Covent Garden’s 1st black Otello scorns the honour
NewsThe experienced US tenor Russell Thomas learned last night that he was the first African-American to sing the title role in Verdi’s opera.
He told the Times newspaper: ‘I think it’s quite sad, to be honest. How old is the Royal Opera House? I find it difficult to believe that in more than 100 years there has not been a black man that has sung this role.
‘I find it generally that people like to celebrate these things but actually it is something they should mostly be embarrassed about – that it has taken this long.’
Meanwhile, in Verona, the unembarrassable Anna Netrebko is blacking up for Verdi’s Aida.
But then, as any fule kno, Otello is a fiendishly difficult and taxing role to sing, and at any time in the work’s history there has only ever been a very limited pool of singers who were even capable of getting through it. So, my question to Mr Thomas is, who are the black tenors that he thinks should have been cast before him but weren’t? I’m struggling to think of any serious candidates.
By the way, how was he? Did any readers attend? I always had his voice down as a light spinto, but perhaps it has changed.
Always glad to find another Molesworth fan!
” So, my question to Mr Thomas is, who are the black tenors that he thinks should have been cast before him but weren’t?”
How about starting with Ronald Samm who sang it in 2010 in Graham Vick’s production in Birmingham?
Howard Haskin should definitely have sung Otello, and even auditioned several times for the role.
Well said. I was there. He was great.
“There was a cloudy quality to his voice at the start, his “Esultate!” refusing to ring out in trumpet tones, and when Thomas did press at the top, there were a few dangerous moments, signals that the voice isn’t quite up to the vocal demands yet.
“Otello’s two great soliloquies in the second half of the evening — the tortured “Dio! mi potevi scagliar” and his closing “Niun mi tema” — were very nicely shaped, full of vocal colour and emotion.
“Thomas’ acting was limited. His Otello feels like work in progress, but at this stage it is one size too small for this house.”
— Mark Pullinger
I wouldn’t set any great store on what Pullinger has to say about anything.
There have been several very positive reviews. Anyone can cherry-pick.
‘Anyone can cherry-pick.’
Including you by discarding Mr. Pullinger’s review because his critique doesn’t suit your agenda?
Mr Pullinger is an acquired taste, however he is right that there was a cloudiness at the start as I was literally having a coughing fit immediately upon entering the stage. Visibly.
I don’t make excuses. Although, I’d been ill for the last week I didn’t cancel on ROH. I showed up. I sang my song. I did my job. Then I have to deal with know it alls and internet trolls, that could never do my job, criticizing my job. He doesn’t have to like it. He likely didn’t pay to see it, so I don’t care how he felt about it. I will read his comments when someone shares a link.
I for one commend your honesty and professionalism, Russell, and your willingness to comment on this thread!
Mr Thomas, I love everything about your performance, persona and thank you for clapping back at the trolls.
Thomas was very decent and had the power for the role and was better in my view than the last Otello whom I saw at ROH. He does run out of puff though, but I imagine either his singing teacher or his personal trainer could sort that out quite quickly
Wonderful conducting from Rustioni which would be my main reason for going -plenty of seats available in the house – ROH`s pricing policy is taking its toll
‘Otello is a fiendishly difficult and taxing role to sing’
There’s nothing difficult about it. As with most parts, it’s only difficult if you don’t have the right voice for it.
From personal experience? There are very few roles – if sung well – that are not difficult in (professional) performance. Just ask any principal artist.
You are right. It is.
“as any fule kno”
Dog-whistle much?
I agree, light spinto. His Di Quella Pira was unimpressive. His voice sounded like it was in the back of the throat, like he couldn’t project it out. Characterization was also poor. He rushed off the stage like he was embarrassed he couldn’t hold the high note at the end. Mario del Monaco you ain’t.
If Mr. Thomas sang Di quella pira in Otello it must be a first. Surely you mean the Esultate?
Mario del Monaco was anything but a good Manrico. He was so scared of singing the role, he sang perhaps half a dozen live performances in toto. Don’t confuse studio recordings where the singer has a team of technicians to help him out, with live performances.
Stupid ignorant comment’ even mentioning del monaco a great tenor with this clown is proof of your stupidity. Del Monaco was great manrico lot of tenors are wary of the high C and transpose it down to a d natural. But del monaco had exactly the right voice for this role. This other clown does’nt
Like I said he only got this far because he’s black’ his voice is mediocre but he’s big racist mouth is’nt.
