(Credit: Speranza Scappucci official website)

The Teatro alla Scala has announced that conductor Evelino Pidò has withdrawn from the production of Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” due to a health emergency.

As a result, Speranza Scappucci, the Music Director of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, will take over in the pit. Scappucci will lead a cast that includes Marianne Crebassa in the role of Romeo, Lisette Oropesa as Giulietta, Jinxu Xiahou in the role of Tebaldo, Michele Pertusi as Lorenzo, and Jongmin Park as Capellio. Adrian Noble is set to direct, while Tobias Hoheisel is responsible for set design. The opera opens on Jan. 18, and is set to run through Feb. 2, 2022.

Scappucci will thus make her early Teatro alla Scala big debut, which was originally scheduled in May 2022 with the Filarmonica della Scala.

Scappucci is one of the leading European conductors and has led performances at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Semperoper Dresden, Wiener Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opernhaus Zürich, LA Opera, Washington National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera di Roma, and Théatre des Champs Élysées, among others.

Scappucci is slated to conduct Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore” at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in February and March 2022, before she takes on two concert performances of “Attila” at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in July 2022.