Intermezzo

Villazon on Verdi

On BBC4 on Friday 10 May at 7.30pm for one whole hour, Rolando Villazón probes The Genius of Verdi.

Let's hope it's as entertaining as his last BBC documentary, What Makes a Great Tenor.

Rolando Villazon gets chopped in half

Get half price tickets for Rolando at the Royal Festival Hall on 15 May with a Time Out offer.

The discount is only valid on the bottom three price bands (no front stalls), and you don't get to pick your seat. Prices after discount run from £21 to £34.

Time Out also have a half price offer for ENO's Wozzeck (dress circle and upper circle seats only).

La boheme is back

La bohème - Royal Opera House, 17 December 2012

When Rodolfo sounds more consumptive than Mimì, you’ve got a problem. Post-surgery, Rolando Villazón has had his ups and downs, but he was singing much better in Salzburg this summer than he could manage last night in the 999th revival of John Copley's La bohème. The notes were (mostly) there; the volume wasn’t. Despite Mark Elder’s considerate restraint, the orchestra often washed over him, and he bottled a few key phrases, not to mention their money notes. I can only hope for Rolando’s sake it was just an off night, perhaps a touch of the respiratory lurgy that seemed to afflict half the audience.

Rolando Villazon goes West

Here's a German TV feature on the Rolando Villazon-directed L'Elisir d'Amore, which opens at the Festspielhaus Baden Baden on Monday. Horses, it seems, are this year's thing.

Stuff only Placido can get away with, Part I

I wonder when Rolando Villazon was taking his first tentative steps towards a career in opera if he ever dreamed that one day he'd find himself beneath the searing lights of a Salford theatre with a microphone clamped to his jaw, Hayley Westenra at his side and HRH the Princess Royal tucked away somewhere in the audience.

Last night's Royal Variety Show, all four hours of it, was recorded by ITV to be shown in an edited version (i.e. possibly Rolando-less) on 14 December. Personally I think you'd have to be a very, very big fan.

Rolando Villazon tells Hoffmann's tale

Les Contes d'Hoffmann - Nationaltheater Munich, 12 November 2011

For all its garish wallpaper, vintage frocks and toy animals, this new production is not a lot of fun. You can forget about the gondolas for a start.

Richard Jones takes a decidedly sober view of what might make someone hit the bottle. Jones's own youth informs much of his work, so perhaps it's not surprising he shows Hoffmann's creative identity to be moulded by past experiences.

Hoffmann is not the usual garrulous taproom raconteur, but a depressive alcoholic at a artistic standstill. Rolando Villazon, playing against type, tones down remarkably effectively - the clown behind the mask, and not just the clown. (And yes, it was Just Acting - he reverted to the usual japes at the curtain call.) He makes a tough act for Barry Banks to follow when the show comes to ENO next spring.

Hoffing with Rolando - UPDATED with more video

It doesn't take long for Rolando Villazón to prove he's not off whatever he's usually on in this Bavarian State Opera video. It's an introduction to Richard Jones's new production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann (the one that's coming to ENO next spring), which opens in Munich tomorrow night.

The title role is the most demanding thing Rolando has done since his recent operation - but even more impressive is Diana Damrau's assumption of all three lady parts.

Production photos by Wilfred Hösl for Bavarian State Opera below.

Rolando Villazon has Diana Damrau's baby

Rolando with Diana Damrau's super-cute 8 month old son, Alexander. More photos on stage and behind the scenes of the Met's Japan tour here.

Rolando Villazon does Freddie Mercury

At least it's only half a minute long.

Rolando Redux

Werther - Royal Opera House, 11 May 2011

Wednesday's Werther, the third night of the run, found Rolando Villazon more relaxed than he was on opening night, and singing a lot better as a result. Next to the big, easy voice of Sophie Koch he still sounded underpowered, but he found a better balance between control and tension. 

The orchestra again played brilliantly. Pappano kept them on a tighter leash this time, which helped Rolando - and the splashing fountain was banished, hopefully never to return.

I found the view from the right hand side of the auditorium more expansive than the left, where I sat on the first night (both restricted view). Not much of a bonus with sets this bland, though.

more photos >>>>>>>>>>>>

Rolando Villazon as Werther - the video evidence

Complete with coughing for that authentic Covent Garden experience.

