Entertainment
Terfel, like others, exits troubled Met Opera ‘Tosca’
Stylised drawing showing Tosca standing over Scarpia’s body, about to lay a crucifix on his chest. The text reads: “Tosca: libretto di V Sardou, L Illica, G Giacosa. Musica di G Puccini. Riccardi & C. editori” (Photo By Adolfo Hohenstein – http://www.studioesseci.net/mostra.php?IDmostra=62, Public Domain)
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Opera could retitle its troubled new production of Puccini’s “Tosca,” calling it “And Then There Were None.”
Bass-baritone Bryn Terfel has withdrawn from the role of Scarpia due to vocal fatigue, the Met said Tuesday. The staging, which opens on New Year’s Eve, previously lost its original soprano, tenor and conductor, plus its first replacement conductor.
Terfel has not sung at the Met since 2012. He will be replaced by Zeljko Lucic.
David McVicar directs the production, which takes over from a maligned 2009 staging by Luc Bondy that had trouble attracting spectators and was retired after just 59 performances over five seasons.
The Jan. 27 matinee will be televised to movie theatres worldwide.
Tenor Jonas Kaufmann, scheduled to sing Cavaradossi, withdrew in March, deciding he did not want to leave his home in Europe and spend the holiday season rehearsing in New York. He was replaced by Vittorio Grigolo.
Soprano Kristine Opolais was to have sung the title role but withdrew in June, with the company citing personal reasons. She was replaced by Sonya Yoncheva. That decision was announced a month after her mediocre rendition of “Vissi d’arte” (“I lived for art”) — Tosca’s signature aria — during a gala commemorating the 50th anniversary of the company’s move to Lincoln Center.
Conductor Andris Nelsons, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Opolais’ husband, was replaced in July by Met music director emeritus James Levine.
Levine was replaced by Emmanuel Villaume, an announcement made on Dec. 5, two days after the Met suspended its relationship with Levine pending an investigation by the company of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from the 1960-80s. Levine later denied the allegations.
