(Credit:© Lena Fainberg)

The Wiener Staatsoper has announced a new cast change for its performance of “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” on Jan. 3, 2022.

The company said that Vasilisa Berzhanskaya will sing the role of Rosina replacing Patricia Nolz, who is ill.

Berzhanskaya was originally set to perform the opera in September with the company but had to bow out. The mezzo performed the premiere of the current production in 2021 to great acclaim. She has performed at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and Rossini Opera Festival, among others.

The mezzo joins a cast that includes Alasdair Kent, Paolo Bordogna, Peter Kellner, and Stefan Astakhov. Michele Mariotti conducts the production by Herbert Fritsch.