More Jonas Kaufmann cancellations

Just announced - Jonas Kaufmann has cancelled his Wigmore Hall date on 10  June.

He's also pulled out of the Royal Albert Hall concert on 6 June, which will now go ahead with just Netrebko and Schrott.

Comments

[twitter.com/stufromoz]

Does anyone know why all the cancellations? It seems very worrying
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Intermezzo replies - "a protracted infection" is the only explanation given.

[Lee McLernon]

The Albert Hall website says that a replacement will be announced.

[Siggy]

I'm presuming this is the same trachea infection that was announced when he cancelled his Met performances and Puerto Rico concert in April.

These additional cancellations not a real surprise - just leaves the Troyens Prom performance and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he pulls out of that later.

Still can't decide if I still want to go to the Albert Hall on the 6th.
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Intermezzo replies - as I recall, the Met simply announced that he was "ill". I haven't seen any official mention of a trachea infection anywhere.

[Siggy]

Intermezzo, I seem to remember it was mentioned on the Puerto Rico concert website when he cancelled that.

[Liane Bierau]

@Siggy, I also saw it mentioned on the Puerto Rico concert website.

[Laura]

At least the concert is taking place (unfortunately without Jonas :( ), but for me, as a ticketholder from outside the UK, rescheduling just would have been difficult. I hope the replacement tenor will be someone good - Joseph Calleja would be nice...

[glee]

I'm daydreaming but...I wonder if Rolando could spare some time...

[Francis]

I have the feeling that, if it weren't for JONAS, most people here (at least the non-French ones) wouldn't give a damn about Les Troyens: most people have never heard it, many have never heard ABOUT it, and most people don't much care to hear it without their beloved JK. A FRENCH opera? Really people?
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Intermezzo replies - I don't think that's true of the people who have booked for Les Troyens as a whole. It would be an event even if JK had never been engaged in the first place. Anyone who knows even a little about the opera must realise that it's primarily about the two sopranos, not the tenor. However it's hardly surprising that a post about JK attracts commenters who are interested in him.

[Francis]

@Intermezzo. Well, we shall find out before long: we shall see how well Les Troyens sells at the Met, with Giordano & co.
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Intermezzo replies - The Met attracts a completely different type of audience: no comparison.

[John]

How is the audience different, IM? I'm not querying it, I'm genuinely keen to know your view! :-)
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Intermezzo replies - the Met audience is more conservative and more singer-focussed.

[Gi]

Joining everybody else in wishing JK a swift and complete recovery.

[Emil Archambault]

Of course, I am very sad for Jonas. However, at the same time, his cancellation allowed me to get a reasonably cheap ticket for the Premiere of Les Troyens today! So happy, first time at the ROH, on the last day of my London visit!

This might abusing, but is there any other concert/opera I shouldn't miss between the 19th and the 25th of June?

[Arabella]

I think you are right Siggy. When Jonas Kaufmann had to cancel his 4th May concert in Puerto Rico - after his first Met cancellation - the reason given (in Spanish) was "tracheitis".

[John]

You're probably right - but the ROH did make him the face of their summer season, so clearly they're aware that for many people he was a huge draw. I wonder if many returns will start trickling in?

[Hariclea]

@Francis, your assumption is a bit too generalising and in many cases i suspect wrong. I for one couldn't love French opera more :-) The interest with Jk was that for one i love him most in French repertoire because i enjoy it so much and sung so well it becomes even more special. Besides i also supported the production itself, so i will be going. And yes it is mainly about the women, but depending who sings the role of Enee he can definitely add a very significant component. And you can't tell me it doesn't make a huge difference how the duet with Didon is sung for example. Being a big fan of Jk and loving this repertoire and being excited about seeing this opera for the first time live and whole are by no means mutually exclusive. And i think it is also the case that good musicians and good directors and so on not only complete each other but become much more than the sum of their individual talents. I for one was excited for Jonas as well to get the chance to work with good coleagues, a wonderful orchestra,Pappano, McVicar. He doesn't get the chance to have everything rise the bar so much in other places and it is important for good singers to have such challanges to rise to themselves. Things are not as black and white as you see. I still hope for him that he will get another chance at this in the future. And the better this will be, and it will be good, i'm certain, the more i would wish for him to have had the chance to experience it too, because who looses out most in this? We still get the gorgeous music, the other singers, the conductor and poduction, whereas he...

