Just in: Jonas Kaufmann is out again

Just in: Jonas Kaufmann is out again

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norman lebrecht

July 14, 2019

Hours after received the Bavarian State Opera’s Mesitersinger medal, Jonas Kaufmann pulled out of the company’s festival production of Otello tomorrow night.

He has an infection, they say.

His replacement will be Zoran Todorovich.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Nikolaus Bachler presents the „Meistersinger Medal“ of the Freunde des Nationaltheaters after the performance of Otello.

A post shared by Jonas Kaufmann (@tenorkaufmann) on

 

Comments

  • wladek says:

    A vastly overrated performer ,sort of poor mans’Vickers
    but one who knows how to play the crowd.

  • BillOxford says:

    I know that may criticise Mr Kaufmann for his frequent short-notice cancellations but just how does his record compare with other modern performers at a similar level? I’d be genuinely interested to read any feedback. Thank you!

  • Nobert says:

    You know……headlines like that really make me feel old….

    I wonder where we went wrong somehow, when “stars” are knowingly overbooking schedules, without any sincere obligation to fulfil all of them.

    I have never known so many cancellations…for a whole range of reasons. Days gone by….this would have been called ‘bad behaviour.”

    Mate – if you’re voice is no good then you need to ask “WHY”? I bloody bet Fischer-Dieskau never had these problems.

    Answer – because you over-sing……Less-but-more perhaps?

    Which is why great singers have stunning voices into their eighties…as witnessed in masterclasses and private lessons, and there are an awful lot of chickens left picking at the seeds on the ground.

  • Cantantelirico says:

    Those recording sessions can be grueling.

  • sycorax says:

    But his voice is entirely okay, he says. Only it didn’t sound so last time as he sang …

    • LydiaWahlberg says:

      Oh, another groupie.

      • sycorax says:

        Certainly not. I liked him as a lyric tenor in the beginning, but during the last three or four years I thought his voice mostly sounded overstretched.

      • Waltraud Becker says:

        You need not read al that; why do You do it? I never enter pages of singers I do not like.

        • sycorax says:

          Just for info, dearest Waltraud: This isn’t a JK fansite. It isn’t even the “page of JK”. Such a site I wouldn’t enter. But this one is for the general information about a scene I’m at least partly in, so I do read it – and living in a part of the world where freedom of speech is pretty valued I indulge now and then and saying what I think about your favourite singer.
          I’m afraid you’ll have to live with it.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    Yes, he will have a lot more yet having an infant at home.

  • Vladislav says:

    Can people please stop putting him in the wrong repertoire?

    I guess it’s too late now.

    • sycorax says:

      People? I think he decides about his repertoire – and so it’s his responsibility that he sings the wrong repertoire.

    • LydiaWahlberg says:

      He accepts them. I think it’s all about the money to herr kaufmann.

      • Waltraud Becker says:

        So sad other singers do not earn money and sing only for fun…. Cancellations are paid very well!

        • Suzan says:

          Your comment about cancellations is intriguing. How does pay for cancellations work – I know nothing about it.

  • Stereo says:

    Why would any organisation ever book him, he rarely turns up.

  • Una says:

    There are a lot of people with cold and infections this summer, and singers just do not escape. The culture of course with all singers today is that you get slated for cancelling bit you get an even worse bashing up and trolled all over the internet by armchair experts who fail to understand the nature of the voice. In the old days of having no internet and slower means of travel, a singer would get on with it and face just a newspaper review, but not today. Best to cancel and suffer the least amount of criticism and limit the damage. We wish this wonderful singer a speedy recovery and congratulations for his many achievements and medal. It pays to be kind and generous in life, particularly with singers and respect their fragile instruments. You can’t just go and buy a new one!

  • MOV says:

    Too many engagements and too many flights crossing time zones can take a toll on you. I agree with Nobert; sing less, take time to rest. Just because you have a great voice doesn’t mean you should sing every tenor role in any venue that pays the fees you ask.

  • Rob says:

    We still haven’t had a tenor to match the charisma and sound of Rene Kollo !

  • Helen says:

    I see the trolls are out again! All the usual suspects. You must lead pretty sad lives.

  • Franco Bastiano says:

    Jonas Kaufmann is the most overrated singer of our time. Deduct the good loks and you find a voice with many problems. No genuine high C, register breaks, false piani, guttural and artificially darkened singing. He was best at Mozart very young and still with his voix mixte in Werther. Bad teachers and the wrong repertoire ( Verismo, Wagner) and too much singing ruined that voice. As I said without his good looks and those monstrous media campaigns he would have been a fairly good singer in a german Stadttheater. Not more.

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