US soprano pulls out of Italian opera amid blackface row

Angel Blue (AP)

Soprano Angel Blue has said she will not perform in an opera in Italy this month because blackface was used in the staging of a different work on the same stage earlier this year.

The US singer posted a note on her angeljoyblue Instagram page saying she will be bowing out of La Traviata at Verona Arena this month because the theatre recently mounted another Giuseppe Verdi opera, Aida, that featured performers in blackface.