The Wagnerian soprano’s hotly anticipated Australian debut has been cancelled.

Sydney Opera House today confirmed the last-minute cancellation of Deborah Voigt’s first Australian tour due to urgent surgery.

The American soprano was in recital at the Utzon Room and in concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra next week, but a hip operation has forced her to withdraw.

Her Melbourne concert is sold out, with only a few hundred seats left for Sydney.

The soprano recently gave a tour-de-force performance as Brünnhilde in the Met’s notoriously demanding new production of the Ring cycle, staged complete in April and set to screen in Australian cinemas from June 30.

The latest setback of her hip injury is one of several that Voigt has risen above in the course of her career, which has seen struggles with obesity (the highly publicised Little Black Dress scandal at Covent Garden) and alcoholism. She will write candidly about overcoming such hurdles in her memoirs, to be published by Harper Collins in 2013.

“We wish Ms Voigt a speedy and full recovery, and hope that Australian audiences will have the chance to hear this exceptional artist in the near future,” said Sydney Opera House acting CEO Jonathan Bielski.

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