State opera director reassures Villazón

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Staatsopern-Chef macht Villazon Mut
Startenor Rolando Villazon muss erneut eine Karrierepause einlegen und hat heuer alle Auftritte - auch an der Staatsoper - abgesagt. Direktor Ioan Holender hat ihm einen Brief geschrieben, mit dem er Villazon Mut machen will.

Holender: "Nicht verzweifeln"
Eine Stimmbandzyste mache eine baldige Kehlkopfoperation erforderlich, der Sänger muss daher alle Auftritte bis Jahresende absagen, hieß es vom Management. Villazon hatte bereits 2007 über Monate hinweg wegen eines Burnouts alle Auftritte absagen müssen.

Damals habe er schon einen chirurgischen Eingriff gehabt, so Holender gegenüber dem ORF-Radio Ö3. Natürlich könne das nun auch chronisch werden und jede OP sei für die Karriere riskant. Es gebe leider Beispiele, die danach nicht mehr ordentlich singen konnten, die Mehrzahl der Fälle verlaufe aber ohne Probleme.

Das Schlimmste ist laut Holender aber, dass man als Sänger in dieser Zeit nicht sprechen dürfe.Er schrieb Villazon daher nach eigenen Angaben in einem Brief, dass "er nicht verzweifeln dürfe".

Premiere 2010 mit Netrebko
Es sei "mit einer vollständigen Genesung und Rückkehr des Tenors zum Ende des Jahres zu rechnen", so sein behandelnder Arzt in der Aussendung. Auch das Management versicherte, dass Villazon seinen "Verpflichtungen 2010 wieder nachkommen" werde.

Die Staatopern-Auftritte im Mai in der Titelpartie des "Werther" wurden nun einmal abgesagt.

Am 3. Mai 2010 ist in der Staatsoper ein Auftritt Villazons in "Carmen" an der Seite von Elina Garanca und Anna Netrebko geplant.

Roman Vargas will replace Rolando as Werther in Vienna

State opera: Ramon Vargas replaces Villazón

Rolando Villazón had to cancel all his performances till the end of the year cause of a larynx operation. Ramon Vargas sings now instead of his compatriot the title role of "Werther".

The mexican tenor Ramon Vargas stands in for Rolando Villazón in the titel role of "Werther" at the state opera Vienna. Like the state opera announced today, thursday, will Vargas stand on stage on 20th, 24th and 30th May.

Yesterday was emerged that Villazón had to cancel all performances till the end of the year, cause he had to undergo a larynx operation cause of a vocal chord cyst.

Our one and only real Werther

Star Singer Villazon Conks Out, Revives as Wild Poet Werther

Is Rolando Villazon our new Maria Callas, a remarkable voice used with supreme artistry yet prematurely beset by troubles that have the tenor’s fans tremble with apprehension whenever the going gets rough?

Villazon dropped out of the opening night of Massenet’s “Werther” at the Opera Bastille in Paris “on his doctor’s advice,” as the management said. On March 12, when I heard the Mexico-born singer in the role of the suicidal poet, he was in decent shape, passionate, vibrant and valiantly rising to the challenges of the lead character’s desperate outbursts.

Still, I feel that his voice has lost some of its sheen and that his top notes are less free. Although he lives in Paris and has become a French citizen, his French pronunciation continues to be picturesque, to put it mildly.

The singer who stepped in for Villazon at the premiere and who is alternating with him is Ludovic Tezier, a baritone. Jules Massenet rewrote the title role for the “King of Baritones,” Mattia Battistini (1856-1928), who often sang it -- in Italian -- on his European tours.

Tezier has a warm, vigorous voice and looks convincing enough as the glum, increasingly hysterical hero. Still, we expect baritones to play loyal friends, stern fathers or evil schemers, not lovers.

The climax of the score is the A sharp in Werther’s aria “Pourquoi me reveiller.” It’s well beyond Tezier’s reach. No wonder the baritone version of the opera is rarely revived.

Sweet Sophie

Susan Graham is a sensitive, idiomatic Charlotte, Werther’s love interest, who is torn between faithfulness to her dull husband and suppressed feelings for her admirer. Adriana Kucerova is a sweet Sophie, Charlotte’s younger sister.

Franck Ferrari is a sturdy Albert. When Villazon sings the title role, it’s Tezier who plays his successful rival.

The hideous set (Jurgen Rose) is an import from Munich. It’s a hangar with graffiti on white walls and a rock in the center on which Werther is brooding at his desk. The story has been updated to what looks like the late 19th century, when the bicycle had been invented and gentlemen wore straw hats.

Why Paris was unable to mount a production of its own is a mystery, yet somehow fits into the checkered history the opera has had in France.

Goethe’s 1774 novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” on which it’s based, was translated into several languages and became a European bestseller. When Napoleon met its author, he confessed that he had read it seven times.

Yet when Massenet presented his work to the Opera-Comique, the director refused it. He found the story too depressing. Only after the success of the 1892 world premiere in Vienna did he deign to accept it.

“Werther” became a staple of the Opera-Comique’s repertory. The demise of the house in 1972 and of the French school of singing in general ended that tradition. Today’s revival is only the second at Paris’s main opera house.

Kent Nagano’s conducting might not be the last word in romanticism, yet he has a fine ear for balance and takes care not to drown out the singers.

Rating: ***.

Les derniers rapports sur Werther

Clique ici, ici, ici et bien sûr ici pour lire le rapport fantastique des Villazónistas !


Merci à Eliane =)

Viva Villazón ! Viva Werther !

Such a greeeeeeeeaaaaat day !!! It seems that Rolando was wonderful yesterday !!!! His singing, his acting, well everything ! =))))))) Are their anyones (besides the Villazónistas ^^) who have been at the opera yesterday, too ?? Please comment, we are curious !!!! ; )))

Rolando will not sing tomorrow !!!

Like the l'opera national de Paris announced at their homepage Rolando will not sing tomorrow. They will play the baritone version with Ludovic Tézier as Werther. They say that he will not sing cause of his medicines' advise !
Click here to read the whole announcement.

Le premier rapport de Werther

Catherine a ecrit le premier rapport de la répétition général de Rolando's Werther à l'opera national de Paris hier chez Villazonistas. Clique ici pour lire =)

Rolando sings "Così la tortorella"

Click here for listening =)






Ps: Tomorrow we will know (finally) more about Werther ! ; )