The singer who got booed in Vienna
UncategorizedThe French mezzo-soprano Katia Ledoux has gone on social media with a remarkably candid assessement of the perils of facing a fickle Vienna audience. There is good advice here for anyone having to appear before an unknown public, and we reprint it with her permission. Here’s what Katia writes:
Today I was booed on stage for the first time in my life.
Well… technically I have been booed many times in the summers when I sang in the Kinderoper Jennersdorf many years ago, where I played monsters and mean stepmothers. But there is a huge difference between being booed by kids when you play the villain in a children’s opera… and being booed by an adult… on New Year’s Eve… when you sing one of the most iconic roles in the Viennese repertoire (and one of your favourite characters ever), Prinz Orlofsky in “Die Fledermaus”.
Okay… so now… what do I do with this? Vienna is a city that is known for having a very unique audience that is very passionate about opera and loves to give detailed feedback.
This is wonderful on the one hand, because it makes us feel that what we do on stage matters deeply, but it can also be a bit scary when that passion turns against you. Nowhere else in the world do I get so many letters, messages and post-show feedback from audience members telling me in great detail what they liked and didn’t like about shows. There are online forums where typing warriors argue with each other about whether a production is good or not.
I had to leave the online forums because the sexism and homophobia was just too exhausting for me. But other than that, I have to say that I take all the feedback and criticism I get very much to heart. I feel that if someone loves this art form enough to find a way to get in touch with me and write me a personal message, the least I can do as the person on stage performing their beloved art form for them is to read it and at least give a thought about that feedback. Listening to constructive feedback can give very valuable insight and has helped me become a better
performer.
Now the problem with booing is that it is a very difficult form of feedback. I cannot be entirely sure what exactly that person was booing.
Of course, as I was leaving the stage, my colleagues all told me not to take it personally, but… how can I?
I love Die Fledermaus. I really do. The music, the humour… and I love the new Volksoper Orlofsky’s rewrite as a nihilistic and deeply depressed tragically closeted gay character. And of course, singing Die Fledermaus on New Year’s Eve in Vienna is one of the highest honours an opera singer can have.
So of course I did my best. I really did. I go over every sentence I said and think, “Maybe I didn’t speak loud enough here?” or “Maybe I was too low on that note?” because I can’t stop thinking about what would warrant such a reaction, because if I didn’t do anything wrong, the alternative is even more devastating: What if I have done nothing wrong, but have been booed because I AM something wrong? Maybe they don’t like my voice, maybe they think my technique is wrong. Or maybe they just find me extremely annoying as a person… or maybe… MAYBE it’s the ghosts of the right-wing election results that empower people to boo any artist who doesn’t conform to a very specific ideal of appearance, ethnicity, sexuality or political opinion. I don’t know, I have no way of knowing, but today I discovered a new fear of mine.
Today I really hated the feeling of being booed on stage.
Maybe they were booing a stupid woke rewrite of a classic funny opera
Yeah probably the little snowflakes trying to make themselves look bigger right before melting and disappearing from this world.
Maybe it’s not you at all. Maybe the audience doesn’t like “the new Volksoper Orlofsky’s rewrite as a nihilistic and deeply depressed tragically closeted gay character.”
Gosh! Poor girl. I feel awful for her. I simply cannot imagine how it would feel to be boo’ed in this way. She is right to call it out though and brave to do so. You go girl. Just you walk out there next time and do your best. That is all that can be expected of anyone. Nevermind the naysayers. They are just rude and crass. You are doing it and are better than them.
Sounds like the audience didn’t like the character as perceived by the stage director as a closeted gay figure. Sounds silly to me. But singers need to accept that they are gonna be booed if they follow through on doing what the stage director wants as opposed to performing the character the way the composer saw it.
It’s never acceptable to boo a singer. I really hope that the people who booed were objecting to a concept for Orlovsky that didn’t match their narrow-minded preconceptions.
If that were the case, it would in my opinion be ok to boo the production team, if they take their own curtain call(s). But often they don’t, except on the first night.
Another option (which I have adopted at Bayreuth) is to boo as soon as the curtain falls. That way it’s clear that it’s the production that is the problem, not any of the singers.
I was present at Tristan on the last night of the 1993 season at Bayreuth. The curtain calls lasted for 30 minutes. Jerusalem, Meier and Barenboim were cheered to the rafters every time they appeared. To his credit, the director Heiner Müller also took a call every time after the musicians, and was ferociously booed on each occasion.
I feel very sorry for Ms Ledoux. It’s hard to see what can be done to help, except perhaps translate her message into German and publish it so that the booers can see what damage they have done.
