Kristine Opolais will replace Sir Bryn Terfel on August 29.

The festival announced that Terfel was forced to withdraw from his recital following medical advice to recover from health issues.

Opolais took to social media stating, “although I would prefer to be in the hall to enjoy Bryn’s concert from the audience tomorrow, which was the original plan for that evening, I will step in for this wonderful colleague at such short notice with honor and pleasure as a symbol of my respect and friendship!”

The soprano will perform a program of music by Puccini, Verdi, Cilea, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky. She will be joined by pianist Agnese Eglina, with whom Opolais performed in Shanghai. It will also mark the soprano’s first performance in her home country of Latvia since 2018.

Opolais recently performed a run of “Tosca” in Graz and is set to perform recitals in Argentina and Brazil this fall. She will also reprise her interpretation of “Adriana Lecouvreur” at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in November.