[Hariclea]

and to try and put a slightly lighter note on things ;-) ok i love my home house, the ROH, but trying for a modicum of objectivity, even with half the cast gone at the ROH, God forbid!, i would still prefer the one at the ROH to the one at the Met, however much you love the music, it still matters how it is sung and we are much better off. Besides Sir T rules supreme :-))) sorry for anyone at the Met, he is ours :-)

[Siggy]

JK would have been the icing on the Troyens cake for me. But of course I'm still going to see it - I can't wait.

But I also think it's wonderful that 'celebrity' (for want of a better word) singers can introduce some opera-goers to repertoire that they possibly wouldn't have considered before.

[Francis]

@Hariclea. If, as you say, you like French opera, you might also consider attending performances at francophone opera houses. Unless you dislike francophone singers in French opera.

[Tinkerbell]

Les Troyens is a fabulous opera and Caterina Antonacci is completely stunning as Cassandra, I have seen her in a production from Paris. The story is mega dramatic, music wonderful, lots of lovely dancing and a huge romance with the lovely Eva-Maria Westbroek. Quite honestly the part of Enee is not that huge. Whilst it would have been lovely to see Jonas and Eva-Maria shmoozing, lets not throw the baby out with the bath water. It will be a ball ....

[Hariclea]

and so i do :-) Unfortunately i don't have that many funds to allow me to travel for opera as i would want to, i'm yet to make it to the Met for example:-( which is why i am grateful they do put French repertoire here as well, in spite of it not being the most popular with the public. Some francophone singers are better than others ;-) And some like Tezier for example are very good in so many more things :-) (sore point for me not having him as Chorebe...) I do wish though we could have more Massenet here, i'd love to hearLe Cid live again, etc and i still dream of seeing Samson et D live one day, who knows. a few years ago i couldn't even have dreamt of having the ROH at my doorstep, so i am thankful for the things i can do :-)Sad they don't do much of it in Paris either and that would be within reach. Even Alagna will do la Juive in .. Munich! The opera world is strange :-) Anyways, that is a subject outside of this post. Then again i love belcanto too , as much as i love French repertoire, and there isn't even closely enough for my taste of it at the ROH or anywhere closeby..

[Hariclea]

we won't ;-) but sorry to be a bit cruel here, imagine that duet Didon et Enee with the two of them... i dreamt of hearing that for aaages. One day, one day :-)))there is always hope

[Letizia]

@Francis. I don't really see the point of your last comment. How do you know that Hariclea doesn't, in fact, attend performances of French operas at francophone houses? And why would the production of a French opera at a francophone house necessarily involve a cast of francophone singers?

And why on earth do you assume that no one in the ROH audience really knows or cares very much about Les Troyens? I think the opposite is actually true and that, in this case, the opera itself is most definitely the star. Of course people are disappointed that JK has had to withdraw - not because he's JONAS (whatever that means), but because he's a great singer who would have made a wonderful Enee.

[May]

Well, I know a lot about opera but I haven't come across Berlioz's in great depth yet. This is an impetus for me to get to know the opera deeply and to learn about the fascinating character that was Hector Berlioz.
@Siggy, therefore I agree with you completely that it's great that opera superstars like Jonas bring some people closer to repertoire that's not as frequently performed as LT. If for that only I am grateful to Jonas whose influence on me goes beyond the roles he sings. Sadly (or fortunately?) I will have to learn now to stay on the learning curve even with him out of the picture. :-(
I do think that the women have the best music, and that Enee's best music is Nuit d'ivresse.

I would like to see Jonas in more esoteric repertoire too like Peter Grimes or Pelleas. I wonder if he plans to sing Hofmann or Calaf (a role he'd be perfect in!!!). Does anyone know anything about this?

[May]

P.s. @Intermezzo - which opera is the picture at the top of the post from? Werther?

[May]

No, not Werther but rather Tosca if I'm not mistaken, the Zurich production...?

[Siggy]

Just looking at the ROH website there doesn't appear to have been a mass dumping of tickets - yes there are a few returns but in the main they seem to be limited to the more expensive areas of the house.
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Intermezzo replies - That's mainly because the ROH haven't bothered to inform ticket holders by email. Anyone who doesn't check the ROH website regularly (a large proportion of the customers is my guess) won't yet be aware.

[Andres]

You could queue on the day to see Angela and Roberto in La Boheme. She will show up this time. There's also Billy Budd at the ENO.

[Tinkerbell]

May, Pelleas is a baritone role. Christian Gerhaher is singing it in Frankfurt in November/December. I think it's a new role for him. I am hoping to go to it, because CG is my absolute favourite. He is so intensely intellectual and refined. There is no sense of strain in his voice and the colours are amazing. Not so flashy as Jonas and he does not work the crowds. His Capriccio next year with Renee at ROH will be total heaven!!

