Tenor on the loose: Jonas Kaufmann is ‘in love with an opera director’

Tenor on the loose: Jonas Kaufmann is ‘in love with an opera director’

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norman lebrecht

November 30, 2014

The Good Book says it is not good for a man to be alone.

 

The recently separated tenor has been seen out and about with Christiane Lutz, a young opera director working mainly at Graz and Lübeck. She has a Handel Rinaldo opening this week at the Theater an der Wien.

Eat your heart out, Madonna.

 

UPDATE 2018: Kaufmann confirms

Comments

  • sdReader says:

    A bit mannish in the face, but fit, pleasant-looking and obviously smart. Also not blond or French, as some sources said earlier.

    • LILOLOPERALUV says:

      What does a loyal wife get after 15+ years of supporting his career, giving up her own career and raising the 3 children HE wanted (more than she did initially)? She gets pics of the father with his new love. I certainly wouldn’t want him back after this embarrassment.

      • janne says:

        I fully agree with you but I doubt that he will ever feel like joining again his family, especially now that he is enjoying his independance. Am disappointed of his moral shortcomings.

      • Daphne Lewis says:

        Who cares? His private life is nothing to do with us. We have no idea why they broke up but there are always two sides to every story. It’s not easy to keep a relationship together when partner’s are apart for long periods of time. It happens a the time and being a singer herself it would make it more difficult to see much of one another. Finally, who are we to judge?
        Leave Jonus alone and aND let him be happy. He sure gives us happiness and joy..

    • Janna says:

      YES!! I think so too 🙂

    • janne says:

      His wife is lovely. I think she can easily find another man, a truthful one.
      Kaufmann is a handsome opera tenor but he definitely is not a heavenly
      phenomenon!

    • Lee says:

      I completetly with you. Should go back to his family. Fame and success should not let the person start to fall into a disorderly life. Be wise dear great singer. Devil always tempts you to step into something which might not be the straight paths in life. A great art needs healthy environments.

      • Diana Hockley says:

        I would doubt his wife wants him back after his betrayal. I certainly wouldn’t and no amount of handsome opera singer would compensate for the heartache and humiliation. Hope she found someone worthy of her, who adores her and wouldn’t dream of leaving her.

  • Petros Linardos says:

    Kaufmann has young children who don’t need any press coverage about his personal life.

    • LILOLOPERALUV says:

      The children are hurt more by their father’s actions and the divorce. I’m sure they are also aware of this relationship by now (almost 2 years).

      • Petros Linardos says:

        It is natural for divorced parents to move on to other relationships. How they handle it with their kids is their problem and nobody else’s.

        • LILOLOPERALUV says:

          This relationship, begun 12/2012, predates the divorce, 04/2014, and I am sure the children (15, 12, 9) are well aware of that. In a recent interview, JK said he would like it all to end in “peace” which implies it is not peaceful now. If JK, MJ (and Lutz) managed to “present” it in a way that didn’t hurt their children, many people would like to know how. Does the publicity add to the children’s pain, perhaps. If so, I would like them to know that some in the “public” do empathize with their hurt and hope that they can someday forgive those who hurt them.

          • Anonymous says:

            Just wondering–how do you know his relationship with this other woman started in December 2012?

          • LILOLOPERALUV says:

            C Lutz was the assistant director for La Scala Lohengrin (her CV). They could have met earlier. Several people have said it is a 2 year relationship. She was with him for the ROH Don Carlo 5/2013. By 2/2014 she was travelling with him – Met Werther.
            For the sake of enjoying his art, I can forgive his human weakness. The damage to his children is for them to forgive.

          • Ebbaanders says:

            “Several people have said” …, so it’s only rumor. That’s it. And we should not use children for moralizing remarks. His kids were with him at the Advent-Charity-Concert in St.Michael-Church on Dec 6 and they didn’t look damaged but very happy. For us, his audience, there is nothing to forgive. Not our business.

  • Ebbaanders says:

    Not always a man leaves his wife, sometimes it’s the other way round!

    • LILOLOPERALUV says:

      Highly unlikely in this case since he was already in this relationship 12/2012. Did she finally have enough? Maybe. He has said many times that his constant travelling put a strain on the family. If she ended it, why is she moving to be closer to him (earlier report)? For the children, of course. Why did she quit her career? For the children. From their behavior, who puts the children first here?