Too bad he couldn’t find it in himself to celebrate the long overdue righting of an alleged wrong.
Says a white person.
So you prefer “well alright I’ll do it, but shame on you,” to “Yes siree, I’m the man for the job!”?
EXACTLY. Says a white person. We white people need to not comment on these things. He is right – it’s long over due and it’s not something to celebrate- it should be a duty of all of the companies to make a concerted effort to hire black singers. Get it together folks!
To hire all ethnicities. Particularly underrepresented Asians and Blacks.
The writer even said is there a reason why there aren’t enough black singers that can sing and act these parts. Lol
Have you heard of Willard White? Worked with him on many occasions a fantastic Porgy!
Dog whistle much?
What the writer left out… the milestones are only celebrated to make white people feel accomplished. Just read these comments.
You sure seem focused on black vs white. Glad to see you are doing your part to bring about peace and harmony in your little corner.
The sad thing is, looking at photos of blackface singers of the past, they were far blacker than Mr. Thomas. Therein lies the problem with blackface, it’s white people re-enacting their own stereotype of being black, which for them is shoe-polish black. The logic of apologists of blackface would have Mr. Thomas to further darken his own skin in blackface.
There have been black Otellos but very few as there are comparatively few black tenors. Most black singers tend to have lower ranges. I also don’t know why we have to bang on about Netrebko doing what actors do and wearing make-up – perhaps we ought to ban it altogether as it embarrasses people?
Yes, basses, baritones or they sing falsetto!
‘Most black singers tend to have lower ranges.’…WTAF? Is this to go with their ‘natural sense of rhythm’?
There are not comparatively few Black tenors, and it is a absurd generalization to think that Black singers tend to have lower ranges (betraying a grave ignorance of the many spectacular Black sopranos, for one). Voices in Black bodies tend to come in the same distribution of ranges and timbres as voices in white bodies.
????? “Most black singers tend to have lower ranges.”
Proof, please.
“Most black singers tend to have lower ranges” – try telling that to Lawrence Brownlee …
Why all the down votes? Lawrence Brownlee is a really superb Rossini tenor and this is a FACT. My post was a response to an already ridiculous generalization. I wouldn’t care to speculate about the agenda of some of the click happy readers here.
Your comment caught my attention. I don’t know why there are so many down votes. For that matter, I don’t know why there are so many upvotes either. Most of all, I don’t understand why an adult used to critical thinking should care about such things. You are an adult, aren’t you? From an adult (me) to another adult (you): After we tell ‘that’ to Lawrence Brownlee, are we allowed to tell Diane Valerie that one individual (Brownlee) doesn’t account for ‘most black singers’? Are we allowed to call Diane Valerie’s attention to the slight constriction in Brownlee’s passagio? (Constriction getting more obvious as the time passes on.) Are we allowed to mention the way Brownlee sings his top notes? As I understand McAlpine’s comment, his point is _natural_ range / placement. Just in case my rhetorical questions aren’t sufficiently illuminating, consider the opposite case. Let’s pretend the original commenter wrote ‘Most _Caucasian_ singers tend to have lower ranges.’ If so, would you have replied ‘Tell that _Michael Spyres_?’ (Also just in case you might believe I side with McAlpine’s opinion, no such thing. Until I see _trustworthy_ data, both claims are nothing but wishful thinking to me.)
This is so insane. How much data is required to determine someone’s precise “race?” What’s the science on black people tessitura you’re basing these broad, anecdotally-supported claims with? Also, what normative claim are you basing your comparison of black peoples voices to, hmm? Their voices are lower or higher or compared to what standard of highness and lowness? Whose standards are those?
Another victim!
Dear Mr Thomas, sing your heart out as a brilliant Otello. You have the voice to do it. But leave the rudeness and naive historical commentary.
You reprimand society in general and the ROH that in over 100 years, a Black man had not sing on the stage of Covent Garden. Indeed! Let’s limit ourselves and look at just your “hundred years, i.e., 1922:” With 20/20 hindsight, I wish we had had penicillin and other antibiotics in 1922 as well. Millions would have lived full lives rather than perishing from infections. But those were different times. Should we denounce Alexander Fleming (et al.) for the “slow” or even “negligent” process of discovery which brought us penicillin mold in 1928 and a viable antibiotic (as a result of government funding, university research, and private companies developing the manufacturing process) in the early 1940s??
