Famed soprano cancels the whole year
OperaThe German star Anja Harteros says she will not sing again in 2024.
It is understood she is looking after an ailing family member.
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The husband of Ms Harteros has been in bad health for a number of years. Her desire to be with him should be a matter of sympathy rather than any other less empathetic emotion
I recall a time in the late 1980s when a truly great Italian soprano asked to be released from a contract in a major house in Texas when her equally great Bulgarian bass husband had a serious eye injury and she wanted to be with him.
The GM of the company, a very creative and good GM but failed singer himself made a cruel and unwise comment about the soprano being “unprofessional” in a local newspaper. .
The great soprano never sang again, as far as I remember, in that city. Her decision. But a big loss for her many fans there.
Any reason the soprano is not named?
Discretion, although I doubt Miss Freni would mind naming names (Gockley). I also doubt Miss Freni cared whether provincial Houston thought her unprofessional or not.
Fourth and fifth words name her. Only saw name on a second reading myself!
It’s a shame that we have been conditioned to skim rather than to read.
It wasn’t there originally; thankfully, is there now.
This is a very laudable commitment.
Anja Harteros is a very dignified and profound performer. Her long absence from world stages can only sadden opera lovers , but this is her personal choice and it should be respected as such.
It is telling that the administration of the Nationaltheater in Munich tolerated her never ending cancellations for so long, for too long. But, protected by the Opera Mafiosi, she could do as she pleased in a years-long demoralized scene. Until she couldn’t.
Not only highly moral but wise as well. Good singing comes out of healthy and happy people.
plus her career came to an end already and her voice isn’t what it was – she also sang above her repertoire and though a beautiful voice she often lacked passion – a most boring Tosca for instance
For me a bit like Gheorgiu – there is the special bite missing
Yes she has well known for constant cancellations due to her ailing husband which one needs to respect but a pain for booking her
Which she has always demonstrated.
That’s been her excuse for the past decade and more of incessant cancellations. Maybe time for retirement – a shame she was an exquisite artist who very few ever got to see (at least since about 2013 or so).
The intendant of the Nationaltheater, should have given her the boot long ago for failure to repeatedly honor her professional commitments/contracts, sick husband or not, sob story or not. Period.
Hopefully she will bounce back. She is a great singer – that endangered species – who should be commanding stages everywhere and not just in Munich!
sorry she sang roles she shouldn’t have done and she is more or less finished
It’s a testimony to her quality that so many houses have accepted her cancellations over so long a period. I worked with her on a production in 2006. She was magnificent on stage, largely apprehensive/fearful/jittery offstage even then but clearly an exceptional talent. I wonder if she will ever reach the point where she feels truly liberated from her (possibly self-imposed) shackles. I can only hope so and wish her all the best.
Hardly a testimony of her quality and more of a testimony of despair and panic on the part of administrators, given the unprecedented disappearance of singers with memorable voices or memorable artistry worldwide.
????
I assume you’ve heard Ms. Harteros in person?