Maybe you got booed because of bad singing, honey?
She literally said that could be the case
Wien audiences are absurdly unpredictable. When I made my debut there with absolutely no stage time in a downright dangerous production, I was surprised by a suddenly rising platform accompanied by billowing smoke as I was singing a difficult phrase. I almost crashed and burned on the spot, but I pulled it together and got nice applause at the end.
In the final performance of my little run, I sang very well but in the final seconds had to cope with a malfunctioning trap door with flames all around it that could have given a whole new meaning to the Immolation Scene had that been the opera! I leapt over the flames in my poofy gown, squeezed past the malfunctioning door and ducked down onto my elevator, all without missing a beat.
When I emerged for my bow, I was greeted with cheers that were quickly overpowered by an American-accented, male “Owooo Bewwwwww!” A German woman next to him loudly shouted at him, “No!” and may in fact have smacked him, but he was immediately joined by several more bellowing booers, apparently in an organized event. They kept booing and booing until the rest of the audience, embarrassed, quieted and I awkwardly had to rejoin my colleagues in the line. Afterward, the intendant greeted me with a gleeful laugh and praise, and he did have me back the following season.
My first question is whether this was a case of generally enthusiastic applause accompanied by a few boos. That would suggest the boos are from a faction dismayed with how Orlovsky is presented in this production rather than for a poor performance by Ms. Ledeux. Usually audiences have the decency just to boo the director – don’t blame the singer who gamely and professionally plays the hand they were dealt.
Operetta doesn’t do “Nihilistic, deeply depressed, and tragically gay.”
The best comment so far.
I do agree that this is a case of racism and prejudice, as the Austrians are known for that. If I am not mistaken, Dudamel was also booed at the Vienna opera, arguably on account of being Latino. Nothing new under the Austrian sun.
The commentator probably insinuates that there are no bad productions or inadequate singers. The problem always consists of a racist audience.
They are indeed the country that produced Adolf Hitler, have never engaged in significant reflections, historical apologies, reparations for their historic crimes – unlike the far more enlightened nation of Germany (the western parts at least) – and have continued to regularly elect fascistic types like Jorg Haider, Waldheim etc. They certainly have a great deal to be ashamed of historically, despite their immense cultural accomplishments and contributions, and have never make the slightest attempt to acknowledge this (much like the U.S. with the native Americans).
Dudamel should be booed for just being Dudamel. The worst conductor I ever heard and that’s saying something.
Orlofsky is closeted? That’s a first!
Sounds like the reaction was regarding the new production but I am sure being in any way different to the norm would be a contributing factor. It’s a harsh reality that audiences can often react in this way, particularly to pieces they feel so strongly about – irrespective of your love, respect, preparation, professionalism and delivery of the material.
It is said that the greatest achievement of Austria in the 20th century was convincing the world that Hitler was German and Beethoven was Austrian.
Hitler was a German and died with only German citizenship. Yes he was born an Austrian, but he gave that up when he became a German citizen. People need to stop using this quote. It doesn’t work as intended.
Why does nowadays everybody feel entitled to getting only good reviews and critiques? Can’t they accept that the audience can like, dislike or be neutral towards their performance? Not all performances are “awesome” and “amazing”. Even the greatest artists might sometimes have an off night.
And secondly, why always try to accuse the audience being racist, sexist, homophobic…? Sometimes it is simply not good enough for the money paid.
I was there. They actually booed the director, and she was merely collateral damage. Modern audiences and directors like to associate the operatic convention of the ‘trousers role’ with their misguided woke agenda. Nothing could be further from the truth. Shakespeare’s two male actors for ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in 1662 were not gay; neither is Orlovsky, Cherubino, or Stephano (in Gounod’s R&J).
It’s interesting to see how detached the arts are from real world dynamic forces. Out there, if people don’t like what you produce they stop buying it – if they tell you why, that’s great but why should they?
Similarly, these productions are the work of closed groups obsessed with promoting agendas that are increasingly unpopular. Booing is an honest response and is perhaps seen as the only way to burst their bubble. Artists should be grateful an audience still cares enough.
Desecrating the original work, I didn’t even throw anything on stage, which was pretty good. The Vienna audience is too gentle, letting that Woke bastard get more and more arrogant.
1. She said herself the singing wasn’t great
2. She stuck with being in a woke revisionist production, presumably for the money and having Vienna on her cv, when she could have cited artistic differences to leave early in the creation process.
What else did she expect?
If you put yourself before public and critics then you have to be strong enough to take whatever reaction you get.