 

Rolando Villazon IS Werther at the Royal Opera House

Werther - Royal Opera House, 5 May 2011

Rolando Villazon made what I think it's fair to call a triumphant post-surgery return to Covent Garden tonight. In the title role of Werther, he displayed no worrying strain or cracks. He once described his voice as a horse that wanted to be ridden by a man - well tonight it was a perfectly-schooled prize dressage pony, with a glossy sheen.

Rolando returns to the director's chair

It seems negative reviews for his Lyon Werther have failed to deter Rolando Villazon from taking another crack at directing.

The Stuttgarter Nachrichten quotes: "Next year I'm directing Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore in Baden-Baden, and because I'm singing too, there will be a co-director".

La Commedia è finita

 
"I don't think he's yet ready, and if he'll ever be ready for that new job of directing an opera."

Reliable local bloggeur Les pêcheurs de perles delivers a scathing assessment of Rolando Villazón's directorial debut in Lyon last night.

Globe-trotting grumpster Rupert Christiansen of the Telegraph concurs: "I doubt directing will be Villazón’s future any more than it was Callas’s."

Rolando Villazon sends in the clown

Rolando Villazon brought in renowned mime and clown Nola Rae to help out with his directorial debut, Werther, which opened tonight in Lyon.

Pourquoi?  asked the Nouvel Observateur.

"You want me to tell you? ... Well no!" was the response.

So you'll just have to work it out for yourself from the production photos:

Rolando Villazon confirms Covent Garden Werther is ON

Will he, won't he? Well, he's still on the Covent Garden cast list. His vocal health seems much-improved.

And interviewed by Opéra magazine about his directorial debut with Werther in Lyon later this month, Rolando Villazón confirmed he's still expecting to sing the role himself at the Royal Opera House - and record it too.  

He said of his own Lyon production, where the title role is to be filled by Arturo Chacón-Cruz: 

"I don't want it to be 'my'  Werther, but my interpreters'. The one I'm going to record soon, and portray at Covent Garden in May in Benoît Jacquot's production, will be very different. "

Here's a brief and not very revealing Lyon promo (thanks Teresa59 for uploading):

If Rolando changes his mind, it's worth noting that Andrew Richards (who deputised successfully for Jonas 'sicknote' Kaufmann in the same production in Paris recently) seems to be free in May.....

Rolando Villazon and the Cracks of Doom

Rolando Villazón - Royal Festival Hall, 6 December 2010

Is Rolando Villazón's México! show a mere diversion from his operatic career, or the start of a new one? It's certainly more successful than his best-forgotten Handelian escapade earlier in the year.

the right sort of cuts

 
Save a massive 70% on tickets for Rolando Villazon's Royal Festival Hall concert* on 6 December with this Travelzoo offer.  Rear Stalls and Balcony seats are reduced from £45-£55 to £15.

Call Southbank Centre on 0844 847 9910 quoting TZOO to book.

(Thanks to reader Jeremy for the spot)

*Warning - contains pop

around the blogs

Bloglife around Europe this weekend.

Paris-based Opera Cake reveals just what happened (......not a lot) when Rolando Villazón delivered a song in a commuter-packed Métro train

Visiting Vienna? Got more time than money? Temporary resident Likely Impossibilities explains the tortuous but pocket-friendly ritual for nabbing a standing place at the Staatsoper. One for bookmarking.

And finally tenor of no fixed abode Andrew Richards, soon to appear in the Keith Warner directed, Rani Calderon conducted Simon Boccanegra in Strasbourg, continues his fascinating look behind the scenes in Opera Rocks - complete with fully-authorised photos.

clown doctor heal thyself

The day after his Salzburg recital met with a mixed reception, Rolando Villazon sat down for a few words with APA (in German).

Having recently cancelled two opera performances in Munich, struggled through another one, and managed just seven minutes of a recital in Copenhagen, Rolando was keen to divert the interviewer to his work as a clown doctor. Perhaps he would have been smarter to train as a gastroenterologist though - he eventually revealed that his recent problems have been caused by gastric reflux [an uncomfortable condition which can inflame the oesophagus].

Looking forward, in 2011 he will focus on Mozart, with Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Il Re pastore. But Tales of Hoffmann, one Massenet production (he doesn't say which one) and eventually, a Tosca [!] are all included in his future plans.