Winning Turns

By: ELI JACOBSON
05/14/2009

Spring has sprung but illness, family crises, vocal problems, and other unspoken matters have sidelined almost a dozen of the scheduled performers at the Metropolitan Opera over the past two months. This rash of cancellations has kept the Met artistic administration scrambling around the clock finding replacements with no time for picking daisies or days at the beach.The most inevitable of these cancellations was the withdrawal of Rolando Villazon from an all-star revival of "L'Elisir D'Amore" due to laryngitis. Bryn Terfel had withdrawn from the role of Dulcamara before the season started, leaving only Angela Gheorghiu to supply the star factor. Italian lyric tenor Massimo Giordano was flown in from Berlin just in time for the final dress rehearsal. Giordano took over the opening night and the following Saturday matinee radio broadcast. Ideally "Elisir" is an ensemble piece with a comedic star turn for the tenor. The backstage drama left the piece out of balance. Giordano has a pleasant but shallow and monochromatic lyric tenor of the right size and quality, but rather plain ideas about phrasing and dynamics. Mostly it was four-square phrasing at mezzo forte with the occasional hint of croon. His acting was high on energy but low on individual character development.

Simone Alaimo as Dr. Dulcamara and Franco Vassallo as Belcore had solid professionalism and some idiomatic flair, but seemed to be working in a vacuum. That left Gheorghiu to decide that the title of the opera was really "I Capricci d'Adina" and take center stage - and the final star bow. Keeping the energy level high, the Rumanian diva poured on the high spirits, high notes, and feminine wiles. The middle voice is more smoke than fire these days, but one had to admire her determination to give the audience full value while looking past the rather self-regarding manner and lack of real engagement with her colleagues. Showing the effects of a disrupted rehearsal period, Maurizio Benini instituted fast and rigid tempos, hoping that everyone would fall into line, which made for an oddly mechanical yet imprecise performance.As Villazon's laryngitis persisted, two other tenors, the elfin Barry Banks and native New Yorker Dmitri Pittas, took over his remaining performances. The young Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja was always scheduled for the last show on April 22, and this proved to be the best of the run. A tall husky man with a broad open face and warmly engaging personality, Calleja's voice is still developing yet already a thing of complex and distinctive beauty. The sound is large yet narrowly focused, with a slightly reedy vibrato in the middle that gives the sound a plaintive urgency. The timbre is honeyed and the top notes in recent years have taken on a more focused golden ring. But Calleja's most treasurable quality is that he treats the music lovingly, often beginning and finishing his phrases with a caressing mezza voce. Also showing strong stage presence and acting ability, Calleja performed Nemorino as a naive yet exuberant teddy bear with a heart bigger than his brain that ultimately took him where he needed to be.Nicole Cabell, the second cast Adina, has a velvety timbre but the tone seemed strangely unsubstantial until it opened up in her final aria. Vassallo and Alaimo now seemed part of a team and showed real vivacity and comic brio. By the end of the evening, the entire audience seemed to be feeling the effects of Dulcamara's love potion and gave Calleja a roaring ovation as he took the final star bow. Calleja's debut role at the Met in 2006 was as the Duke in "Rigoletto," and he returned to the role this April in an interesting second cast. He showed that though a cad, the Duke is an aristocrat; the elegance and tenderness of his vocal manner is the veil for his sins. Revealing herself once againthe real "singing actress," Diana Damrau as Gilda integrated a perfectly controlled, technically secure voice into an untraditional interpretation. All of her vocal effects were used to create specific emotional reactions working off of the music rather than competing with it for attention. Eschewing the usual passive lamb to the slaughter approach, Damrau's Gilda was a headstrong teenager clearly chafing at her seclusion and the secrecy that surrounded her home. Her initial duet with Rigoletto showed her trying to pry information from him and reacting with frustration and anger when she failed to discover her father's secrets. The intricacies of "Caro Nome" were attuned to the hormonal rush of a young girl's first romantic experience, the high staccati were excited giggles, and the downward runs were dreamy sighs. The conception did become less convincing as this obviously smart and willful young girl sacrifices her life to save a man clearly unworthy of her. Some of Damrau's business in the last act began to seem contrived and busy, but clearly this was a major artist at work, and she held the audience rapt to her every utterance and gesture.Roberto Frontali as Rigoletto grew on me as the evening progressed. Not an imposing man or a true dramatic baritone, his anti-heroic sound and presence revealed an underdog in a doomed rebellion against the corrupt society he inhabits. Native Italian diction and insight into the text combined with securely produced medium-sized tone helped Frontali create a moving portrait of the jester.Conductor Ricardo Frizza had some odd ideas about tempos, but worked well with his soloists and musicians. Thanks to a distinctive and involved trio of leads, this "Rigoletto" proved a revival with a strong dramatic and musical pulse.

