Jonas Kaufmann: I had Covid when I met Prince Charles

Jonas Kaufmann: I had Covid when I met Prince Charles

News

norman lebrecht

January 29, 2023

The tenor says he was feeling rotten when he received an honorary doctorate at the Royal College of Music from its president, the heir to the throne on March 3m 2020.

But British doctors assured him it was more likely to be malaria than Covid, so he went ahead with the investiture. Only when he returned home was the disease identified.

Comments

  • guest says:

    I wonder what ROH management was thinking at the time, why they didn’t cancel that “Fidelio” right away. The whole cast was ill, not just Jonas, although he was probably the most severely hit because he canceled after three or four shows.
    As for Jonas, no one believes he’s ill when he’s ill, I don’t know why, but then everyone was.
    As far as I remember on the Continent, all the opera theaters (and concert halls) were already closed at that point, but ROH was operating as if nothing ever happened.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    Re the headline; let’s hope it’s not the only qualification he ever gets!!

  • Bloom says:

    He looks sick in the video. He shouldn’t have attended that show either.

  • Madeleine Richardson says:

    I wouldn’t book anything he was in because it’s so hit and miss whether he turns up or not. Opera lovers often travel to other countries to see a special star and if he/she doesn’t turn up the costs of travel, hotel and ticket for the performance were for nothing.

  • Helen says:

    So he might have been the one who passed on Covid to Prince Charles, the first time Charles came down with the lurgy. Charles had COVID in March 2020.

  • Brian says:

    Haven’t we learned to stay home when we feel sick – especially when we feel “rotten”? The amount of ego required to put others in danger just so you can pick up another award is astounding. He gets the “biggest a**hole of the year” award, in my opinion.

  • Harpist says:

    Would be nice to see him in the MET again but he seems to be avoiding the US now.

  • kaa12840 says:

    English doctors confusing COVID with malaria? that is the most hilarious “Differential Diagnosis” I have ever heard. None of the symptoms of COVID are anywhere close to those of malaria. Maybe he went to a homeopathic doctor who confused COVID with bad air or catching a cold (mal aria !!)

    • Guest says:

      In the interview he said he had had a high fever – isn’t that a symptom of malaria? This was in February 2020, early Covid days, no tests, little was known. (The doctorate ceremony was March 4th.)

    • Hayne says:

      Because we all know how good allopathic doctors are:)

  • Gustavo says:

    Long live the King!

  • Fritz Grantler says:

    Did Kaufmann ask Prince Charles about his stupid son Harry ? Inquiring minds want to know .

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