Jonas Kaufmann/Met

[+ WilliamM]

ok. Kaufmann missed all his performance at the Met in 2015-2016 & 2014-2015 seasons because of illness.

 

Aren't opera seasons planned years ahead of time?

 

I am surprised Kaufmann is not schedule to sing during the Met season for next year (2016-2017).

 

Does anyone know why?

[body2body]

Probably because he missed all his appearances from 2014-2016. It sounds like a good reason to avoid casting a singer. They do plan far in advance, but it's better to cut your losses 6 months in advance and re-cast a role rather than try to find someone to fill in a few weeks before the performance.

[+ WilliamM]

Kaufmann usually sings in the late winter/early spring at the Met, but not every season. If he missed performaces in the Met season ending in April 2014, that is news to me

[body2body]

ok. Kaufmann missed all his performance at the Met in 2015-2016 & 2014-2015 seasons because of illness.

 

Aren't opera seasons planned years ahead of time?

 

I am surprised Kaufmann is not schedule to sing during the Met season for next year (2016-2017).

 

Does anyone know why?

I was just speculating based on your comment

[+ WilliamM]

I was just speculating based on your comment

 

I understand. I should have expressed the issue more clearly. The Met season runs from October to April. He missed all performances in Winter/Spring 2015 and will miss all performance in Winter/Spring 2016.

 

Kaufmann is usually considered the most in-demand tenor in opera,

[TruHart1]

For the 2014-2015 season, Kaufmann only had one performance at the MET in February, 2015, of Carmen, which was scheduled to be a Saturday matineé broadcast and which he cancelled due to illness. This season (2015-2016) he was scheduled in February and March to sing in a full run of a new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut, which he cancelled due to illness.

 

There has been much discussion on the internet about the fact that he is in a new personal relationship (after a divorce) and has been quoted in at least one interview that he hopes to keep his engagements closer to home (Munich, Germany) so he no longer has to travel as much. I don't know it for a fact, but perhaps he has begun to curtail his longer distance commitments by contracting for performances closer to home, which would definitely rule out the MET in the near future.

 

He posted an apology on his website to all the people in the U.S. who were anticipating this season's MET Manon Lescaut for being too ill to manage the run. He also had a Carnegie Hall recital that he had to cancel which was scheduled a week or two before the ML run at the MET. He has no scheduled engagements at all for the MET during the 2016-2017 season.

 

His website only shows his schedule through July of 2016. The major production is a new Meistersinger in Munich in May/June and a number of recitals, concerts and Toscas in Vienna and Munich, all close to home. He is also scheduled in about a year for a 10 day Barbican Residency in London, from February 9 through February 13, 2017.

 

TruHart1

[+ WilliamM]

For the 2014-2015 season, Kaufmann only had one performance at the MET in February, 2015, of Carmen, which was scheduled to be a Saturday matineé broadcast and which he cancelled due to illness

 

Not that it make a difference, but Kaufmann was scheduled to sing two performances of

"Carmen" at the Met in February, 2015. I am sure because I thought about buying tickets, but both performances sold out quickly.

[whipped guy]

I had checked his website as well. As I recall he plans to be feeling better by March 16 for a Puccini concert in Prague. It will be interesting to see what developes.

 

When singers cancel quite a bit they get a certain reputation for being "difficult". One always thinks of Callas in that regard due to her So-called Edinburg La Sonnambula cancelation (she was never scheduled for the performance that she supposedly canceled!) and her infamous Norma Rome Walkout due to her not feeling well and she ultimately won that case in court.

 

I have never thought of Kaufmann as being in that category. I hope he does not get such a reputation. Still, it will be interesting to see if he subsequently schedules most of his performances closer to home as TH suggests might be the case!

[MrMiniver]

He is notoriously fragile (and not in a good way) even for a tenor. Despite his robust macho appearance he's considered pretty much a total wimp when it comes to any kind of cold or sniffle. He definitely doesn't believe in the "show must go on." He also really hated doing the new MET Parsifal and standing in all that water. It totally freaked him out. I've heard many there thought he acted like a big baby.

 

There were one or two things they were looking at for him next season but he declined. Hopefully, he will grow up a bit .... oh, and he really doesn't like to leave Europe. So I don't we'll see him much in the USA for the future.

