Oh no, Rolando! He's gone and done it again.

Oh no, Rolando! He's gone and done it again.

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norman lebrecht

December 07, 2011

He’s singing in the Royal Variety Performance, which goes out on ITV on December 14, but with whom?

Netrebko, perhaps? Natalie Dessay? Diana Damrau? Claire Rutter, our current Tosca?

No, it’s Hayley Wannabe Westenra, one of those popera singers whom the tabloid press can’t tell apart from proper artists.

Now I don’t care what Villazon gets up to on his nights off, but every time he opens his mouth with a Westenra or a Katherine Jenkins miked up at his side, he demeans and degrades the art he cherishes by giving fake divas an unearned credit. In other words, he becomes complicit in a widespread fraud that markets paste as gems. For shame.

Singing duet: Rolando Villazon and Hayley Westenra sang for the audience

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