Dennoch sind die Sänger hochpräsent: Jonas Kaufmann ist selbst im "Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde", dessen massiver Orchestersatz normalerweise keinem Tenor eine Chance lässt, gut zu hören.

Das kommt nicht nur den beiden fabelhaften Solisten Petra Lang und Jonas Kaufmann entgegen, sondern sorgt auch....

The German tenor Jonas Kaufmann was making his Met debut as Alfredo. First, he has what you might call tenor-star looks: long hair, a Byronic profile. Second, he owns a substantial, regal voice. Often it is creamy and refulgent. He was a little tight in Act I - particularly in the Brindisi - but he opened up.

In his debut role at the Met, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann was more than impressive. He is young, slim and handsome, and the voice is a grand instrument, rich, and full, with an appealing "ping" to his high notes. He sings fearlessly and acts well, paying attention to his colleagues as if he means it.

Cette reprise de La Traviata valait aussi pour les débuts au Met de Jonas Kaufmann, ténor allemand qui chante régulièrement à Zurich. Des débuts ovationnés par les New Yorkais, qui ont visiblement apprécié non seulement le physique agréable du chanteur, mais aussi sa voix aux teintes barytonales et aux accents virils, une voix plus dramatique que celles qu’on entend normalement dans le rôle d'Alfredo.

Angela Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann do as much for the eyes as for the ears
Jonas Kaufmann not only has the look and easy stage bearing of a rock star, but he also has a flexibility seldom heard in German tenors—he sings Parsifal and Florestan with distinction, as well as lyrical roles like Alfredo. If his voice lacks the ringing lift up top that one ideally likes in a Verdi tenor, the overall tone is smoothly burnished, beautifully focused on the notes, and always disarmingly musical.

Ein Opern-Fragment von Mozart und eine Schubert-Sinfonie erklangen in der /Oper Zürich.
Nicht die glücklichste Hand hatte Mozart im Jahr 1783 bei der /Libretto-Wahl. ...

...geben will worüber sich Pulcherio (der hervorragende Jonas Kaufmann) mit beissendem Spott lustig macht. ...

Nur Ausschnitt:
Neue Zürcher Zeitung:  Zeitlos stimmungshaft / Wagners "Parsifal" neu einstudiert
 

Hans Hollmanns "Parsifal"-Inszenierung von 1996 hat eigentlich nie neu und aktuell gewirkt; dafür erscheint sie jetzt, sieben Jahre nach der letzten Aufführungsserie, auch nicht alt. Auf Hans Hoffers ...

... der neue Parsifal Jonas Kaufmann. Wie würde der vielseitige Künstler, der eben noch im lyrischen Fach zu Hause war und sich nun in grossen Schritten auf dramatische Partien zubewegt, die Herausforderung bestehen? Seine Musikalität, seine stimmliche Substanz und seine darstellerische Präsenz boten von vornherein gute Voraussetzungen für dieses Rollendébut. Und dass die Partie in jene Höhen, wo Kaufmann in jüngster Zeit manchmal Probleme hatte, gar nicht führt wirkt sich ebenfalls zu seinen Gunsten aus. So kann er seinen dunkel gefärbten, in der Tiefe gut abgestützten Tenor frei strömen lassen und sein kerniges, bisweilen etwas flackriges Timbre in den Dienst des dramatischen Ausdrucks stellen. Ein vielversprechender Beginn. Auch am Pult gab es ein Début: Hans Graf ...

Jonas Kaufmann als Rückkehrer Hans beeindruckt durch seinen kraftvoll-heldischen Ton und einen vehementen Spieleinsatz.

"Jonas Kaufmann gibt ihm das Profil eines Liebenden der durchaus auch Zuhälter-Qualitäten an den Tag legt. Und er besitzt einen Tenor, der höchste Töne schwerelos erklimmt - dazu mit einem wunderschön warmen Timbre gesegnet. "

Natürlich Hans, der Geliebte von Marie, mit Jonas Kaufmann, dessen Tenor einen außergewöhnlichen Klang erreicht. Deren Fülle fast gar nicht zu seiner jugendlichen Rolle paßt. Es ist erstaunlich welche Fähigkeiten Menschen haben können, trotz ihres legeren Aussehens auf der Bühne. Jonas Kaufmann kam zu Beginn der Spielzeit für einen Liederabend an die Oper. Er trat bereits als Tenor zusammen mit Susan Craham auf und debütiert 2005/2006 an der Metropolitan Opera in New York. Er erhielt lauten Beifall und bekam einen Blumenstrauß stehender Ovation auf die Bühne geworfen.

