Yoncheva cancels Scala
OperaMessage from the diva:
To all who have been planning to come to the Teatro alla Scala to see me singing Médée next month:
Unfortunately, I had to cancel my participation in this production due to family reasons – I feel it is important and it is my duty to stay close to my mother, who is about to undergo a surgery. I took the decision to pull out despite the great sensations and powerful performances this role brought me several times since 2018 until this past July in Berlin. Unfortunately in our job it is very hard to stay flexible when private life is involved, therefore the right decision was to not take part at all in the entire production, even if I was supposed to miss 2 weeks of rehearsals. It was a very hard step to take, but I will always give priority to my closest family especially when they need me more than ever. I am sorry for all who were planning to see me there! The good news is that I have several plans to do Médée and Medea in the future and I can’t wait for this to happen.
Love
Sonya
Yoncheva was a very good Médée last year in Berlin; however, they’ve now replaced her with Marina Rebeka, who was equally excellent in the role last month. Milan is not losing on this switch.
In fact, the Jason of the Scala production – Stanislas de Barbeyrac – was also with Rebeka last month in Berlin for Médée. A good pairing, and they’ve sung it together very recently.
Diva? A long way for her to be a diva. I guess this is a problem today: every soprano is a diva and every tenor is a divo, although the real ones are just a few.
If the cancellation has no effect (just like Kaufmann cancelling for 2 years had no effect), then this mafia around them is strong indeed. Other singers who would have cancelled for such reasons would have been cancelled for good at the venue (Scala this time), Yoncheva was offered 2 weeks less rehearsals (weird) and still cancelled.
It should not be too difficult to wish her mother good and fast recovery.