While building up a television career as a talent judge on ITV's Popstar to Operastar, Villazon's recent opera nights have been a litany of embarrassment. Last month, he dropped out of two Strauss performances at the Munich Opera Festival and whispered his way through a third. Did the audience feel cheated? You bet they did.
Am putting this on Random and not Random Music as I think it is a very interesting article and would like more readers to see it . Lebrecht can throw a hissy fit as well as anyone and can be acerbic, but he hits the nail on the head here even if he also crits Bryn who I adore….
Villazon would appear to be on a slippery slope, sadly, hence his dreadful appearance on the car crash TV show, From Popstar to Opera Star with the likes of Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, Meat Loaf and the Welsh 'opera singer' Katherine Jenkins. I have seen him sing twice in Covent Garden in Hoffman and Don Carlos and was shocked at the sound of his tight forced tenor singing roles far too heavy for him. I take no pleasure in anybody's misfortune, but it seems to me that if half of this article is true then Villazon should be taking it very easy indeed. Many years ago I saw Callas sing when she took on a most misguided come back tour with her old colleague and fellow artist, Guiseppe di Stefano. It was glorious to see her again and there were moments when out of the wreckage that was her voice, a phrase and a sound rang out that sent shivers down the spine and almost made it worthwhile, but most of us were praying that she would get through safely.
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