Bryan Hymel, who is among the most talented tenors of his generation, is accumulating the kind of cancellation record that nobody wants to see. Here's what I know:
2015 SF Troyens - sang half the performances
2015 SFe Rigoletto - withdraws from half, then all, of the performances (note that the Santa Fe rehearsal period overlapped with Troyens performances in San Francisco)
(can't easily find 2016 & 17 info)
2018 BayStaats Vêpres - cancels most performances (March, illness)
2018 Met Romeo - cancels (illness) (April)
2018 Paris Huguenots - cancels ten days before opening (illness)
2019 Paris Troyens - withdraws from 4 of 7 (illness), then remaining 3 (family)
2019 Met Rigoletto - withdraws on Feb. 12 from March performances (replaced by three tenors)
2019 SF Romeo - withdraws from entire run of the opera ("personal reasons")
Here's what he has coming up during the 2019-20 season, according to Operabase.com:
La Damnation de Faust
Faust
The Metropolitan Opera, New York
Metropolitan Opera House
C: Gardner
P: Lepage
P: Lepage
Don Carlo
Don Carlo
Greek National Opera, Athens
SNFCC
Stavros Niarchos Hall
C: Auguin
P: Vick
P: Vick
Onlookers like me have no idea what's going on here; whether Hymel has an ongoing illness, is very prone to colds and other respiratory problems, or has other issues that keep him from singing. We don't know the state of his voice. But I can only imagine that the Greek National Opera, Met, Opera Philadelphia, and Zürich are looking around for the highest-profile covers they can find, given that tenors who can sing the lead parts in Don Carlo, Damnation, and especially Vespri are not easy to locate.
I'm very sorry about this trend and I wish Mr. Hymel the best of health in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment