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Singer Netrebko not ready for Carnegie Hall

It is not often today that an opera singer captures pop culture's imagination. So the success of soprano Anna Netrebko, who is blessed with a lissome voice and looks to match, is that much sweeter. But the mercurial singer is not quite ready for the spotlight, as evidenced by her decision to cancel her March 2 solo debut recital at Carnegie Hall.

After two successful solo albums (her 2003 debut, "Opera Arias," and 2004's "Sempre Libera") and appearances on "60 Minutes" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," not to mention in the pages of such mainstream magazines as Vanity Fair and Details, Netrebko has won many fans among opera fanatics and casual listeners alike.

The question this winter, though, is whether the 34-year-old Russian is ready to grab the brass ring. Her label, Deutsche Grammophon, anticipates another big season for her: In November, the label issued a recording of Netrebko and tenor Rolando Villazon singing Verdi's opera La Traviata live at last summer's Salzburg Festival. And on February 14, the label is poised to release "Violetta," a single disc of highlights from the Salzburg Traviata recording.

Whether DG's commitment to its rising star soprano will be reciprocated remains in question, judging by her cancellation of the Carnegie Hall date, which would have been one of the most prestigious engagements of her career thus far.

"I have sung very few recitals in my career," Netrebko said in a recent statement, "and I do not feel artistically ready yet to present a recital program on (this) great stage."

This is not the first time that she has canceled a high-profile U.S. engagement. In 2004, Netrebko pulled out of a Los Angeles Opera production of Mozart's Idomeneo and Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, citing exhaustion from singing and from the stresses of promoting "Sempre Libera."