Tenor Cancels Japan Tour for Medical Check.
Tenor Jonas Kaufmann has cancelled his commitment to sing in an upcoming tour of Japan with the Bavarian State Opera.
Jonas Kaufmann as Siegmund.
Photo by Ken Howard.
© 2010 The Metropolitan Opera.
In a statement, the tenor wrote:
I need to have an operation to remove a node in my thoracic area. I do not wish anyone to become alarmed reading this, but my physicians have ordered me to have the surgery as soon as possible. This will take place after my appearance in Stockholm on September 2. I am pretty sure that the results of the histological examination will come up "benign" but as I said, this procedure could not be further delayed.
Mr. Kaufmann was scheduled to sing the role of Don José, and the title role in Lohengrin. He will be replaced in the latter by South African tenor Johan Botha.
Mr. Kaufmann is scheduled to sing the title role in the Metropolitan Opera's new staging of Faust, which premieres on Nov. 29. This new staging is by Jersey Boys director Dez McAnuff and was first presented at the English National Opera.
Mr. McAnuff updates Gounod's opera to the 20th century and the birth of the atomic bomb. already seen one cancellation: Angela Gheorghiu nixed her commitment to it earlier this year, citing "artistic differences."
The tenor burned up the stage in 2011 in the role of Siegmund in the company's new production of Die Walküre. Mr. Kaufmann is currently signed to reprise the role of Siegmund in three performances of Walküre, part of the company's complete staging of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.
We here at Superconductor would like to wish Mr. Kaufmann a speedy recovery, and we hope that his prognosis is good.