How did Wotan get to be leader of the gods? Not only can't he control his children, he can't even stop his wife from roaming:
American mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop will replace Larissa Diadkova as “Fricka” in San Francisco Opera’s 2011 production of Wagner’s DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN (The Ring of the Nibelung). Fricka appears in two of the Ring cycle’s four operas — Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. Larissa Diadkova has withdrawn from these performances due to personal reasons. A former Adler Fellow and Merola Opera Program alumna, Elizabeth Bishop appeared as Fricka in San Francisco Opera’s 1999 Das Rheingold as well as in Washington National Opera’s performances of Francesca Zambello’s Ring production in 2006 (Das Rheingold) and 2007 (Die Walküre).
Elizabeth Bishop made her San Francisco Opera debut in 1994 as Inez in Il Trovatore and has sung nearly twenty roles with the Company, including Tisbe (La Cenerentola), the Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Flora (La Traviata), and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) as well as creating the roles of Emilie (Susa’sThe Dangerous Liaisons) and Mama (Wallace’s Harvey Milk). Bishop’s engagements this season include the title role of Iphigénie en Tauride at the Metropolitan Opera, the Principessa (Adriana Lecouvreur) with Washington Concert Opera, and Mother Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites) with Pittsburgh Opera. Other career highlights include Fenena, Venus (Tannhäuser), Mère Marie, and the Second Norn (Götterdämmerung) at the Met; Fricka, Eboli (Don Carlo), Meg Page (Falstaff), Gertrude (Hamlet), and the Marquise de Merteuil (The Dangerous Liaisons) with Washington National Opera; Marthe Rull (Kleist’s Der zerbrochene Krug), Third Maid (Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg), and Grandmother Buryja (Jenůfa) with Los Angeles Opera; Amneris (Aida) with Atlanta Opera; Offred in the North American premiere of Ruder’s The Handmaid’s Tale with Minnesota Opera; and principal roles with Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice, Pacific Opera Victoria, and Deutsche Oper Berlin.