... Übersetzung von Kurt Honolka) überraschend offen. Jonas Kaufmann hat Hans, den Liebhaber sehr deutlich positioniert: als einen Optimismus und und Oberflächlichkeit paarenden Leichtfuß und mehr kraft- als treuestrotzenden Macho – die Hoffnung des deutschen Heldentenorwesens zeigt seine stimmlichen Möglichkeiten lachend leicht und so stark, dass der Chor bierseliger Bauern schon einmal erschrocken zurückweicht. Welcher Kontrast zu...

Auszüge

"Jonas Kaufmann gave a very fine account of the role and took sensitive care to offer subtle differences of interpretation in the various repeats."

"Jonas Kaufmann's Walther glowed with rich, golden lyricism."

"Holl’s two-dimensionality shifted some emphasis on to the other roles: that was above all the case with the gloriously resonant and intelligent Pogner of Matthew Rose, a great bass in the making; and spectacularly with the Walther of Jonas Kaufmann, who brought such deep understanding to his first performance of this role that for once Walther became the cynosure he should be: he built the Prize Song with surpassing skill, truly as a remembered dream."

Die Meistersinger is, of course, as much a story of love between Walther von Stolzing (sung delightfully by Jonas Kaufmann) and Pogner’s daughter Eva (Hellevi Martinpelto) as the relationship between two local tradesmen, between ‘old-fogyism’ and freedom of expression. And yet Holl and Shore showed that, in pure entertainment terms, ‘old-fogyism’ has quite a bit going for it even if it was the youngsters who touched the heart-strings.

Auszug

By far the stand-out performance came from Jonas Kaufmann, making his role debut as Don José. It's almost impossible to describe the virtues of his interpretation, for they were so plentiful. His characterisation of the role was easily the most convincing I have seen. Again thanks to the costume designs and direction, we see José change from smartly-dressed, reserved soldier in the opening scene to ragged, jealous lover in the final scene. Cleverly, Zambello has Carmen climb the social classes as José descends them. Kaufmann's singing, however, is what really deserves a reward. In the most electrifying vocal performance of the season, the tenor showed both lyrical phrasing and ringing high notes. What surprised, delighted and moved me, though, was his shading down of the voice into an almost falsetto region for the penultimate line of the Flower Song (ardently delivered) and the final few lines of the closing scene. Ignore the winter weather: queue now for day seats just to hear Kaufmann's singing.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
Auszug, reviewed performance December 22
Well, at least for its initial run of performances, continuing until January 8, it has possibly the most involving pair of principal antagonists the Carmen of Anna Caterina Antonacci and the Don José of Jonas Kaufmann that London has seen in living memory.
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Zambello is lucky with her protagonist this time round. Kaufmann is the first German tenor I have seen in this quintessentially French role, but he has everything for the part: youthful, Mediterranean good looks; a dark, baritonal timbre; excellent French; and an ability both to phrase his music stylishly and to sing viscerally thrilling high notes. I don’t think I have heard a more beautiful account of José’s Flower Song, crowned with an exquisitely modulated, pianissimo B flat, one of the trickiest things any romantic tenor has to do, and almost invariably belted out by some of the most famous names in the business. Kaufmann may not have a record company behind him, but he is rapidly emerging as one of the most important, and versatile, singers of our age. He still sings Tamino in Mozart’s Magic Flute, and is dipping his toes into Heldentenor repertory.

Antonio Pappano conducted as if consumed a new with love for this music. His was a colourful and sensitive-almost Beechamesque-account of the orchestral score, relishing its fastidious detail and always maintaining pace and tension (but why the cut in the last act?). He is always considerate to his singers and the performance was notable for clear delivery of the French text. Zambello's production brought no surprises, revelatory or disagreeable, except for Lillas Pastia's change of sex and Micaëla's appearance in the crowd outside the bullring, neither of any dramatic consequence. The crowd scenes contained a horse and a donkey, and the smugglers abseiled into their lair (why?). The children were well directed, but Zambello appeared to be uninterested in the subsidiary characters-one scarcely noticed Frasquita and Mercédès. It was a routine, unexciting staging, with designs by Tanya McCallin that conveyed little sense of heat or squalor.

Carmen was chosen because it launched the company in January 1947. To mark this there is an especially interesting programme
MICHAEL KENNEDY

e la vetta tragica dell'opera, superbo Kauffmann, feroce, nobile e splendida l'Antonacci nella donna che non cede la sua libertà. Lunghi e calorosi gli applausi.