Singers on disabled list

NEW YORK — The sick bay at the Metropolitan Opera is reaching a crescendo.

A knee injury has forced top Wagnerian soprano Christine Brewer to withdraw from her performances as Bruennhilde in the Met’s “Ring” cycle, the company said. The Met also said that Rolando Villazon will not sing the role of Nemorino in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” on Tuesday and on April 4 -- a much-anticipated appearance by a tenor whose six-month absence from the stage last year led to speculation that he was suffering from vocal troubles.

The Mexican tenor has laryngitis and is to be replaced by Massimo Giordano, the Met said.

Brewer, an American singer who makes her home in St. Louis, has sung the part of Bruennhilde in concert, but this would have been the first complete “Ring” cycle of the 53-year-old singer’s career.