[May]

Isn't Pelleas both a tenor and a baritone role? The discography has both. Nicolai Gedda recorded it, didn't he? Jonas likes singing things that are more common in other voice types, hence his song recitals of Strauss, Duparc, Mahler.

You got me curious, will check him out (Christian Gerhaher). It'll be good to have more than just Jonas to follow, puts too much pressure on Jonas ;-)

[Miriam]

I would like to support particularly the comments in your second paragraph as well as what IM originally wrote in response to Francis. As a ROH regular I would have regarded this opera as a major highlight of the season whoever had originally been announced as the cast, the opera itself is definitely the star for me. The same goes for all the other people I know who have booked to go, nobody I know booked *just* because of Jonas, although they might have been pleased he was in the cast.

Having said that, I am not without sympathy for the fans of Jonas who are disappointed, especially those who are coming from a long way overseas. I have also travelled long distances for the sake of a particular singer and sometimes he has cancelled, so I know what it's like.

[Hariclea]

Simon Keenlyside makes a wonderful Pelleas ;-) It's actually written for high baritones too and Jonas has actually spoken about it in interviews as one on his wishlist. As far as i understand Hoffmann is def on it too, maybe there are also plans, no idea but that will come, i'm certain. I like CG too, not sure i like the implication about flashy "vs." intellectual but will not dwell on it , especially since the three just mentiones, CG, SK and JK are of my fabourite lied singers and i for one perceive all three of them as intensly intellectual and flashy, in the sense of profoundly charismatic too :-))

[Hariclea]

sorry for monopolising the discussion, tell me to shut up anytime ;-) It's the last act of Werther from Staatsoper Wien. Very bloody that one.

[Hariclea]

May, if you live close to London, Gerhaher is doing what he does best, ie songs at the Wigmore next season, a nice Schubert programme if i remember well... give it a try :-)

[Jon]

I wonder how quickly returned tickets appear on line. I returned an amphitheatre ticket yesterday (for reasons unrelated to Kaufmann's cancellation - I am still seeing Les Troyens on another date), but it does not appear for sale on line as yet.

[Justin Chapman]

I just received my email from Kasper Holten.
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Intermezzo replies - and as usual - "should you not want to use your tickets, we are of course happy to offer you the option of exchanging your tickets (subject to availability) for another production included in our summer Season or, from 13 June, for any of the opera productions in Booking Period 1 of our 2012/13 Season."

[John]

Devastated though I would be if Harteros cancels again, a masochistic part of me would love to read the next apologetic email from Kaspar Holten. Soon they'll have to start offering financial compensation or complementary champagne to aggrieved customers.

[Siggy]

Just got my email. Nothing new there of course but better late than never.

Still waiting for the Albert Hall to let me know officially - or do they not do that? Will be interesting to see who they manage to come up with as a replacement for JK as stated on their website.

[Siggy]

And going back even further (and showing my age) Thomas Allen was a wonderful Pelleas. I can quite imagine JK wanting to take this on and I believe he has also mentioned Peter Grimes as a possibility for the future. Hoffman would be great too.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

@ Glee - it's the Aeneas who has cancelled, not Iopas or Hylas, so even if Rolando were free (he's singing in his own production of L'elisir d'amore in Baden-Baden) he could only sing the male lead in Les Troyens in his own daydreams. Or perhaps in the bath.

Do you want to kill the poor man as he makes his tentative progress towards vocal recovery?

[Francis]

@Letizia. It's all a matter of degree: the numerous existing francophone opera houses DO cast WAY more francophone singers than the ROH. Should you doubt it, take a look at the next season at some of these houses.

If Hariclea does attend a lot of francophone opera house performances, she made no mention of it when she expressed her love of French opera; she only said she likes French opera sung by JK, because he sings it so well. So, I inferred she either thinks there is really no good French opera singing outside of JONAS, or she hasn't had much exposure to francophone singers (she did mention Tézier as an afterthought).

As for the ROH audience's love for Les Troyens, allow me to be skeptical: you have your viewpoint, I have mine. I am also skeptical about the (fashionable) professed love for Pelléas. By the way, I am not sure people here know that French baritone Stéphane Degout is a very great Pelléas.

