ASSOCIATED PRESS Joseph Calleja, performing as Egardo during a dress rehearsal of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" this year, and Anna Netrebko decided just days before a scheduled Metropolitan Opera tour of Japan that they would not make the trip, citing safety concerns.
ASSOCIATED PRESS Soprano Anna Netrebko, who said she had friends who died of cancer after the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986, has dropped out of the Metropolitan Opera tour of Japan that begins June 4. Tenor Joseph Calleja (below) also cited concerns about radiation from the stricken nuclear power station north of Tokyo for not making the trip.
In this April 5, 2008 photo, Peruvian opera tenor Juan Diego Florez and his wife, Australian Julia Trappe Florez, pose for photographers after their wedding in Lima, Peru. Juan Diego Florez assisted two mid-wives as they helped Julia deliver their first child, Leandro Florez at 12:25 p.m., on Saturday, April 9, 2011, in New York. Juan Diego Florez was able to hold his son for a moment before rushing off for his 1 p.m. performance at the Metropolitan Opera. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)
FILE - In this photo taken Sept. 15, 2010, conductor Valery Gergiev gestures at a news conference in the theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. Gergiev canceled his performance of "Boris Godunov" at the Metropolitan Opera on Wednesday, march 9, 2011, and was replaced by Pavel Smelkov. The Met said in a statement that Gergiev was "suffering from exhaustion and resting in St. Petersburg." (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, file)
In this Feb. 15, 2011 photo released by the Metropolitan Opera, members of the cast are shown during a scene from the ballet in Act II, during a dress rehearsal of Rossini's "Armida," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Marty Sohl) NO SALES
In this Nov. 3, 2010 photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera, Danielle de Niese perfroms as Despina in Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte" during the rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Marty Sohl)
FILE - In this Nov. 23, 1973 file photo, Metropolitan Opera singer Shirley Verrett prepares for her performance in Hector Berlioz's opera "The Trojans" at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Acclaimed American mezzo-soprano and soprano Shirley Verrett, who was praised for her singing in Verdi repertory staples, has died, Friday, Nov. 5, 2010. She was 79. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - In this April 12, 2010 file photo, Bette Midler arrives to the Metropolitan Opera's gala premiere of "Armida" sponsored by Yves Saint Laurent in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)
FILE--In this file photo from Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008, producers in a mobile broadcast studio outside the Metropolitan Opera studio, conduct a rehearsal taping of Verdi's "MacBeth" in New York, before a live broadcast to movie audiences world-wide. The Metropolitan Opera's Emmy and Peabody Award-winning "Live in HD" live-from-the-stage series for movie theaters is expanding their reach to 1,500 theaters in 46 countries. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
