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Royal Opera House musical director accuses singers of lack of commitment
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 14 March 2013
Music Director of London’s Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano, has said that the younger generation of opera singers are not committed enough, after a number of performers pulled out of performances last year. “They are either weaker in their bodies or don’t care”, he said, adding that performers need to plan “greater periods of rest” to ensure that they stay fit.
When pressed, however, Pappano admitted that today’s opera singers do have a much harder time than ever before, telling the BBC: “I think that the young opera singers of today are faced with tremendous pressure, first of all. PR pressure, image pressure, but also vocal pressure … They’re expected to sing more in the rehearsals, the rehearsals are longer”.
He added: “[Also] the cutting of operas, which used to be a big tradition, is no longer seen in a favourable light, so they’re singing much longer versions of the operas, even the popular ones – you know, Maria Callas never sang a whole ‘La Traviata’ in her life, and a lot of other repertoire too. So I think it’s a combination of all these things, plus the travelling that they do, [that make it] very difficult”.
After all that, it kind of sounds like opera singers are actually more committed today than ever before, so there you go. Well done, opera singers.