Your “hundred years” is a LONG, imperfect TIME ago. But we have come far, if not yet to the perfect state. In 1922, the US still had TIME magazine adding up the number of heinous lynchings of both white and black people. Rightly or wrongly, Marian Anderson didn’t sing at the Metropolitan Opera until 1955 (NB: Leonora Lafayette, an African-American resident in Basel at the time, sang Aida on short notice at the ROH in Jan. 1953). And: It wasn’t until 1971 that Nevada law was changed and Sammy Davis Jr for the first time could stay in the same hotel as the rest of the Rat Pack around Frank Sinatra when playing Las Vegas.
Rather than proclaiming rather pompously about the perceived slow speed of past changes, why not focus on speeding up change in the present and future in all of our countries and in the opera world in general (why is Anna Netrebko doing Aida in black face in 2022?). And, while you’re at it, why not recognize the great work done by black citizens (and their allies) of all countries over those past 100 years that has achieved what we have today while striving for better yet?
I know it is not particularly welcome to juxtapose woke feelings and historical fact. But if we don’t engage in this kind of dialogue, and remain passive, we will have Orwellian rewriting of history by the Ministry of Truth (1984: Lousy opera, amazing and increasingly relevant book).
Finally, with the way populism is creeping into the US and UK, attacking societies’ social achievements, we should not forget to focus on holding on to THE RIGHTS we have won to date. The work of many decades can be all too easily and quickly abrogated.
Good job of putting him in his place. Mr. Thomas should be grateful, afterall (??).
“Social achievement” gives credit to society as a whole. This honor goes only to the historically oppressed who continue to struggle for recognition and equality.
Mr. Thomas has made a distinguished and stellar career due to a singular voice and much hard work. He has earned the right to his opinion.
Categorize Mr. Thomas’s statement as naive historical commentary, but it is authentic from lived experience, not a study in “what about”.
McGrath, you should have signed your racist diatribe with the following: “Sincerely, another bitchy windbag.”
If you read Shakespeare you will see that he refers to Othello the Moor. In other words a north African/ Arab not a black person. Placido Domingo has Moorish blood so did not need to darken his skin although I think he may have done so originally, maybe someone had a word!
Exactly. Surely Mr Thomas must be aware of this. Why is it necessary to point out time and time again that Otello is no more sub-Saharan African than S European?
You know race is just made up, right?
Exactly. Ot(h)ello in the story is of Arab-Berber ethnicity.
Casting an African-American singer is no more “accurate” than casting a European one.
Quite right about the Moor. Nevertheless, Shakespeare gives him a ‘sooty bosom’, so open to a darker appearance.
At one point Othello actually says, “For that I am black”.
The problem with black face isn’t that they sometimes get the precise shading wrong.
No matter the degree of un/blackness, he is a good tenor!
For Otello and ROH, just okay.
Asked about it, he should have said 100 years is a long time and that it’s not surprising that a lot has changed. He should also have said that he’s an individual and shouldn’t be thought to represent any group.
Strange no Asian complains about Turandot never been Asian soprano….
I was there last night, he was good. But in sense of vocal control and high note quality, both Kunde and Kaufman were better. He is up to ROH level but probably not A cast level, sorry. I do hope Mr Baek can develop into someone who can sing Otello, but well, he is not black either!
You should speak to members of the Asian Opera Alliance. They will educate you on how they feel about casting.
I love this and all of the comments. Thank you! Y’all are funny.
Just for clarification. I learned this fact almost a year ago when the press office told me and I asked them not to make a big deal about it. Who cares. I may be the first black Calaf next season as well- will there be a press push about that as well?
Where does it end?
Thanks for trolling. I needed some entertainment today.
Just rest your voice. We need you. When I heard your Steersman a dozen years ago (all ears perked up…), I knew you’d end up where you are now. I look forward to more.
In your endless intelligence and befitting modesty, you may have not noticed that many of the “trolls” have paid the price of the ticket to be entertained by you. Or maybe you don’t care, thinking that the supply of a paying and appreciative audience is unlimited.
Calm down, man, you’re not Mario Del Monaco or Jon Vickers, hopefully you’re as good at singing as at talking.
P.S. Anna Netrebko has nothing to be ashamed of.
