First Dmitri kindly took over when Rolando cancelled his 24 June Royal Opera House recital with Antonio Pappano.
Now the saviour of the day is sick himself. According to the latest Royal Opera House press release:
"Unfortunately Dmitri Hvorostovsky is now also under doctors' orders to completely rest his voice and it is with great regret that he has had to cancel all his current engagements."
(UPDATE - he apparently caught a severe throat infection during his recent Russian tour).
The good news is that the concert goes ahead - with three for the price of one! Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja and Thomas Hampson have stepped into the breach, with ROH concert master Vasko Vassilev providing further support.
Statistics indicate that at least one of them should still be standing by Wednesday night.
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Had 2 Rolando tickets and got a refund when Dmitri stepped in. Now desparate to get tickets back.
AGHHHHHHHHHHH! Damn you Hvroro!
Posted by: londonstuff | 22 June 2009 at 09:03 PM
Do not fret londonstuff.. There should be plenty of tickets - I wondered whether Hvorostovsky really had to rest his throat or whether he actually didn't feel like singing to an enormous number of empty seats (which is what it looked like last time I checked)...
Posted by: Ed | 22 June 2009 at 11:26 PM
I worry about DiDonato. Florez is skipping a performance of the Barber to "rest his voice" while she is singing every night. Now she steps into the breach here. Does Joyce simply have a more resilient voice, or is she singing more than she ought?
Posted by: Hal | 23 June 2009 at 03:52 AM
Hal don't worry, they are still rehearsing and i don't think any of the present names will sing more than 3,4 pieces each, probably songs rather than arias. That won't hurt anyone. And there are more days in between shows than in other places. Besides, Rosina is not easy, but it is a part Joyce diDonato is well familiar with. I'd say it is rather interesting given the number and names of stars around theses days at ROH who the ones are who jumped in for a night of fun with Pappano. Yes, it is work, but it is also one of those rare opportunities the pros get to improvise with class :-) I think it should be a rather more interesting evening than any of the initial proposals and i am thankful for the generosity of some artists :-) Others have preferred to rest their voice, good for them ;-) I am really looking forward to it :-)))
PS Sadly, all these changes and the seats sold/unsold business probably means there will not be any more such recitals scheduled at the ROH very soon... But compared to other places, London has many venues for such recitals, so i guess it does makes sense to just have opera and ballet at the ROH, not recitals.
Posted by: Hariclea | 23 June 2009 at 11:23 AM
it MUST be a pandemic
Posted by: Paul | 23 June 2009 at 04:05 PM
I was at the recital - fortunately! I was impressed that they'd managed to create such a varied programme at such short notice. For me the highlight of the evening was Thomas Hampson singing Mahler...I was in the pub with some friends earlier (we'd originally bought the tix for Villazon/Pappano because it was a friend's 60th birthday)and we were speculating about what they would perform....I was spot-on about Hampson, he sang LIEDER EINES FAHRENDEN GESELLEN and two American songs. Pappano is a very gifted pianist...so it was worth hanging on to the tix! We are fortunate that The Divine Thomas is in London at the moment..he is playing the father in LA TRAVIATA, and this was another triumph for him and Pappano...a dream team, one might say!
I did also enjoy the contributions by Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja and violinist Vasko Vasilev.
Posted by: Jane Susanna ENNIS | 25 June 2009 at 09:33 AM