Injured soprano will sing Lucia from a wheelchair

Injured soprano will sing Lucia from a wheelchair

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norman lebrecht

November 25, 2016

Anna Virovlansky has torn a ligament in her leg two days before going on stage in Saturday’s new production of Lucia di Lammermoor at Oper Leipzig, the first time she has sung the role.

 

anna-virovlansky

But the Russian soprano is not going to miss out on her big night.

A wheelchair has been organised and the director Katharina Thalbach has decided to wheel Lucia around in the silent role of her dead mother.

anna-virovlansky-and-gerald-finley

 

Flashback: In June 2009, Joyce DiDonato sang through two acts of Barber of Seville at Covent Garden on crutches after breaking a bone in her right leg.

 

 

Comments

  • Tracey says:

    Joyce also performed in a wheelchair … and very nifty she was too!

    • Marg says:

      Joyce was amazing … when you watch the DVD of that production you’d swear Rossini wrote the opera to be sung that way. She was so natural zipping around in her wheelchair that you ended up not even noticing it.

  • Scottish Musician says:

    There’s form for this happening with this very role…

    Sally Silver tore a muscle in her calf on stage at the end of Act I during Scottish Opera’s production in 2007. She carried on from a borrowed wheelchair and did a great job!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6684049.stm

  • cabbagejuice says:

    A comedy like Barber of Seville wouldn’t suffer from some improvised slapstick but I really find doing the tragedy of Lucia from a wheelchair too much to strain credibility in the drama.

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