Exactly, a big difference between playing or portraying a character and being that character. This is not about the rights and wrongs of the Black & White Minstrel Show in its day!
No. I’m Russell Thomas. I owe no apologies for that. Vickers and Del Monaco are dead!
The “real” Russell Thomas is a huge fan of Jon Vickers and would never make such a comment!
Trust me, Russell Thomas knows he’s not Del Monaco (no one is) or Jon Vickers. He has the greatest respect for both men as opera singers. He is a huge, I repeat, huge admirer of Jon Vickers in particular.
Shout our to whoever TiredofItAll is, because all the whitesplanning is exhausting and disgusting. Mr. Thomas is a world class singer, one of this generations most talented tenors. And definitely the leading tenor to be singing Othello, and when he’s not available y’all ought to be calling Mr. Pulliam. But, I digress. It’s not any surprise that the majority of folx are offended by his accurate statement. Any more, intelligent people have to dumb themselves down, so less intelligent people aren’t offended. Y’all stay blessed. Also, Megan Markel is hella black and sleeping nightly with your Prince Harry. #Cheers
Misspelled whitesplaining. Or maybe that was intentional.
“Hella black” LOL. Guessing you subscribe to the one drop rule – how very racist of you.
I subscribe to the I AM BLACK RULE. Look me up, my blackness is unmistakable. WhiteSPLANN ME how you figure I can be racist. The one drop rule, catch your slip, Bone, it’s showing.
Be blessed.
In 1995, I made history becoming the first Black tenor to sing Otello on a world operatic stage in Nice. I sang it again at the Dorset Festival Opera in 2011. In both cases, I was a last minute replacement because of the “fear” of hiring me outright. Consequently no publicity was made about either outing.
For more info; http://www.howardhaskin.com/otello_story.html
The only thing that makes Otello “difficult” for me as a Black singer, is the stereotyping prejudice that NO Black voice can sing the role. Yet I have easily proved the contrary.
And for those who need names of other Black Otellos; Michael Austin, Roy Wade Jr, Ronald Sams and Limmie Pulliam.
No you were NOT; that was Charles Holland
Another Black Otello: Charles Holland (1909-1987) who sang the role in Amsterdam and also in a 1959 BBC film. My parents met him as fellow audience members at Aix in 1950 and followed his career to the extent they could, though it rarely brought him to New York.
Issachuch Savage can sing the role and has the requisite power.
He sang Otello in COC production a few years back. Most recently was Tannhauser at LA Opera in October/November 2021. Got good reviews!
https://youtu.be/KBPBEWm2Q1U
https://youtu.be/bFXNNwlfz48
@Howard Haskin
Some people make history by _singing_ a role, others by virtue of their skin color. Each its own.
‘The only thing that makes Otello “difficult” for me as a Black singer, is the stereotyping prejudice that NO Black voice can sing the role.’
You don’t say so. No difficulties with the shifting tessitura, no difficulties with the never ending stream of dynamics from ppp to ff, with the morendi, crescendi, diminuendi, and dolciss., no difficulties with octave jumps, with the cold high A, with the many high A/A flat to be sung in any conceivable dynamic from pp to ff, with the high B’s/B flats, with the never ending legato, singing in the passagio, with the scales of quavers spanning one and a half octaves from above the staff to below the staff? My my my. I think I may be pardoned if I take your bragging with two grains of salt.
Unwise of Mr Thomas to be commenting on here! Possibly unwise even to be reading it…
why? lots of artists do.
He might see something that upsets him or say something that upsets his employers. Neither of which is desirable.
Y’all have so many opinions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2_AiQLCb3U
The BBC encourages similar distortions in a recent radio drama “Severus”. The drama is about Septimius Severus, the Roman emperor who died in York in 211. The BBC uses its website publicity to promote the fallacy that the emperor must have been black because he was born in Leptis Magna, in what is now Libya. The fact that his mother’s family was Roman and his father’s family was Phoenician do little to support the black argument but, as with Otello’s origin, nothing must interfere with the case for victimhood. Unfortunately, these thin or just plain wrong assumptions are more likely to undermine it.
Focus on giving black (and all) singers a fair chance by all means but don’t resort to dishonesty in the process.
There is a great deal of prejudice concerning classical music, just ask any classroom music teacher. It is stubbornly ingrained in people’s minds as ‘posh, boring, not for us’ and opera is particularly ridiculed.
