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| Who will become opera's new top tenor? |
After passing of Pavarotti, music labels and singers
jockey to fill his place.
Lauren A.E. Schuker, Wall Street Journal
07 Sep 2007
The curtain is about to rise on opera's next act. |
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The death of acclaimed tenor Luciano Pavarotti is a huge
loss to opera fans -- and in the classical music industry, it's also
sparking a frenzy over how best to replace him. Tenors who have labored in
Mr. Pavarotti's shadow are jockeying to take his place atop the opera
pyramid. Classical labels and opera houses, meanwhile, are readying a
barrage of Pavarotti products and events, from tribute concerts to
multi-album reissues.
Mr. Pavarotti died yesterday at age 71 in his hometown of Modena, Italy,
after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer. Now the music industry is
striving to strike a balance between showing respect to a cherished star
and moving strategically to fill a major void. Mr. Pavarotti was one of
classical music's most bankable names, selling more than 100 million
recordings world-wide over his lifetime. Decca, his record label for 43
years, estimates he has generated more than $1 billion in revenue for the
company.
In 1990, Mr. Pavarotti and tenors José Carreras and Plácido Domingo formed
the lucrative "Three Tenors" group and their debut recording from that
same year, "Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti: The Three Tenors in Concert,"
remains the best-selling classical record in history. The recordings the
trio made together have sold an estimated 15 million copies.
Opera houses and classical labels are set to mount a huge marketing push
to capitalize on the attention generated by Mr. Pavarotti's death. Last
night, in an event planned just hours after the singer's passing, the
Metropolitan Opera in New York kicked off an eight-night series of
broadcasts of Mr. Pavarotti's performances on Sirius satellite radio. The
house is also mounting an exhibition of Pavarotti photographs and
memorabilia (such as the ornate costume he wore for "Tosca") at its hall
this month to coincide with opening night.
Some of the biggest moves will come from Decca, a unit of Vivendi SA's
Universal Music Group. The label has been planning a homage for some time
-- during Mr. Pavarotti's illness, the company consulted with the singer
about a series of tribute reissues of his work. On Tuesday, Decca will
rerelease the album "Pavarotti's Greatest Hits," first released in 1980.
Then on Nov. 13, Decca will release a deluxe box set with newly remastered
versions of 12 studio recordings made by Mr. Pavarotti during his career.
Decca says it also plans other commemorative albums that will include
books and DVDs with the music, but those are on hold until further
discussions with Mr. Pavarotti's wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, his former
assistant whom he married in 2003. "His wishes would always be respected
with regards to various albums, so we will be discussing these new
commemorative albums with her," says Decca spokesman Liam Toner.
The real drama, however, is the race to succeed Mr. Pavarotti as the opera
world's most in-demand tenor. Contenders -- several of whom have been
strategically positioning themselves to appeal both to hard-core opera
fans and mainstream listeners in recent years -- include Italy's Salvatore
Licitra, 38, Mexico's Rolando Villazón, 35, and Italy's "popera" star
Andrea Bocelli, 48. Mr. Pavarotti was 54 when he first performed as one of
the Three Tenors.
France's Roberto Alagna, 44, dubbed by some "The Fourth Tenor" was
considered a front-runner until he stormed off the stage at La Scala in
December after being booed.
Bruce Zemsky, of Zemsky/Green Artists Management, represents four of the
singers whose names have been floated as possible successors to Mr.
Pavarotti's legacy -- Mr. Villazón, Mexico's Ramón Vargas, 46, Argentina's
Marcelo Álvarez, 45, and Germany's Jonas Kaufmann, 37. Mr. Zemsky says he
has booked all four tenors for at least three performances a week through
2014.
Mr. Álvarez is doing his first solo album for Decca in July, while Mr.
Kaufmann's is due out in January. Meanwhile, Mr. Villazón will have his
solo debut at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 10 -- something Mr. Pavarotti did in
1973. Mr. Villazón is also making a film version of "La Boheme" in Paris
in February.
The title of top tenor is, of course, an unofficial one, but will likely
be judged by members of the industry on the basis of leading roles in new
productions mounted on the stage of major opera houses. The Metropolitan
Opera in New York has Messrs.
Kaufmann, Licitra, and Alagna booked for separate appearances this season.
Decca currently has contracts with a number of tenors including Messrs.
Kaufmann and Bocelli, and England's Russell Watson and Peru's Juan Diego
Flórez. But according to Mr. Toner, Decca is placing its biggest bet on
Mr. Kaufmann, perhaps the least known of the group. Mr. Kaufmann performed
last year at London's Royal Opera and was "a sensation," Mr. Toner says.
"He was in the studio two months later."
Mr. Toner says that Decca currently has no interest in releasing a
variation of the "Three Tenors" album by replacing Mr. Pavarotti with a
new tenor. "We have had that thought, of course," says Mr. Toner, "but we
realize that it would be an inferior, 'me too' situation, and wouldn't
work." He adds that the voices of the three tenors were in the same range,
which is rare, and would be difficult to duplicate. Instead, Decca is
hoping to develop a performer like Mr. Kaufmann as a solo superstar.
Costa Pilavachi, president of EMI Classics, is backing a different tenor:
England's Ian Bostridge, 42, whose new album comes out this fall in the
U.S. "He is the top tenor of his type in the world," said Mr. Pilavachi.
"There is nobody better in the English language."
Many in the music world say no one has emerged who can truly match Mr.
Pavarotti's vocal talent. Mr. Pilavachi, formerly the president of Decca,
says that while Mr. Alagna and Mr. Villazón are "closest to Pavarotti, at
least in terms of what they sing," they don't rival the power of his
voice.
Mr. Pilavachi says he has been looking for new talent in places like
Bulgaria and Russia. "We are very attentive to rumors of new singers these
days," he says. "And they can come from anywhere now, not just from Spain
or Italy or the U.S."
In June, a former cellphone salesman from Australia, Paul Potts, won the
English television talent show "Britain's Got Talent" for his operatic
singing skills, and landed a record deal with Sony BMG. By July, he had
released an album, which hit No. 1 on the British album charts.
Mr. Zemsky, who represents 36 tenors with his partner Alan Green, says he
has acquired a dozen new singers in just the past two years alone, and he
receives between five and seven résumés and calls a week from hopeful
tenors.
Recently, he got up at 6 a.m. to audition one such hopeful at the Rome
airport, where the singer worked as a security guard. "That's how badly we
are looking for new people," he says. Unfortunately, he says, the tenor
"wasn't any good."
Up-and-coming tenors face some new challenges. Today's opera performances
require more acting and physical exertion from singers than productions of
decades past. And at a time when many of the Metropolitan's productions
are simulcast to movie theaters with close-ups of the performers, singers
are expected to show youthful looks and a new level of fitness.
"The strategy now is to replace the appeal of one Pavarotti with a new
generation of artists. We are looking for great singers who can also act,"
says Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera.
But while physical attractiveness is more important for today's opera
singers, Mr. Pilavachi says, "If anybody came along with Mr. Pavarotti's
vocal skills today, no matter what they looked like, they would be snapped
up."
Source: Wall Street Journal
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