Surgery nixes Mexican tenor Villazon's 2009 schedule

We all feel for the wonderful and fantastic tenor Rolando Villazon and his need to have a cyst removed from his larynx. Let us be clear that the larnyx is not the vocal cords...they are two different parts of the throat. The larynx is more like the voice box which holds the vocal cords so nevertheless, they are all pretty close together. The cyst is most likely a node probably from singing incorrectly.

CBC News
After a number of high-profile cancellations this spring by world-renowned tenor Rolando Villazon, representatives for the opera star have revealed that he has a cyst on his larynx.
The Mexican tenor requires surgery to remove the cyst, according to a statement released Wednesday by German concert organizer Deutsche Entertainment AG.
The statement also said that Villazon is cancelling his remaining 2009 performances but that he should be recovered and ready to return to the stage by the end of the year.

The 37-year-old singer "needs surgery as soon as possible," his management company, Universal Music Classical Management and Productions, also said on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported. Villazon had been slated to perform a concert in Berlin on Thursday.

Spotty record for past few years

Questions about the state of the popular tenor's voice arose after a host of cancellations in 2007 and 2008, including a period of several consecutive months away from the stage.
Though he received favourable reviews upon his return at the Vienna State Opera in January 2008, he cancelled more concerts last year. In 2009, he bowed out of Lucia di Lammermoor at New York's Metropolitan Opera and subsequently withdrew from the Met's L'Elisir d'Amore, citing acute laryngitis. "It has been a long and hard winter and just like many of you, I am sure, I have also been affected by that. I need to give myself the time to fully recover from this bout of laryngitis," the tenor wrote in an apology message on his website. "I am very sorry to disappoint those that had planned to see me perform in New York; as you can imagine I am extremely disappointed myself. I would like to thank all of you for your good wishes, they mean a lot to me." Villazon rose the ranks of the opera world in recent years, often for his celebrated matchups with Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. The attractive, dark-haired singers had partnered with great success, palpable chemistry and onstage passion for several years.

opera news
Breaking News
Rolando Villazón to Undergo Surgery to Remove Laryngeal Cyst, Cancels All Performances Through 2009 April 29, 2009

Tenor Rolando Villazón will undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cord, and has been forced to cancel all of his remaining performances in 2009, the tenor's concert organizer said in a statement released today. The surgery will require Villazón to cancel two May concerts that had been slated for Berlin and Hamburg; May performances of Werther at the Vienna State Opera and in Munich; a concert performance of Handel arias at the Salzburg Festival; a Madrid concert with Plácido Domingo; a June concert with Antonio Pappano at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; and an August concert in Copenhagen. The Metropolitan Opera also announced today that Villazón has withdrawn from the title role in the company's new production of Offenbach's Les Contes d’Hoffmann, which is scheduled to play from December 3, 2009 through January 2, 2010. The Met plans to announce a replacement for the role of Hoffmann at a later date. Likewise, Los Angeles Opera has announced that Giuseppe Filianoti will now sing the role of Nemorino in the company's season-opening performances of L'Elisir d'Amore in September 2009. In a statement posted to his website, Villazón wrote: "Due to a cyst that has just been detected on one of my vocal cords I will very shortly have to undergo surgery. After the operation, there is a phase of rehabilitation and in order to make sufficient time for this, I have unfortunately had to withdraw from all of my performances until the end of the year. I would like to apologize to you, my wonderful audience, for any inconvenience these cancellations will cause you and want to express my gratitude for the loyalty and support of my audience, colleagues and friends. I am greatly looking forward to be performing again in the coming year. I will share any further information as and when it becomes available, so please do check this space."

More information can be found at RolandoVillazon.com,

Vienna - Mexican star tenor Rolando Villazon has again cancelled performances for a period of several months, as his management said Wednesday he will have to undergo vocal chord surgery. The opera singer is not expected to perform until 2010, according to the press release.
The Vienna State Opera said it would have to replace Villazon for his title role in Jules Massenet's Werther in May. The tenor has been troubled by health problems since 2006, which have forced him to pause in past years. He currently suffers from a cyst on his vocal chords.
In 2010, Villazon is scheduled to appear at the Vienna State Opera alongside Russian soprano Anna Netrebko in much-anticipated performances of Bizet's Carmen. "I am looking forward to performing and to seeing you again next year," Villazon said in a message to his fans.