Rolando Villazon - dismounted again

 "Alongside Die schweigsame Frau, the highlight of this summer’s Munich Opera Festival was to have been three performances at the Nationaltheater of L’elisir d’amore starring Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón. Having cancelled the first two, Villazón croaked and cracked his way through act one on Tuesday, then appeared in front of the curtain to ask for the audience’s understanding. Prolonged applause – followed by act two at a feeble half-voice.

Villazón is a born communicator, and you could sense the audience’s heart going out to him. But he has sung only a handful of stage performances since the summer of 2008, and it’s hard to see managements keeping faith if he goes on like this. He has a large enough personality to survive on celebrity concerts and television stunts, but Tuesday’s performance, it seems to me, may signal the end of his operatic career".

Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 30 July 2010