Star first night tenor drops out of BBC Proms
NewsThe rising British tenor Freddie de Tommaso has pulled out of tonight’s Verdi Requiem with Covid.
His replacement is the Korean David Junghoon Kim. (Hard to believe there was no UK tenor on tap to jump in.)
The other singers are Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Jennifer Johnston and Kihwan Sim.
Sakari Oramo conducts.
Remarkably, on the morning of the return of a big sing-out at the Royal Albert Hall, tickets are still available on the website.
This is quite “unusual” to be honest. I read this post like “why bring an Korean if a UK tenor would be better”… eukkkk. David Junghoon Kim – besides being a resident in London and starting a beautiful career in several houses, including ENO and Covent Garden – is just a very good singer, subtle musician and has an important voice. Why should we care about him passport? Does it make him a worse tenor???
I listened last night. I hadn’t heard him before and was disappointed sadly.
He was a damn sight better than De Tomasso would have been. At least he had proper dynamics, instead of shouting everything.
The bass was very good.
David Junghoon Kim is a London/UK resident and former Covent Garden young artist.
Stop tearing down hard working, talented, tax payers, who actually show up to perform for you.
It’s the opening night of the BBC Proms. No British tenors available?
Oh, who the heck cares? It’s just the Proms for goodness sake…
It’s a concert, not a BNP rally.
They couldn’t be bothered I suppose looking for one, and a foreign name always impresses!
I am shocked to hear such a xenophobic comment from this source…..Apart from that,there are not very vew british tenors who sing this fach.
It’s a bad piece anyway. Oh by the way, Bill Gates is one of the BBC’s big funders.
Almost speechless…why should he be what you term ‘British’? In many senses he is, anyway, as others have said.
The Proms is an internationally admired and revered music festival, celebrating all that is best from performers of all nationalities.
Stop!
A fantastic start to the Proms – I’d have liked the long second part to move on a little, but there was some spectacularly good playing from the BBCSO and that marvellous soprano…great stuff!
It’s worth noting that both tenors in question have the same agent. When one had to withdraw I expect the agent offered the other as a replacement. Makes life easy rather than having to scout around, it would be nice if there was a legion of British tenors able to sing the Verdi Requiem, but there isn’t, and anyway, who wants to waste time ringing around on the off-chance at short notice when a perfectly able alternative is available?
Worry not, xenophobes:
The Last Night will be filled with beautiful EU flags waved by open minded British Europeans.
That’s a promise.
I would be happy if in music/art always chose meritocracy do determine performers. Accepting that, in this case, it was short notice so it had to be the best tenor within, ca, 12 hours of arrival in London, ready and refreshed. Junghoon Kim was in London, knows the role, is a very good singer so just where is the problem?
Freddie de Tommaso wasn’t hired because of his birth certificate and his passport; he was hired because of his brilliant voice. It was very good of David to be able to brush up the part at short notice and step in. He was an excellent Jette Parker Young Artist at Covent Garden and received acclaim for his performances of Macduff in the Royal Opera production of Macbeth.
And yet Mr Lebrecht ignores the presence of British mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnston among the soloists, who is a proud Liverpudlian with an Oxbridge degree and a beautiful voice.