(Credit: Delage Artists official website)

Opéra Comique in Paris has announced that soprano Perrine Madoeuf has replaced French soprano Julie Fuchs for the production of Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette” as COVID-19 outbreak has erupted in the opera house.

Tenor Pene Pati was previously announced as a replacement for Jean-François Borras. Pati and Madoeuf join a cast that includes Patrick Bolleire, Adèle Charvet, Philippe-Nicolas Martin, Jérôme Boutillier, Marie Lenormand, Yu Shao, Thomas Ricart, Arnaud Richard, Yoann Dubruque, Geoffroy Buffière, and Julien Clément. Laurent Campellone conducts a production by Éric Ruf.

Borras is scheduled to return to the stage for the performances of Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Théâtre du Capitole in January 2022. Fuchs is slated to appear next in the title role in Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in February and March 2022.

France is undergoing a fierce COVID-19 wave driven by the Delta variant. The French government is preparing for an Omicron wave that is due to hit the country in January 2022, per epidemiological forecasts.