Ignorance also plays a part. Unless black opera singers are celebrated and well known to children, they cannot be viewed as role models. It comes as a huge surprise when Willard White et al are discovered.
Music is for everyone and available to anyone with an open mind. Singing to an operatic standard requires years of dedication to nurture a talent, but the first hurdle to overcome is the ridiculous
prejudice that is held about opera.
Going to a musical invokes interest, a song/lieder recital or Covent Garden performance quite a derisory reaction. Until this attitude is changed, careers will not even begin.
‘Unless black opera singers are celebrated and well known to children, they cannot be viewed as role models.’
You mean to say unless opera singers, _period_ , are celebrated, they cannot be viewed as role models. What has singers’ skin color to do with the rest of your diatribe about the alleged prejudice _classical music_ faces in classroom? Nothing, just a cheap woke shot.
It is a great shame that Russell Thomas has done himself no favours with his multiple, bitter and twisted remarks on this board . He would be wise to review his comments and try to see that this sort of response to ill-founded criticism demeans only himself
Comments are from imposter! You are judging by comments said here alone?
You’re ridiculous. He was right to say those things. It’s a free country. (Also, you’re probably white)
Then turn down the honor.
Because it isn’t an “honour.” It’s embarrassing that classical music orgs (almost always led by white people) want to pat themselves on the back for something that they should have done decades ago (looking at you too, MetOpera).
Ok. Fine. Now stop complaining. Really, you’re there to sing, you’re the first, enjoy it and don’t play other than Otello. Thank you!
Russell Thomas is so utterly privileged to be born, by accident of birth, in the society that created opera and opportunities for anyone, regardless of their skin color, to study music and become a musician. Its been going on for a very long time. And he heaps scorn on his benefactors and beyond because nobody else managed to sing Iago at ROH so far. What an evil civilization! He would be right to pack his bags and go to somewhere far better!
I find it odd that he chooses to complain, rather than celebrate such an important house debut…
As for miss Blue, it is o even stranger… I would have understood her outrage if Verona would have asked her to paint her face white for Traviata… But since that isn’t the case,her attitude smells of attention begging (cheap PR) There is no such thing as black or white people. We are all different shades of brown. Could we all agree on this and move on, please?
He wasn’t complaining – he was stating the facts. Stop celebrating when a black or asian or other minority is “the first” – you/the company doesn’t deserve a f***ing medal for that. You should just do it and do it well; and then sit down and hire them again and again. Period. So sick of the people on here.
Russell Thomas is a fine singing actor and an eloquent advocate for real diversity in opera, which is about supporting and presenting the best talent available no matter the race and background of the artist. That he is a black man singing a black character (Otello) robs him of the kudos of his considerable skills. You would never comment on how great Hvorostovsky was as Onegin because he was white, that would be as nonsensical as the phrase white on white crime.
That there is a lack of black Otello’s on the stages and history books of the opera world is down to cultural, economical and racial biases. Studying to be a world class singer takes vast amounts of money, grit and support, let alone talent. To be a person of colour in opera you have to overcome all the hurdles of opera training plus the micro and open aggressions of being non-white, whether being told your colour would not be seen in the setting of such and such an opera, that your ‘people’ have certain musical characteristics: rhythmic, poor intonation, unromantic, wrong body shape usw. or simply, in the case of being black and doing things like Verdi, that act of you singing sets you into the vista of being ‘an angry black person’.
Thomas as Otello is lyrical, dangerous and heart breaking. The critics may quibble about the odd imperfection, but in an opera this brutal, perfect beauty would be out of place and crass, as are comments about Thomas’s race when he is such a fine artist.
First and foremost Verdi’s Otello must fulfill the vocal requirements. If Mr. Thomas can stand next to the volume, colours, musical & stylistic understanding of Tamagno, Del Monaco, Cossutta or Atlantov and state the truth about the role with his voice, we can move to the other arguments. Until that point, everything else is babble.
