One of those cancellations was for the Met's revival of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro this fall: she was to sing the role of Countess Almaviva, one of her signature parts, in five performances in October. (R‹schmann just completed a very successful run in the role at the Salzburg Festival.)
Stepping in as the Countess for October will be soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, a versatile Met stalwart who has sung 25 roles with the company; last season alone, for instance, she played Li‹ in Turandot, Eva in Die Meistersinger and Violetta in La Traviata and sang MimÐ in La Bohme for this summer's Met in the Parks series. In previous years, Hong has performed many leading Mozart roles at the house, including Pamina (Die Zauberfl‹te), Ilia (Idomeneo), Despina (CosÐ fan tutte), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) — as well as both Susanna and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro.
Hong joins Isabel Bayrakdarian (Susanna), Erwin Schrott (Figaro), Anke Vondung (Cherubino) and Michele Pertusi (Count Almaviva) in a revival of Jonathan Miller's staging; on the podium will be Philippe Jordan. In November, Anja Harteros takes over the role of the Countess, with Bryn Terfel (Figaro), Simon Keenlyside (Count Almaviva), Ekaterina Siurina (Susanna) and Kate Lindsey (Cherubino). The production runs through December 1; more information is available at www.metopera.org.