[verulamsteven]

Agree with the comments about Christian Gerhaher. He gave a simply wonderful performance in Tannhauser, he is a superb lieder singer - all the vocal qualities previously mentioned and (though I'm no expert) his German was so engaging, perfectly expressed.
Of the serious artists (KJ- never sang an opera from start to finish, never will = "not a serious artist") I agree Gerhaher is amongst the most serious - when he doesn't turn up, its for a demonstrable reason:
http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/christian_gerhaher/

[Tinkerbell]

Upon reflection, by By flashy I probably mean overtly sexy, but that makes CG more sexy (to me) because he is not trying to be! He is shy and self effacing. Unlike JK, who does an embarassing number of encores, even when the audience is leaving the theatre, and just laps up the applause, CG looks embarrassed and obviously cannot wait to get off the stage. I've seen a lot of him and it is genuine humility. Just seen him in a concert performance of Tannhauser in Berlin. Truely gorgeous voice and stage manner. Yes, I agree about the charisma, they all have it.

[glee]

Oh I said I was daydreaming but forgot to mention that I was daydreaming about (formerly) das Traumpaar. since the person before me was talking about the replacement tenor for the RAH concert, and everyone here knows BH is singing the male lead in Les Troyens, I don't know how you could misunderstand.
I'm sorry that you even had the idea of Rolando's Énée in your mind, bath or not. I never thought about that before seeing your post.

[Kasper Holten]

@IM/Justin: I am sorry that the mails and letters could not go out on Saturday. But we gave priority to announcing the news as soon as at all possible on the website despite this, instead of waiting until we were ready to send out all the mails and letters to ticket holders. Of course we do, however, bother to contact everybody. Sorry for the delay.

@John: Needless to say, I hope I won't be able to satisfy your wishes this time around, but I am happy to offer a little masochism by repeating how sorry we are about all the recent cast changes. It has indeed been a very difficult season with many cancellations. I hope you know that we really are not proud of this either. But in the end, we are dealing with humans, not machines.

We don't normally offer financial compensation, even in the case of high profile cast changes, as we don't charge more for particular singers either (only for whole productions). Actually, the offer we give (in line with our normal exchange policy) that you can exchange your tickets is not available in many other opera houses. But we hope of course people will indeed be curious still about Les Troyens and come to see it.
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Intermezzo replies - thanks for taking the time to address these concerns personally.

[Hariclea]

I think he is just wonderful, i heard his song recital at the Wigmore and I wish we’d see more of him at the ROH too :-) Tezier is not an afterthought I can assure you :-D Not sure why you picked on me in particular, i was just giving a different opinion that's all. Although i don't think i need to justify myself in any way, nor my preference for a singer/repertoire or another maybe you would like to know that you have been preaching to a priest so to speak ;-))) I started going to the opera when i was 3 and it's been my life's passion for 35 years now:-) I'm not an occasional opera goer, it's more like a weekly addiction and i couldn't possibly be a star chaser since the only big names i saw were for quite some years only on CDs :-) I don't care about nationality in opera, i love the music and the singers, conductors, directors who do it well and i believe as many people as possible should get a chance to enjoy it. Please don't judge or generalise, everyone's relationship with this art form is different and as long as it is a passionate one that is great!

[Pushed Up Mezzo]

Don't know if it really is that popular at ROH (or in London given the non-revival of ENO's college stadium version)considering the previous production dated from the Berlioz anniversary in 1969. That may be mainly because of expense of course. No complaints about the music though - in fact probably the best version I've heard was the LSO/Davis concert performance.
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Intermezzo replies - it's not just expensive in personnel terms, it needs a lot of rehearsal because of the technical difficulty. The real killer though is the near-impossibility of casting the principal roles at international standard. Certain elements of last year's Deutsche Oper cast for example wouldn't have washed at Covent Garden.

[Pushed Up Mezzo]

"A little masochism" and a ticket exchange. More than generous, Sir.

[Francis]

You are right. Besides, I don't like preaching to ANYBODY, to each his own...

[John]

Ditto - it's very gracious of you to respond like this. Of course cancellations happen sometimes and I'm sure Les Troyens will be a great event regardless. That said, we all know that some performers are more reliable than others and I for one would be very interested to know if the ROH has a clear policy on what is considered a reasonable tally of cancellations for a performer. I'll never forget the booing I've heard on some occasions when Gheorghiu (to pick an obvious example) hasn't turned up and yet has miraculously recovered for some promotional event two days later.

[Siggy]

"...But in the end, we are dealing with humans, not machines."

Exactly so. I think sometimes that's forgotten in the rush to judge and criticise.