[+ WilliamM]

He is notoriously fragile (and not in a good way) even for a tenor. Despite his robust macho appearance he's considered pretty much a total wimp when it comes to any kind of cold or sniffle. He definitely doesn't believe in the "show must go on." He also really hated doing the new MET Parsifal and standing in all that water. It totally freaked him out. I've heard many there thought he acted like a big baby.

 

There were one or two things they were looking at for him next season but he declined. Hopefully, he will grow up a bit .... oh, and he really doesn't like to leave Europe. So I don't we'll see him much in the USA for the future.

 

I must be very, very lucky. I bought tickets for eight operas over the years (dating back to before Barack Obama became president) with Kaufmann cast as the lead tenor. He did not cancelled any of those scheduled performances (all in the U.S).

[whipped guy]

He is notoriously fragile (and not in a good way) even for a tenor. Despite his robust macho appearance he's considered pretty much a total wimp when it comes to any kind of cold or sniffle. He definitely doesn't believe in the "show must go on." He also really hated doing the new MET Parsifal and standing in all that water. It totally freaked him out. I've heard many there thought he acted like a big baby.

 

There were one or two things they were looking at for him next season but he declined. Hopefully, he will grow up a bit .... oh, and he really doesn't like to leave Europe. So I don't we'll see him much in the USA for the future.

I have never heard Herr Kaufman in person. Therefore, if what you say is true then I probably will not get to experience him in the flesh any time soon. Just out of curiosity, what did the MET offer him for the upcoming season that he refused? In any event, he would have been an asset in several of the operas that will be performed next season. As an example, I would have loved to hear his Radames in Aïda! He always ends the final B-flat of "Celeste Aïda" with the diminuendo as Verdi has it in the score! I hate when that note is blurted out fortissimo. That alone would have been worth the price of admission. Oh well! Perhaps in the next lifetime!

[+ WilliamM]

I have never heard Herr Kaufman in person. Therefore, if what you say is true then I probably will not get to experience him in the flesh any time soon. Just out of curiosity, what did the MET offer him for the upcoming season that he refused? In any event, he would have been an asset in several of the operas that will be performed next season. As an example, I would have loved to hear his Radames in Aïda! He always ends the final B-flat of "Celeste Aïda" with the diminuendo as Verdi has it in the score! I hate when that note is blurted out fortissimo. That alone would have been worth the price of admission. Oh well! Perhaps in the next lifetime

 

Essentially, many of the same comments (fragile, wimp, hated being in water for so long)) were made on this very forum during the run of "Parsifal" at the Met. Kaufmann returned the next season in "Werther."

 

Who cares if some people at the Met may not like him? He sells tickets. And few people are critical of his singing and acting. Glad Kaufmann may have decided to stay close to home for a while. The Met Opera is too important to lose Kaufmann for an extended number of years.

[TruHart1]

...

 

There were one or two things they were looking at for him next season but he declined. Hopefully, he will grow up a bit .... oh, and he really doesn't like to leave Europe. So I don't we'll see him much in the USA for the future.

I must be very, very lucky. I bought tickets for eight operas over the years (dating back to before Barack Obama became president) with Kaufmann cast as the lead tenor. He did not cancelled any of those scheduled performances (all in the U.S).

...Just out of curiosity, what did the MET offer him for the upcoming season that he refused? In any event, he would have been an asset in several of the operas that will be performed next season. As an example, I would have loved to hear his Radames in Aïda! He always ends the final B-flat of "Celeste Aïda" with the diminuendo as Verdi has it in the score! I hate when that note is blurted out fortissimo. That alone would have been worth the price of admission. Oh well! Perhaps in the next lifetime!

Essentially, many of the same comments (fragile, wimp, hated being in water for so long)) were made on this very forum during the run of "Parsifal" at the Met. Kaufmann returned the next season in "Werther."

 

Who cares if some people at the Met may not like him? He sells tickets. And few people are critical of his singing and acting. Glad Kaufmann may have decided to stay close to home for a while. The Met Opera is too important to lose Kaufmann for an extended number of years.

I too am curious which roles he turned down, Mr. M.

 

I do think you privileged, William, to have seen him live 8 times! Oh, and thanks for the correction William, I guess I realized back then that the other, non-Saturday performance of Carmen was not going to be broadcast on Sirius so I knew I would only get to hear the Saturday broadcast performance. Sorry for the misinformation.

