Wolfgang Koch Withdraws From Metropolitan Opera's Fall Production of Puccini's TOSCA

Wolfgang Koch has withdrawn from the Metropolitan Opera's fall performances of Puccini's Tosca, due to illness. Željko Lu?i? will now sing the role of Scarpia in the season premiere performance on October 25, and Claudio Sgura will sing the remaining six performances of the fall run. Mr. Koch's Met debut will be delayed until March, when Tosca returns to the repertory for a spring run.

Serbian baritone Željko Lu?i? sang Scarpia in the Met's new production of Tosca last season. He is currently singing Jack Rance in Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at the Met, which will be seen as a part of The Met: Live in HD on October 27. He made his Met debut in 2006 as Barnaba in Ponchielli's La Gioconda and has sung 14 roles with the company, including the title role in Verdi's Nabucco, Amonasro in Verdi's Aida, Count di Luna in Verdi's Il Trovatore, and Iago in a new production of Verdi's Otello, which opened the 2015-16 season. His performances in Tosca, Otello, and in the title roles of Rigoletto and Macbeth have all been seen throughout the world as part of The Met: Live in HD. Later this season, he will return to the role of Iago at the Met.

Italian baritone Claudio Sgura makes his Met debut on October 29 as Scarpia, a role he has previously sung at Wiener Staatsoper. He has been seen in recent performances as Jack Rance in Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Barnaba in Ponchielli's La Gioconda at Paris Opera, and Iago in Verdi's Otello at Bayerische Staatsoper. This season he will sing Carlo Gérard in Giordano's Andrea Chénier at Teatro Comunale di Modena, Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza, I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, and Teatro Regio di Parma; Jack Rance in Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at Staatsoper Hamburg; and Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Tonio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci at Teatro di San Carlo.

The cast for Tosca includes Sondra Radvanovsky and Jennifer Rowley as Tosca, Joseph Calleja as Cavaradossi, and Patrick Carfizzi and Philip Cokorinos as the Sacristan. Carlo Rizzi conducts.

Performances of Tosca begin on October 25, 2018 and run through April 6, 2019.

For further information, please visit www.metopera.org.