The huge number of comments here can mean only one thing – this circus _isn’t_ about opera. I have read just a few comments, life is too short to waste it on social media drivel. I am grateful to Russell Thomas for his comments, though not for what he might hope. He seems to believe that all that someone needs in order to sing Otello, is being alive and have a certain skin color. His minimalist criteria doesn’t resonate with this reader. This old fashioned reader still believes it is voice and technique you need to sing Otello. Stage makeup is cheap, Mr. Thomas. Excellent voices, excellent performing artists are rare. This is why the important criterion is the latter, and has always been for hundreds and even thousands of years in Europe (the latter applied to theater.) You can’t fake the latter criterion, while cheap stage makeup can help with the first. Modern Europeans know their artistic priorities. A bit of education in arts history would do all the strident Twitterati and their adepts a lot of good. Less navel gazing, boy and gals. What you are doing is inverted racism, and the methods of some US ‘institutions’ are meanwhile borderline terrorist in case you haven’t noticed this yet. Woke has advanced to US export product #1 (or #2), the other product being weapons. The world isn’t interested in your offering. The alleged collective guilt in this particular matter is US’s and US’s alone. Opera is an European art form, of Italian origin to be more precise, and has nothing in common with blackface. Europeans don’t confuse art with social cleansing. Those who feel like imposing their ‘artistic’ values on other nations’ artistic achievements, reserve said values for your own nation’s artistic achievements (Assuming US can be considered a nation. The way things are going on over there right now, I have my doubts.) Just in case you feel like calling me out for speaking in the name of communities and nations, take a look at yourself in the mirror first.
Thank you Mr. Thomas for providing me with a good reason to skip your performances. If you have time to write ten comments on social media (I didn’t count them very exactly) instead of honing your craft in your spare time, you can’t be very invested in the art form. But good to know you consider your achievements already a ‘milestone’. Uh, this reader disagrees. Go on singing for years Raoul in Les Huguenots, Eleazar in La Juive, Arnold in Guillaume Tell, Manrico in Il Trovatore, and the title roles in Robert le Diable and Verdi’s Otello, as the original Otello did, and then we will talk about milestones. You are allowed to transpose Arnold down a semitone beginning with the second act, as Tamagno was rumored to have done occasionally, but you have to sing the other roles in the original keys, and don’t simplify. Being alive and having naturally dark skin might amount to an artistic milestone for Americans and even Brits, but not for Italians. You haven’t done yourself any favors with your comments here.
Excuse me but you cannot have read Mr Thomas’s article. He clearly says in it that because he is black shouldn’t mean white people should sing the role. He sings characters originally conceived as white, he proposes no paradox. He is clearly a singer interested in good music making, good theatre and a diverse not exclusive approach.
As to your comments about make-up they show a lack of understanding of the issue. The production he is in was conceived to be for any tenor to perform in and neither Kaufman or Kunde darkened their skin for the role.
To clarify: Russell Thomas wants to promote great artists.
No one in their right mind wants to promote the stereotyping of ethnicities with pantomime make-up. Let alone in a serious art house or for Verdi who wrote an opera about a human man targeted for his dark skin. There are a number of examples of racism in Verdi, not from the good guys. (Renato in Ballo, Carlo in Forza explicity).
Get a grip and do your best
Why should Russell be honored by this distinction? It only highlights his accomplishment DESPITE the historical lack of support, if not out-right antipathy, of such institutions toward black artists. Should he say “I’m so honored that I am finally a good-enough black person for them?” Also, Anna Netrebko may be “unembarrassable” but she is an embarrassment to the profession.
No, he should have said ‘I prefer to be distinguished by my vocal performance instead of this skin color nonsense. After all, I am an _opera_ singer, this is my _profession_ , and I am here to serve the composer and the librettist.’
The trouble is, his vocal performance is mediocre, his singing of Otello isn’t accomplished, hence the need to agitate the woke waters.
AN is an ’embarrassment to the profession’ because she currently sings roles she isn’t suited to. Mr. Thomas too essays roles he can’t do justice to. The conclusion is…?
When is the last time you heard Mr. Thomas in performance? Be honest.
A few months ago in Orange County California I heard a terrific Otello by white American tenor Carl Tanner (no blackface), but his Desdemona, South African soprano Kelebogile Besong, wasn’t that great. The two showed little chemistry. Ideally I would prefer the visuals matching the story but I’ll take great singing first and foremost.
Next to the greatest Otellos like Del Monaco, Atlantov, McCraken, Cossutta or Giacomini, with all reaspect, Mr. Thomas could sing a nice Cassio. His voice is nowhere close to the timbre of this role. Will American identity politics now define opera casting?