Anna Netrebko has withdrawn from her planned role debut in Johann Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos at the Vienna State Opera, citing ill health earlier this month that limited her preparation.
“I am sad that I will not be interpreting this incredible new role but, because of the time unexpectedly lost, I am unable to prepare it to the standard I demand of myself," Netrebko said in a statement.
“I am sorry to disappoint everyone who planned on attending. Since beginning to study the role of Ariadne, I have fallen in love with it and looked forward to debuting it,” she said.
The star soprano will be replaced by Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen in four performances scheduled to take place in late January.
Netrebko said in her statement that she was grateful to Davidson for stepping in and wished her “all my best,” adding that she and Vienna State Opera director Bogdan Roscic were working to find another time for her to sing the Strauss opera in Vienna.
Netrebko's next scheduled performance is a recital in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 3, 2025, which will be her first U.S. appearance since 2019.
Netrebko has fallen out with U.S. opera houses since she was dropped from future performances by the Metropolitan Opera in New York shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Met general manager Peter Gelb had demanded she publicly distance herself from President Vladimir Putin in the wake of the invasion.
SEE ALSO: Russian Soprano Netrebko Sues Met Opera Over Its Decision To Cut Ties
Netrebko condemned the war in a statement on Facebook and said her thoughts were with the victims of the war and their families. She added that she was "not a member of any political party, nor am I allied with any leader of Russia.”
Her concert in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk in June 2022 was subsequently canceled. The theater accused Netrebko of choosing European stages over her "Motherland's fate" by making the statement.
Netrebko last year sued the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Gelb alleging defamation, breach of contract, and other violations related to the opera’s decision to drop her.
Netrebko claimed in the lawsuit that the opera house caused “severe mental anguish and emotional distress” that included “depression, humiliation, embarrassment, stress and anxiety, and emotional pain and suffering.”
A U.S. judge in August dismissed most of Netrebko’s allegations but agreed to allow her gender discrimination claim to proceed.
Netrebko’s manager, Miguel Esteban, said in a statement at the time that the lawsuit was still important.
“Anna Netrebko remains fully committed to pursuing this complaint, to vindicating her rights, to restoring her reputation and to demonstrating that the Metropolitan Opera and Peter Gelb treated her unlawfully,” Esteban said.