Star actor pulls out of BBC Proms
mainSimon Russell Beale has withdrawn from next Monday’s performance of Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw.
No reason has been given.
He will be substituted by the veteran operatic baritone David Wilson-Johnson.
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Jumbo! I sang Henze with David Wilson-Johnson at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. What a brilliant singing actor he is. This audience is in for a real treat.
As no reason was given, there was much speculation at the RAH last night that he withdrew because he couldn’t cope with the sprechgesang, which was why his replacement was a bass, rather than another actor. Perhaps he would like to come on here and refute that idea.
It should also be said that there was a great deal of disgruntlement about the way in which his absence was dealt with by the BBC – no notices in the hall, nothing on the website to suggest that he’d ever been a part of the concert and nothing remotely resembling an apology to those who’d only booked for the concert in the first place in order to see him perform (if only for ten minutes or so).
David Wilson-Johnson did an excellent job, and I can’t imagine it being done better.