Another top singer walks out on Buenos Aires
mainAfter the Angela Gheorghiu debacle two months ago, a second international singer has withdrawn from the Teatro Colon.
The Argentine Marcelo Alvarez was due to sing Andrea Chenier in December.
He had agreed to arrive ten days beforehand for rehearsal. The new Colon artistic director Enrique Diemecke demanded more.
So Marcelo now says he’s not coming.
I think they just don’t have enough money to pay for stars. All the rest is a simply proper excuse. Or the spirit of Maria Callas ousts those who are not her cup of tea 😉
‘Star’ singers turning up at the last minute and just doing their thing is pretty widespread. Ten days before the premiere is not unreasonable, though, bearing in mind Marcelo would probably not have wanted to learn anything unusual and five days staging before the stage and orchestra rehearsals would have been more than enough to put him into what would have to have been a rather conventional production. Shame for the Porteños, though; Alvarez is a thrilling singer (or was, the last time I saw and heard him).