Pieczonka will be there, even though she can't walk around on the stage. Rather than canceling, she has opted to sing her part "from a stationary position on stage," while Irmgard Vilsmaier enacts the role. Vilsmaier herself had been scheduled to sing the role of Helmwige, one of the Valkyries; that part will now be taken by Melinda Delorme, a member of the COC Ensemble Studio.

In addition, Pavlo Hunka, the baritone who had been scheduled to sing the role of Wotan for all three Toronto Ring cycles, withdrew from the entire run of performances for health reasons shortly before the first cycle began last week.

As with the first cycle, John Fanning sang Wotan in last night's Das Rheingold, while Peteris Eglitis will take the role in tonight's Die Walk‹re. (The company has not yet announced who will sing the role of Wotan/the Wanderer in Siegfried on Friday, September 22, or casting of the part for the third and final cycle next week.)

More information on Canadian Opera Company's Ring cycle is available at www.ringcycle.ca.