Covent Garden review: Kaufmann’s sub was not the star
OperaHugh Kerr of Edinburgh Music Review was at the ROH last night to see Juan Diego Florez replace Jonas Kaufmann in Werther.
The packed Covent Garden audience groaned as the lights dimmed and Oliver Mears the director came on stage to explain that Jonas Kaufmann had a bad cold and couldn’t sing, but there was a big cheer when he said that Juan Diego Florez, who has sung the role many times in the past, would take his place. Florez is a high profile singer and had a few days to study the part in what is a fairly static production of ‘Werther’. Also Antonio Pappano was in the pit, and although the first and second night were poor because of Kaufmann’s cold, apparently the orchestra played well and Charlotte was interesting.
We weren’t disappointed. Florez sounded a little strained in his first big aria in the first act, particularly towards the top, but by the second act he was using his sweet bel canto voice to good effect and in his big arias he got a great response. His ‘Pourquoi me reveiller’ really hit the spot, and he died beautifully in the last act. Juan, now 50, still looks the part and, while he lacks Kaufmann’s dramatic heft, he was a very decent substitute. However, his Charlotte, Russian mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina, was the better singer. Aigul is well known at Covent Garden as she was a Jetta Parker Young Artist in 2017, singing a number of minor roles as well as Carmen at the age of 21. She is now singing all over the world, acclaimed as ‘the next Anna Netrebko’. She is very beautiful, has a rich lustrous voice and is a decent actor. For me she was the star of the evening. Pappano had the orchestra in fine form and the other roles were decently performed. The production remains a fairly stodgy affair, but it didn’t matter tonight; we heard a new star and she wasn’t a replacement for Jonas!
Hugh Kerr is editor of the Edinburgh Music Review, where a fuller review will appear.
photo: ROH
Glad she was so beautiful!
You don’t think her beauty is relevant to a part where she is meant to be a beautiful young woman?
No of course not. The casting director etc. would not have hired an old crone.
My is “ an old crone” more sensitive than beautiful ?!
Juan and Aigul proved to be a surprisingly beguiling pairing. His maturity and her youthful beauty created a vibrancy often lacking in productions of this work. How amazing and refreshingly satisfying in all aspects of this performance! Bravo to both!
A so-called reviewer using the space to comment on a female singer’s looks. Unacceptable.
A so-called Anon critic too afraid to admit his identity to defend his woke opinions?!
@HughKerr – you think retrograde sexism is “woke”?
You think saying a singer is beautiful in a part that requires a beautiful young woman is sexist?!
Yes, Mr Kerr, I do think your language was sexist, particularly in context; hence my comment. The fact that you don’t appear to think so explains quite a lot. It’s also interesting to see how aggressively you’ve responded to the views of some of your readers. It seems that you are one of those critics who can dish it out but not take it. I also think, as an editor, you should learn to employ grown-up punctuation??!!
Thanks for further confirming your sexism by assuming I’m a man!
Names online are pointless. I could’ve put I’m called Sam Jones and you’d’ve had no idea if I was really called that or not, but apparently you’d’ve been happier with that than ‘anon’. No logic.
Get a life!
I hope to die beautifully in my last act, too.
Kaufmann or Florez…
Florez was magnificent, in fine voice, acting with great sensitivity. Their final act was very moving.
Pretty sure that if one is considered “the new Anna Netrebko”, then this is NOT flattering at all. It also shows the total lack of understanding of voices today and of real opera critics. A mezzo, however great she might be, will always be overshadowed by sopranos. Nothing to do with talent, but with the repertoire and with the audiences likings.
Well Paul B that may be your anon view but I think it’s nonsense the overlap between mezzo and soprano is at best blurred just as the gap between baritone and tenor is the real question is the quality of the voice. By the way we’re you there last night?
Why does every Russian have to be compared to Netrebko (particularly since this one is a different voice category)? I well remember how Marina Poplavskaya was so promoted which of course did her little favors. In any case hopefully this one is both more artistically talented and morally advanced than the not so beloved “Anna”.
Perhaps because she is the finest Russian singer of our generation whatever her politics so a comparison with her is entirely relevant!
Russian singers today are usually overpromoted and overrated (Germans just the opposite, despite many fine ones currently available). Not too many Hvorostovsky’s or Obratsova’s right now.
There have been two people who have damaged the art of opera in recent years to the point that even critics cannot get their act straight! One of those two is Anna Netrebko. Just today a good friend, a person knowledgeable about opera, asked me: What on earth do people find so compelling about Anna Netrebko? My answer: The culprit is not Anna Netrebko herself, but rather the social media through which she lets everyone in on her private sphere, thus giving total strangers – not only strangers to her personally but also strangers to opera – a feeling of “belonging” Most of these people can hardly recognize one note from another. If they could, they would write her off completely. When I think back to how well she sang Mozart in Salzburg in 2006 and shortly thereafter in Don Pasquale at the Met, today her voice bears NO resemblance to her voice in those performances. The weight that she has gained in the meantime has, in my opinion, not improved her looks. But the MAIN THING is the reckless way in which she has gone about demolishing her voice systematically, delivering half-baked performances that satisfy her “followers”, but leave people knowledgeable of opera horrified!
I would prefer JDF over JK every single time. Once I had a ticket with JK singing in “Die Walküre” in Baden-Baden (Mariinsky). He fell ill, as so often, and was replaced by Andreas Schager. A great discovery.
Kaufmann cancels, how strange. It has failed three times in my experience, last time at the ROH last summer. Oe wonders why they still hire him.
The days when the female lead was massively obese but had the voice of a goddess are over it seems. Would a Caballe today have the stellar career she justifiably had? At least she lasted which is more than can be said of some of today’s crop.
I have a ticket for July 1st. I wonder who is singing, Florez or Kaufmann. It is not a question of preferences, Florez sings beautifully and Kaufmann is not what he used to be. But certainly Jonas is totally unreliable.
Francesco Demuro. Jonas has cancelled all his remaining performances. I’ve never seen Francesco at ROH before (or yet), but he sounds incredible from the Paris Opera broadcasts – including a Traviata with Diana Damrau. Am tempted not to join the crowd who are returning their tickets like a reflex without thinking, and to check out Demuro’s performance in the role. Aigul was very impressive in a supporting role in La Forza del Destino, so it will be good to see how she fares in a lead role (lots of positive reviews for her from friends who have seen this.)
Aigul isn’t the next Netrebko-she’s the first Akhmetshina, and since 2018, far better than Netrebko.