Just in: Bayreuth’s Venus is injured in rehearsal

The Festival has tweeted that the mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova was injured in a stage rehearsal and will miss the opening night of Tannhäuser.

Besetzungsänderung der ‚Venus‘ in „Tannhäuser“:
Ekaterina Gubanova, Sängerin der ‚Venus‘, hat sich bei einer Bühnenprobe zur Neuinszenierung „Tannhäuser“ leider verletzt und wird daher auf ihr Bayreuth-Debüt bei der Festspiel-Eröffnung am 25. Juli 2019 verzichten müssen. pic.twitter.com/TjzHsgGPBf

— Bayreuther Festspiele (@WagnerFestival) July 12, 2019

Her replacement is Elena Zhidkova who first sang at Bayreuth in 2001.

The conductor is Valery Gergiev, making his Bayreuth debut.

This is the festival’s second major substitution in as many days.

Gubanova adds:  ‘My dear friends, with a great sadness I have to announce that I have seriously injured my knee during the rehearsals this Wednesday. Misplaced the meniscus and torn a ligament. Yesterday I was operated in Augsburg by one of the best surgeons in Germany. I will recover fully in about 6 to 8 weeks, which is unfortunately not fast enough to be able to perform Venus in this year’s new production of Tannhäuser at Bayreuther Festspiele. I was so looking forward!! ‘