Steve, she did NOT say the singing wasn’t great. She posed rhetorical questions about a situation that she is trying to understand.
I went to Fledermaus at the Volksoper in the 90s. The production and performance were so tired and dull that I left at the interval. The Viennese audience know the story inside out, so why not offer them an alternative take on Orlovsky?
That’s another rhetorical question, but I fear that the answer might be depressing to those of us who view oper(ett)a as a living art form that needs a regular supply of new ideas to remain exciting and relevant.
She is most likely on a full yearly contract, in which case it is not that easy to walk out of a production.
Generally, singers´ contracts state that they have to follow the instructions of the conductor and the director. Singers in her situation won´t have the luxury to simply walk out of a contract.
If the audience members were at all like so many of the posters here, it’s not at all hard to believe that racist, sexist and right-wing intolerance in general played a major role in their response.
I was there. She wasn’t booed. Actually got a Brava after 1st aria
I abhor any kind of racism, or booing because of a singer’s identity. However, I am sick of Katia Ledoux. An artist who, in the industry, is known for frequently showing up under prepared, under rehearsed, and incredibly insecure. Is it horrible to be booed? Yes! But having worked with her on several occasions, I suspect that the booing could have been because of her performance. I will applaud her for one thing though: Katia Ledoux is brilliant at marketing.
Dear It’s Marketing Baby,
It is on all accounts massively harsh to say that someone is ‘known in the industry’ for frequently showing up under prepared or under rehearsed; however, as you lack the courage to put your name to such a statement, you immediately render it invalid, as anyone can claim anything under an alternative name.
I myself have one: by matinee or evening, I turn into my alter ego, the renowned superhero Mezzoman, driving a Mercedes, riding a Suzuki, or – in cases of real emergency – the Joycemobil to help out where my help is needed, often accompanied by my sidekick CheRobino, the Pants Role Wonder.
Yet when I make a statement in a comments section, I am Hein van Eekert, mellifluously voiced radio host, writer and music lover. And let me tell you that Katia Ledoux in my part of the world, or my ‘corner of the industry’ is known as ‘onze Katia’ (our Katia), an epitheton ornans coined by Peter v.d. Lint, one of our most respected, knowledgable and intelligent music journalists who would never have done this if she were anything less than amazing. Our Katia: we love her, we know nothing about lack of preparation. In our opera houses, works are extensively rehearsed, which means that Katia is well rehearsed too. Recitals have always been wonderful events. All this has nothing to do with marketing. Yes, she has been a guest on my radio show, but she did not invite herself: I, Hein van Eekert, did. And may I remind you that this artist, according to you known in the industry for lacking competence, has appeared in a dazzling range of different roles from Renaissance music to modern works? Difficult roles too, new roles in new operas (for instance, Manfred Trojahn’s Eurydice – Liebenden blind), and jump ins such as her Orphée at the Volksoper. Would ‘the industry’ ever ask her to do this if what you say is even remotely true? Are the Volksoper, Antonio Pappano, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Zürich Opera, Covent Garden, Opera Rara, Stéphane Denève, the Dutch National Opera, Emmanuelle Haïm and others all blinded by her talent for marketing? Seems just a tad unlikely.
What’s left is the ‘incredibly insecure’: a characteristic miss Ledoux shares with some of the greatest artists. And yet, miss Ledoux opened up about the boo-ing. She got some interesting comments here and also a few made by the usual Captain Obvious-types explaining her own words back to her.
Be sick if you really must, but do not drag ‘the industry’ into this.
Get well soon,
Hein van Eekert
My gut feeling is that the small section of the public that booed you (one boo goes a long way) does not care a dam about your sexuality, skin color, or politics, but that these arbitrary group signifiers have come to usurp and replace so much of what people enjoyed about a night at the opera, or a movie, or a TV series that they have simply had enough. The re-framing of opera to suit the needs of the post-modernist, cultural and political Left is interesting to some, but galling to others. You must surely accept that. You can expect to be booed in such productions, just like audiences worldwide often boo even the most gloriously sung Pinkerton, such is their contempt of the character. While many adherents to “wokeness” do seem pathologically obsessed with themselves and their various group identifiers, I do not know you and can only respond to your text, in which you question whether you ARE something wrong. This seems a like a slightly vain stretch to me, on first reading, given the plausibility of the alternative hypothesis; the tinkering with proud traditions by the increasingly irritating and imposing forces of over-correction. Therefore, I would continue being an artist, and an artist of conscience at that, but also know your audience, where their red lines are, and what to expect if you cross them.