  • Ebbaanders says:

    What an ugly gossip, what a bundle of clichés. Here are some people who know all the intimacy of K’s life!? You are welcome here …

  • Kate says:

    There’s always two sides to every story, and it usually – in ‘regular’ cases, i.e. when there is no domestic violence involved etc. – takes two to destroy a marriage, as one of you has already said. The blame shouldn’t be so unceremoniously pinned on JK, and I’m sure he does take proper care of his sons and has certainly tried to work it out somehow with them. And as for the lady in question – I don’t think it’s right to ask the judgmental question ‘what sort of a woman would do that’. Stranger things happen and there’s less and less ‘uncomplicated’ relationships, particularly within ‘celebrity circles,’ I imagine. Well, be that as it may, JK is a superb artist and I can’t wait to see him in Munich on Sunday!

  • LILOLOPERALUV says:

    You are also correct anonymous. She knowingly became involved with a married man. However, to my knowledge, she has not made statements about her values.

  • Janna says:

    I hope Jonas is smart enough to choose Christiane Lutz instead of Madonna, because it will just be a short lived affair with her. But of course, Madonna is a strong woman, and she can easily persuade and manipulate Jonas to get naked and get him into her bed. She is just a luxury whore, and always will be. She is not able to love, and stay with one man. She has been with many, and I hope Jonas will not be one of them. But….. who knows how Jonas really is?! Maybe it’s a Madonna type he has been searching for all his life 🙂

  • Anna says:

    Madonna and Lutz are getting publicity and the man. Why not??!! JK risks losing ground for his indiscretion though.

  • Ebbaanders says:

    HIS indiscretion?? He didn’t talk! He kept his privat life always very privat. And he managed to keep the public away from his children. It’s a photo from the first-night-party after Manon in Munich; journalists are always searching for a sensation. Impossible to escape in the long run.
    Liloloperaluv does not know anything, only gossip. Very sad.

    • LILOLOPERALUV says:

      Not true, he talked about his family in many interviews. Many pages in the Voight book are interviews with M. Joswig. Be interesting to see how Voight deals with this mess in the forthcoming revised edition.

      • Ebbaanders says:

        Not true. There were no details about family-life, no pictures about their home, NO pictures of his children. Of course there are interviews with M.J., it is for her to do or not to do. And it is not our business to call other peoples life a mess.
        Btw no wife leaves her home if her husband is responsible for marriage breakdown (except for domestic violence) and no man tells for months in each interview that he needs more time for his family when he is already interested elsewhere.

        • Anonymous says:

          This comment Chronology is quite similar to others that I have seen regarding an artist’s/celebrity’s private life, particularly with respect to an artist”s/celebrity’s marriage difficulties: At least one or two of the persons commenting claim to be “in the know” or “have friends who know” and these persons proceed to provide many “facts” regarding the situation, along with comments about the morality of the artist. Let’s face it: 1) only the celebrity and his/her family–and in rare instances, those extremely close to them–know the truth and 2) the artist that is the subject of these discussions and rumors deserves a private life which is none of the pubic’s business.

  • Anonymous says:

    i’ll ask again–how does Liloloperaluv know that this relationship began in December 2012?

  • LILOLOPERALUV says:

    See my earlier reply to the same question.

    • Anonymous says:

      IF what you said is true Regarding the timeline of the relationship, then the situation is particularly sad, not only for the obvious reasons (the terrible pain the children must endure, the added stress on the divorcing spouses), but because, as I recall, JK emphasized in a number of interviews how much he values the normalcy his family gives him, the sacrifices his wife made to raise the children in his absence, and the absurdity of opera singers having to schedule performances 5-6 years in advance. I am not passing judgment here-the Kaufmann family certainly deserves privacy-and regardless, I will always admire Jonas Kaufmann for his artistic excellence.

  • musicwoo says:

    Although I was quite sadto hear that they had separated all be it ‘amicably’. I do feel that MJ may have not been the victim and could have been seeking comfort elsewhere herself. It must be difficult for someone wholooks and sings like JK not to feel flattered by all the attention that he obviously gets from females, of all ages!.
    I really hope that they can remain friends for the sake of their children.

