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Limelight, Jun 23, 2014 |
By John Byrne |
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Jonas Kaufmann: The complete artist
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A profile of the star tenor about to make his debut with Opera Australia in August.
The first visit to Australia by the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is one of
the most anticipated events in this yearʼs performing arts calendar. Widely
regarded as the finest tenor in the world today, Kaufmann, at 44, is in his
prime.
Many operatic tenors have enjoyed highly successful careers
based largely on the brilliance of their vocal technique alone. The ability
of these singers to inhabit a character and act a role is sometimes quite
limited. For Kaufmann, who has the typical curiosity and creative instinct
of a born actor, it is the most natural thing in the world. He believes
passionately that opera is, above all, a theatrical art in which the drama
is conveyed by a singer-actor.
The journey to the heart and soul of a
character fascinates him and gives his vocal and dramatic performances a
resounding authenticity and emotional impact . As he says: “If you donʼt act
based on the feelings you have it will never be real and it will never touch
the audience.” No director could ever ask this artist to “go deeper!”
Richard Eyre, the former Director of the National Theatre in London, a man
more used to working with actors than singers, has recently spoken of how
rewarding it was to work with the tenor in a production of Werther at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York. Kaufmann, a thoughtful and articulate man,
shows all the signs of being a successful opera director himself should he
wish to take that up later in his career.
Throughout the history of
opera there have always been artists, like Kaufmann, who have had the talent
and ability to blend the vocal and dramatic arts to maximum effect. Artists
like Maria Callas, perhaps the greatest singer-actress of the last century,
immediately come to mind. Plácido Domingoʼs long and ongoing career, also
provides an outstanding example of the singer-actor. His Otello in the
Zeffirelli film of the Verdi opera is one of the finest portrayals of the
character to be seen in any medium, according to John Bell, one of
Australiaʼs finest Shakespearean actor-directors.
Artists like
Callas, Domingo and Kaufmann bring the operatic art form to its highest
level of achievement and produce a complete and emotionally satisfying
experience, sometimes even a transformative one, for both artist and
audience. Domingo has spoken of losing himself so much in the character of
Otello that he has quite often forgotten about the huge technical challenges
there are in actually singing the role. There is an increasing demand
nowadays,from audiences and critics alike, for opera singers to look and act
more like the characters they portray and no doubt this demand will enrich
and strengthen the art form in the future.
As a young singer,
Kaufmannʼs voice was relatively light – light enough for Mozartian
repertoire – but there were obviously some shortcomings in his training, and
in his own approach, because he soon found himself in the middle of a vocal
crisis and was in danger of losing his voice, his confidence, and maybe even
his career. He was rescued by an American vocal coach, Michael Rhodes, who
encouraged him to relax and stop trying so hard; to find his own natural
voice and to trust his instrument. After his work with Rhodes, and with
further experience and maturity, his voice took on a darker, deeper and
warmer quality which gave it added versatility and range.
He no
longer sounds like a typical tenor though he can ring out the thrilling top
notes with the best of them and can summon incredible energy and vocal power
when he needs it. At other times he is capable of the most affecting mezza
voce and pianissimo singing imaginable. One of the most beautifully sung and
acted examples of this is his performance of the Flower Song from Carmen. At
moments like these Kaufmann has the ability to break your heart in a single
aria. His vocal technique is now so secure that he can bring forth great
emotion without losing control of the vocal line, though it is likely that
it would not bother him at all if he did lose a little control,as his
priority is to give a performance which touches the emotions of the
audience.
Vocal versatility has given him access to an unusually wide
range of the Italian and French operatic repertoire as well as some of the
big Wagnerian roles. Few tenors have been able to range so successfully over
such a wide and varied repertoire. The one role that Opera House managements
want him to undertake is Otello. Kaufmann himself is just as keen but he
will not perform it until he he thinks he is ready. He sees it as one of the
most complex and interesting roles in the entire operatic repertoire. It is
also, he thinks, the most demanding and dangerous; a risky high wire act
both emotionally and technically. It may prove to be the one role that will
stand above all the others when the assessment of his career is written in
operatic history. He has already recorded two arias from Otello and
indications are that it wonʼt be too long before he is seen in the full
opera, on stage. Vocally the recorded excerpts are stunning; the impact of
his future peformance in the theatre can well be imagined.
Kaufmann
is committed to keeping alive the Lieder or solo form of recital, believing
it to be the purest, most intimate and direct expression of feeling, through
the vocal art. It is also, perhaps, the most exposed and challenging area of
performance as whole worlds of differing emotions, vocal colours and
dynamics have to be created by voice and piano only, throughout an entire
eveningʼs programme. All of this taps into Kaufmannʼs strengths and provides
him with rich opportunities. He also loves the idea that the act of singing
– like dance and acting – uses the body itself as its primary instrument. In
singing, there is nothing in between the source of the emotion and the
delivery of the sound.
In his recitals in Australia Kaufmann will
sing with a full orchestra but audiences will not have the benefit of seeing
him in his natural habitat which is in a fully staged opera, in the theatre.
However, according to the conductor Antonio Pappano who worked with the
tenor on a recent album of verismo arias, Kaufmann can create his own
artistic environment wherever he is; even in the relatively sterile context
of a recording studio: “When he sings, the whole recording studio is
instantly transformed into a stage. He doesnʼt just sing notes; he acts with
his voice. When you hear him, you have the whole scene in full detail before
your eyes.”
As good as it will be to see Kaufmann here in a solo
performance, the hope is that Opera Australia will be able to present him as
a guest artist in one of its productions, a highly challenging task given
the extent of his international commitments in the years ahead. There could
be some hope. Artists like Kaufmann donʼt generally come to Australia at
this stage in their careers, so his acceptance of Opera Australiaʼs offer
for this concert tour is encouraging.
Kaufmann has been a star of the
opera world since his breakthrough performances as Alfredo in La Traviata at
the Metropolitian Opera in 2006. He has gathered many superlatives for his
performances since then, and won several international awards. His fame is
growing apace, though he has not yet achieved the kind of widespread
recognition among the general public that Pavarotti and others have managed
to find for themselves in the past. He would probably have to sing at the
World Cup or the Olympics to achieve that! Nevertheless, given his talent,
charisma and good looks, a crossover into a more popular stardom could be
his for the asking if the right opportunity presented itself at some time in
the future. For the moment, there is no sign that this holds any particular
attraction for him. He is, by instinct and inclination, an artist of the
theatre; one of the most complete of his generation.
Jonas Kaufmann
sings in Sydney on August 10 and 17 and Melbourne on August 14.
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