Piss

Dear Patron,

I am writing to you as someone who has booked for La Traviata. It is with great disappointment that I have to tell you that Anna Netrebko is currently suffering from bronchitis and will not be able to sing the role of Violetta in tonight’s performance. Anna arrived for rehearsals in London with a bronchial condition which has sadly now returned. She hopes to be able to perform again very soon and I know that she is very sorry that she has had to let down this evening’s audience. I am pleased to let you know that the role of Violetta will now be sung by Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho, in her debut with The Royal Opera.

We flew Ermonela in from New York overnight as a precaution as Anna was feeling a little unwell yesterday, although at that point she had still hoped to sing at the performance tonight. Unfortunately her condition worsened and, regrettably, she was obliged to cancel at noon today. Ermonela made her professional debut as Violetta in Tirana, Albania, aged 17 and has subsequently sung the role at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, L’Opéra de Marseille and at L’Opéra de Lille. Our casting department has been following her career with great interest and this will be a very exciting evening.

I am so sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused and I hope you join us in welcoming Ermonela alongside Jonas Kaufmann, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Maurizio Benini and the rest of this wonderful cast.

Yours sincerely,
Tony Hall
Chief Executive
Royal Opera House

Grumble grumble grumble. I've been excited about this for months. I called The Royal Opera House to see if I could cancel/exchange my tickets - a long shot if ever there was one - and the guy on the phone laughed and said 'No.' They sell the performance, not the performers, which is fair enough. 'If it makes you feel any better,' he added, 'I had tickets for tonight too - and when I had tickets to see her in Don Giovanni, she was also ill that night, so I'm doubly furious.' That did make me feel a bit better. 'Plus,' he said, 'there were people queuing up at 5.30am this morning for day release tickets, and some of them were from Germany.' So I expect they're a tiny bit more annoyed than I am. But not much.