Intermezzo

And the new Werther is .....

Juan Diego Flórez has so far stuck to the very lightest roles in the tenor repertoire. But, as he tells Jessica Duchen in the Independent, he's getting ready to branch out. 

Experienced Flórez-watchers who saw him recently in La Fille du Régiment at Covent Garden may have noticed that both his voice and his impeccable technique have changed a little. Those effortlessly ringing high Cs are still intact, but the voice has broadened out and he places it lower. The result is a slightly bigger, darker sound, less reliant on piercing steely overtones to reach the back row. 

After successful debuts at the hardcore end of the tenorino spectrum in La Favorite and Guillaume Tell, JDF tells JD he now plans to sing Werther on stage in about two years' time,  first in Bologna, then the following season in Zurich. The former, I assume, will be under the baton of the underrated Roberto Abbado, who conducts the extract above.

Juan Diego's New Year's gift

Two years ago, Juan Diego Flórez had to dash off and sing at the Met just minutes after the birth of his first child.  Second time round he could take it easy. He writes on Facebook:

"We are blessed and forever grateful to have witnessed yet again the miracle of birth of our second little angel, Lucia Stella.

She was born today, 1st of January, in the loving and calm atmosphere of our home in Pesaro, Italy.

With love and thanks to all for your kind support and good wishes,

Julia and Juan Diego Flórez"

The Four Tenors

Ramón Vargas must have a pretty impressive address book.  After Stephen Costello and Ferruccio Furlanetto pulled out of a charity concert he'd arranged, Vargas wasted no time in grabbing  a couple of top-tier subs.

Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Florez were the surprise guests yesterday morning at the Vienna State Opera event, joining Vargas and fellow tenor Michael Schade in raising €140,000 to help disabled Mexican children. 

It was Verdi nearly all the way - Vargas sang an aria from Luisa Miller, Kaufmann picked La forza del destino and Juan Diego Flórez  La donna è mobile, while Michael Schade went for local boy Mozart and the portrait aria from Zauberflöte.  The original multi-tenor member Plácido Domingo got in on the act too, with a special video message.

La donna del lago, Royal Opera House

La donna del lago - Royal Opera House, 17 May 2013 (first night)

The Royal Opera House has pulled together the most perfect cast imaginable for this new production. They more than lived up to expectations, with line after line of the most thrillingly spectacular Rossini singing I've ever heard. Even a production that rivals the recent Nabucco for sheer ineptness couldn't dim their brilliance.

Royal Opera House 2013- 2014 season revealed

The ROH officially revealed full details of their 2013-14 season this morning. As most had slipped out one way or the other already, there are only one or two surprises - not all of them welcome.

There are seven new productions, and in celebration of Richard Strauss's 150th birthday there are three of his operas.

The most exciting new production, long-known, is Stefan Herheim's Les Vepres Siciliennes, conducted by Antonio Pappano and featuring Marina Poplavskaya, Erwin Schrott, Michael Volle and the inevitable Bryan Hymel.

Claus Guth's Die Frau Ohne Schatten comes fresh(ish) from La Scala with Johan Botha, Emily Magee, Michaela Schuster and Johan Reuter, and is conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

A new (to Covent Garden) Robert Carsen Carmelites conducted by Simon Rattle features Magdalena Kozena and Anna Prohaska.

Star-wise,  Juan Diego Florez is back in La fille du régiment, this time with Patrizia Ciofi, Ewa Podles - and future Downton Abbey star Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

Manon Lescaut features Jonas Kaufmann, together with Kristine Opolais and Christopher Maltman. There's a Faust revival with Joseph Calleja, Anna Netrebko, Bryn Terfel and Simon Keenlyside. Joyce DiDonato reprises her Maria Stuarda  in a new Leiser/Caurier production, with Carmen Giannattasio and Charles Castronovo. Karita Mattila makes her return to Covent Garden in Keith Warner's splendid Wozzeck, also featuring Simon Keenlyside, and Christof Loy's Ariadne auf Naxos, with Jane Archibald and Ruxandra Donose.

To compensate for his multiple London no-shows perhaps, Jonas Kaufmann also gives a main stage recital on 6 April.

Conductor wise, the major shock is that baritenor Placido Domingo will be let loose on Tosca.

Full details:

Juan Diego Florez does the Royal Albert Hall

Juan Diego Flórez / Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn cond. Alessandro Vitiello - Royal Albert Hall, 8 May 2012

It's nearly six years since Juan Diego Flórez last gave a solo concert at the Royal Albert Hall.  Some criticised the microphone he used for part of that evening to help his voice carry in the cavernous space.  This time round the mics were there for recording purposes only.  No amplification was used. None was required; Flórez measured his voice to the size of the venue and muscled up more ear-splitting decibels than a heldentenor at full blast. And that's not some airy metaphor - it's a fact. Let no-one claim his voice is 'too small' for anything less than a football stadium. From my prize vantage point a few feet away I wondered if I'd be going home with tinnitus.