 

He does sell tickets but after his cancellations of Carmen in 2015, I heard that sales for Manon Lescaut were not nearly as great even before he cancelled this season. In fact, on an opera blog, one aficionado from Philadelphia told about how disgusted he was to have purchased tickets for the Carmen, pre-purchasing a hotel room for the time he would be there and paying for a train ticket from Philly to NYC. In his words, "Never again!"

 

Because he had a major vocal crisis early in his career, where he ended up completely discarding the vocal technique he'd learned and creating an entirely new technique of vocal production, he has always been overly protective of his voice, thus never singing over colds or infections like many artists do.

 

That said, here is the most recent studio recording of the Aida aria (from the complete recording, a wonderful Aida for the ages, BTW, on Warner Classics, released October 2, 2015) in which the piano final note (as WG noted Verdi specified in the score!) including a further decrescendo may be heard!

 

TruHart1

[whipped guy]

Thanks TH! I always forget to check YouTube for such things. I could not wait to hear that final B-flat and it was done to perfection. I still have a chill going through my body! A diminuendo is perhaps one of the most difficult things to achieve and do properly and seamlessly and especially on such a high note! Pappano certainly got the orchestra to add to the mesmerizing effect!

 

"Bravo! Bravo! Arci bravo!" (To quote Don Giovanni!)

[+ WilliamM]

I do think you privileged, William, to have seen him live 8 times! Oh, and thanks for the correction William, I guess I realized back then that the other, non-Saturday performance of Carmen was not going to be broadcast on Sirius so I knew I would only get to hear the Saturday broadcast performance. Sorry for the misinformation

 

I have been very lucky in the last decade or so with Kaufmann, Florez and Netrebko,

but I never saw Teresa Stratas. It was a while ago, so I have lost track of the number of times she cancelled, and sometimes at the last minute.

 

I do have tickets for "Manon Lescaut," so my winning streak is over!.:)

[whipped guy]

This all reminds me of the time that I tried to get tickets for Don Giovanni at the MET many years ago. I was in town for a meeting and Don Giovanni is one of my favorite pieces. The cast did not seem exceptional so I was puzzled as to why it was totally sold out. I subsequently was able to get a family circle standing room ticket. I found out later that it was due to the fact the then new sensation Bryn Terfel was originally in the cast, but cancelled due to back surgery and as such the performance had been sold out well in advance. Obviously the standing room contingent did not think that his replacement was worthy of standing for three hours as those tickets would have been scooped up as well. I have absolutely no recollection of who was in the cast. All I recall was that the production was by Zeffirelli.

 

I just found this:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/08/arts/terfel-cancels.html

[TruHart1]

I have been very lucky in the last decade or so with Kaufmann, Florez and Netrebko,

but I never saw Teresa Stratas...

 

I do have tickets for "Manon Lescaut," so my winning streak is over!.:)

I remember being thrilled when they did a last minute change of opera for a Saturday broadcast, from an Elektra with Nilsson to Madame Butterfly with Stratas. That Stratas Butterfly defined the role for me for almost 30 years. Likewise, I was devastated when Stratas cancelled her one broadcast Otello with Vickers and Kiri Te Kanawa made her early MET debut. Yes, Te Kanawa was fantastic but I still mourn the loss of never hearing Stratas' Desdemona!

 

Thankfully, although there was never a broadcast, I found an in-house recording of Suor Angelica Stratas did during her run (where she cancelled often!) of the Puccini Trittico in which she was a veritable force of nature! No wonder they called her the "little Callas!" She was an amazing but often unreliable artist!

 

TruHart1

[MrMiniver]

Essentially, many of the same comments (fragile, wimp, hated being in water for so long)) were made on this very forum during the run of "Parsifal" at the Met. Kaufmann returned the next season in "Werther."

 

Who cares if some people at the Met may not like him? He sells tickets. And few people are critical of his singing and acting. Glad Kaufmann may have decided to stay close to home for a while. The Met Opera is too important to lose Kaufmann for an extended number of years.

 

He returned for Werther because it was scheduled long before the Parsifal. He refused to come back in Parsifal which had been planned. The comments are made because they are accurate and true and explain his behavior. You don't have to like that but you can't pretend it doesn't exist.

 

It has nothing to do with whether people at the MET "like him" -- why do you always boil things down to like or dislike? -- it's about whether he is too fragile in ego, temperament, and health to rely on. That's not about "like."

 

It also seems to be about Kaufmann feeling that the MET is not a priority for him. That's sad.

