The dog ate my homework!

The title of today's post was the first thing which came to mind when I read this article. Opera singers are delicate creatures at the best of times and seem to cancel engagements for the most unlikely of reasons (see below) but this one takes the biscuit. My man Juan Diego Flores was scheduled to sing the role of Count Almaviva in Rosinni's Il Barbiere di Seviglia at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in just a couple of weeks from now but has had to pull out due to a throat infection caused, we are told, by his having swallowed a fish bone. Ummmm...oooookaaayyy. I guess. His doctor has advised him not to sing until he is paid bigger fees fully healed. I feel for the senior management at Chicago I must say. They seem to have had more than their fair share of this recently. It is only a couple of months since they sacked Angela Gheorgiou because she refused to rehearse when required, choosing instead to go to New York to be with hubby Roberto Alagna who was performing at the Met (Not for nothing are they known as the 'Bonnie and Clyde of Opera'). Meanwhile, Italian soprano Barbara Frittoli backed out of their production of Tschaikovsky's Eugene Onegin because she was having trouble learning Russian (Don't you think of that kinda thing before you sign on the dotted accepting the role?) . As though that would not be enough to have the Artistic Director be dragged out the door wearing a close fitting white waistcoat laced tightly up the back, Peter Mattei and Ambrogio Maestri pulled out of the current production of Falstaff due to "family emergencies".

Such artistic machinations and 'unforseen difficulties' are not restricted to Chicago of course. Most other opera companies (including Portland Opera) have had to cope with these events but I am constantly surprised at the lame excuses trotted out by singers' managers and agents for their failure to abide by a contractual agreement. Perhaps the most egregious and recent example of this befell the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden recently when headline bass-baritone Bryn Terfel wimped out of singing Wotan in the entire Ring Cycle - a matter of weeks before he was due to go on! This production had been in the works for almost a decade and had been built around him. In 2004 and 2005 he had sung Das Rheingold and Die Walküre at the ROH to great acclaim and audiences and management alike were very excited at the prospect of this new production. One week into final rehearsals Terfel announced he would not be performing. His original excuse was that his young son had broken his finger while playing rugby at school and that his duties as a father over-rode his obligations to his fans and employers and fellow cast-members et al (His wife met the firestorm of criticism saying "All you people see is an opera star but he has other commitments in his life too, you know?" to which my muttered reply was "Not ones that pay him that kind of money, lady!). When it became apparent that the 'broken-finger defence' was not going to fly with, like, anybody, Terfel made the following announcement: "Having begun rehearsals it is clear to me that I would not be able to perform at the standard I would wish to, and rather than progressing through rehearsal in the hope that I might make it, I feel it is better for The Royal Opera and the fantastic team working on this epic production that I withdraw at this stage." Well actually, Mr Terfel, it rather behove you to have thought of that years ago! The ROH issued a press release in which it "expressed shock and surprise at Bryn Terfel's cancellation, acknowledging the disappointment it will bring to audiences who were looking forward to seeing him perform in a complete Ring cycle for the first time" For those of you n ot used to such things let me tell you that these words are opera-speak for "You'll never work this house again!" That's him pictured above, by the way. I think the mask he is holding is in case he needs to go out in public anywhere near Covent Garden in the foreseeable future.

All of this just increases my respect for Renée Fleming who decided against her long-awaited premier performance as Norma which was to have taken place at the Met in the 2011-2012 season. She came right out and said - and here I paraphrase Ms F - "I thought I was ready for this but I've been practising it and you know what?...not yet!" How refreshing!