30-day flu grips music industry!

UPDATE: La Cieca has heard from more than one reliable source that Juan Diego Flórez is yet another victim of whatever it is that's mowing down all the Almavivas. The tenor, she hears, has canceled Barbiere di Siviglia at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Word on the street is that John Osborn will be released from L'elisir d'amore at Palm Beach so he may sing the Rossini in Chicago, with performances beginning February 11 opposite Joyce DiDonato and Nathan Gunn. LOC subscribers (already reeling over having Angela Gheorghiu, Barbara Frittoli, Dimitri Hvorostovsky, Peter Mattei, Bernadette Manca di Nissa and Ambrogio Maestri yoinked from this season's roster) should gird themselves for a belated press release sometime today.

From the Met's press office: "José Manuel Zapata will sing the role of Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia on Thursday, February 21 at 8 p.m., Monday, February 25 at 8 p.m., and Friday, February 29 at 8 p.m. He replaces Michael Schade, who is indisposed." [emphasis added]