  • operafan says:

    Do you see : Youtube.com The Giacomo Variations sansebastianfestival.

  • cathy hansen says:

    True. However, a very typical story.

    • Ysabeau Delacouvrier says:

      In one Asian country, men like JK are going through Grey Romance which may be short-lived, or, could develop into a long term relationship. In any event, JK is going through such a phase with his relatively younger mistress. Regardless of the circumstances no one is blameless. Was JK the pursuer or was he pursued?

  • cathy hansen says:

    Typical story with rock star singers. A solid core with genuine values is a rarity.

  • Daphne Lewis says:

    I am disgusted with all the bitchy remarks about his private life.
    His separation and divorce is not anyone’s business except his and his former wife. This is nothing new in the celebrity world and is usually caused by the schedules of one or both partners and they drift apart. It also happened with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and his former wife and Anna Netrebko and Erwin Shrott.
    …..”he who is without sin, throw the first stone”.
    .

  • Gillian says:

    I worked in this industry. The lives these singers lead in unbelievable. Always away and living out of suitcases. Both partners are under strain. Stop nocking them unless you know different. I wish them ALL happines.

  • Johann Georg Blomeyer says:

    I agree to the opinion that the private live of a great artist is not our business. Of course we live in a world with the values from the old Testament. There are other values. In a traditional Chinese family the wife chose for her husband – when she thought is was time – a new wife (of course under her domination) and there were many cases where there were 3 subwifes. In the world of Islam it is similar. In ancient Hindu-society I women can have 5 husbands.

    Besides these different social structures there is a fact which our society has not considered or thought upon. It is the situation that the unborn souls are looking from heaven to find the right parents in order to get a body and start a new life. When they found them, they send their love to them so that they become lovesick and enable their coming to earth. When all is nicely done the parents slowly see their differences and often cannot bear the partner’s different character. The normal result is will be separation & divorce. This is so well known. Our poet Friedrich Schiller placed into his poem “Die Glocke” the phrase: And the partner’s love should overcome all difficulties and stay. But there are always situations where it is for both partners better to make a settlement. Nobody is the property of the other and happiness is not what you get by listening to what the church or others orders.

    • Ariane Csonka says:

      What a beautiful concept. Thank you for,this, Dr. Blomeyer.
      I think we should all wish for Jonas Kaufmann half the joy which he has given to us all, and be grateful to whomever makes him happy, healthy and strong enough to continue his magnificent artistry. I just wish it were me!

      • Dr. Johann-Georg says:

        Very well said. Let me continue with my opinion why we are loving the music sung by Jonas Kaufmann so much. Hm, hm, we Germans are extremely gifted in western music – certainely more than most others. But are we aware from where the music originates ? We should know it as music makes us so happy. Music sometimes creates moments of ectacy and Jonas has the rare ability to transmit it. Well, just ask an Indian and she/he will smile and answer: “In our culture everybody knows that there is a world of music created by the SHAKTI, our Divine Mother. Very few get by birth a key to this world, the composers and they write down what they heard from there.They are like a radio and you westerners think that this radio is the creator of the music it presents “.
        The singers have the ability to transmit these wonders from the world of music. And the more they succeed to involve their souls in their singing the more we are inertly touched. I suffer from time to time of some kind of Weltschmerz and then I listen to the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi sung by Puertola Sabatini. There are greater voices but she just moves your heart. I simply feel extremely happy by listening and my disturbed moods disappear. Jonas Kaufmann has the same capacity to make us happy and so we will feel deeply grateful to him and – to the true Creator of music.

        P.S. There was once an interview with great Mr. Everding and he remarked:” Oh, this part which Mozart had written, in a way he must have copied it from heaven.”

  • Katherine Roppel says:

    JK has lost a bit of his shine after the circumstances of his affair and divorce but he has cancelled some of his venues to be more involved with his family. Three teenagers are a challenge but indeed a worthy and loving one. We’ll mid him in the US.

    • Natalia says:

      He did not lose any of his shine after the circumstancies of his affair and divorce, please don’t be prudish! Who cares about his private life? We care for his passion for singing!

  • Sarky Parky says:

    This is a nonsense. Have you people got nothing better to do? In the modern world many many marriages break up and children generally survive. Jonas Kauffman should be judged entirely on his performances and nothing else. Go away and look to you own lives

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