Winter woes: Cleveland loses two singers and half a concert
mainTenor Maximilian Schmitt and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn called in sick shortly before Thursday’s Cleveland Orchestra concert of Haydn’s The Seasons.
What to do?
Cut out the male solos, leaving a truncated score with just orchestra, soprano and all the big choruses.
It seemed to work and people got home half an hour sooner than expected.
Report here.
Conductor Franz Welser-Möst explains the cuts to Cleveland audience. Photo: Roger Mastroianni
The only time I ever heard F.W.M. conduct live was a performance of the Seasons in the Royal Festival Hall, London, with the LPO. A joyous event. T<o have missed any of it would have been sad.
Christian van Horn and Maximilian Schmitt are still listed on Carnegie Hall’s website as appearing in the New York performance on Wednesday January 24. There is an open rehearsal scheduled on the morning of the concert. Perhaps they will still appear.
There is a very complimentary article in the NYTimes today about FWM and the Cleveland Orchestra written by veteran music critic James Oestreich. He found a series of recent Cleveland concerts to be excellent and anything but a warm up to this week’s Carnegie Hall visit.