[MrMiniver]

I have been very lucky in the last decade or so with Kaufmann, Florez and Netrebko,

but I never saw Teresa Stratas. It was a while ago, so I have lost track of the number of times she cancelled, and sometimes at the last minute.

 

I do have tickets for "Manon Lescaut," so my winning streak is over!.:)

 

I think I've seen just about everything Kaufmann has done in London, Vienna, New York, Chicago over the past 15 years. I went to every single performance of Parsifal. I've seen him in recital at least a dozen times. I first met Netrebko when she was a young nobody in SF in the late 80s/early 90s. She was such a sweet innocent girl back then, mostly doing Russian operas. Florez is a complete gentleman who almost never cancels. I've had dinner with he and his beautiful wife a number of times in NYC.

 

They are all great artists.

 

The all time canceler for me was Montserrat Caballe who seemed to cancel every other performance when I was first going to opera. As the joke was ... "Ms. Caballe is available for a limited number of cancellations this season."

[whipped guy]

I remember being thrilled when they did a last minute change of opera for a Saturday broadcast, from an Elektra with Nilsson to Madame Butterfly with Stratas. That Stratas Butterfly defined the role for me for almost 30 years. Likewise, I was devastated when Stratas cancelled her one broadcast Otello with Vickers and Kiri Te Kanawa made her early MET debut. Yes, Te Kanawa was fantastic but I still mourn the loss of never hearing Stratas' Desdemona!

 

Thankfully, although there was never a broadcast, I found an in-house recording of Suor Angelica Stratas did during her run (where she cancelled often!) of the Puccini Trittico in which she was a veritable force of nature! No wonder they called her the "little Callas!" She was an amazing but often unreliable artist!

 

TruHart1

In 1992 at the MET I saw Stratas as Liù in Turandot. I don't recall the rest of the cast. Like Don Giovanni the production was by Zeffirelli! LOL!

[whipped guy]

One of the most fortuitous Caballé cancellations was a Semiramide at Carnegie Hall in the early 1980's. That event really inroduced NYC to June Anderson as I recall. She was waiting in the wings anticipating the cancellation and she and Marilyn Horne sang both their roles and especially the duets to perfection! The audience was disappointed that Caballé canceled, but was cheering Anderson by the end of the evening!!! Incidentally Ms. Anderson was a local favorite and grew up one town over from where I live. She was very shy as a child and young adult from those who knew her personally.

[+ WilliamM]

It has nothing to do with whether people at the MET "like him" -- why do you always boil things down to like or dislike? -- it's about whether he is too fragile in ego, temperament, and health to rely on. That's not about "like

 

Perhaps it is because you apparently know all the theater and opera people whom you wright about here. With the exception of Mary Martin, Elaine Stritch and Audra McDonald, I have never met any of these people. So I am using the word "like" as a general term that applies to the person and/or his or her possible professional flaws.

[TruHart1]

In 1992 at the MET I saw Stratas as Liù in Turandot. I don't recall the rest of the cast. Like Don Giovanni the production was by Zeffirelli! LOL!

Stratas' broadcast Liù in the run of that season was very fine but I was distracted by the first time Gwyneth Jones was singing Turandot at the MET after being praised so much when she sang it at Covent Garden a season or two previously. Unfortunately the tenor was Vladimir Popov, whose sound was not to my liking. Stratas and Jones, both forces of nature on the operatic stage!!!

 

Oh, and June Anderson was a great dramatic coloratura, especially when she was at the New York City Opera.

 

TruHart1

[+ WilliamM]

I found an in-house recording of Suor Angelica Stratas did during her run (where she cancelled often!) of the Puccini Trittico in which she was a veritable force of nature! No wonder they called her the "little Callas

 

I attended one of her cancellation of that Puccini opera. At that point, I not been in NYC in over a year, so I was not happy. I got over it because Strates' replacement was very good.

[body2body]

I have watched Gwyneth Jones " Oath on the Spear" from the '76 Bayreuth Ring Götterdämmerung countless times ( on YouTube) she always stuns me with the shear steely power of her voice, and the intensity of her acting. I was fortunate to see her as Brunhilde in the San Francisco Ring in 1985 where she sang both Die Walkure, and Siegfried ( Eva Marton sang Brunhilde in Götterdämmerung ).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfHmnvAbmvo

Jones went through several years where she canceled frequently due to wobbly pitch problems.