Sunday, July 13, 2008

The Jonas Kaufmann Affair


It seems that Athens is the winner of the Jonas Kaufmann Affair!

Let's see briefly what happened:

The Athens Megaron announces Jonas Kaufmann in a Recital in Athens on the 15th of January.

The athenians cheer "Hooray hooray, let's hear it for Jonas!".

Then Parsi finds out that it's not official and that Jonas has not signed yet and that he 's not sure about the date etc etc. Parsi warns about the Megaron announcing crap (the same happened with the Greek National Opera that announced a Recital with Dimitra Theodossiou that she had never signed for).

Then Jonas gets a proposal for the Opernball at Dresden for the 16th of January (15/1 Athens, 16/1 Dresden) and of course even if he is Clark Kent and sings like Superman, he can't do both.

Clark, i mean Jonas, thinks thinks thinks and he decides: Athens it is!

I hadn't felt so happy since the day that Juan Antonio Samaranch had announced that the 2004 Olympics would be hosted by Athens.
Yeah!


23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gawsshhhh!!!!! Your are getting me all exciteddd... and there is more than 6 month to go!!! At least that gives you enough time to organise a proper party :-ppp

Parsifal said...

But you 'll have to decide: you want me to throw a party or do you want US to go out for dinner with Jonas?

Mei said...

Good for you...!!

I'll check my agenda... ;-)

Parsifal said...

Check it Mei! Let's do a blogomeeting in Athens on the 15th of Jan!

Anonymous said...

How about a cocktail thingy before and an intimate dinner after? ;-))) hahahaha OMG!!! poor man if he only knew!

Parsifal said...

Hey! I' m the host in Athens! Let me do the arrangements!

mahler76 said...

We did it!!! Yea!!!

Mei said...

It seems nothing else is on the way...

But I must wait until July 17 to get the go...

Anonymous said...

Parsi, in Athens it is all your game as long as i can come along and play ;-)

mostly opera... said...

Are you sure he is not doing both? In Dresden he will probably only have to sing one song from the Merry Widow or something like that around 11 pm...

Parsifal said...

Pretty sure...11 January in Mannheim, 15 January in Athens, 19 January in Berlin and then to Venice for Romeo. I dont know if he will wear his Superman suit and fly to Dresden though...

mostly opera... said...

Well regarding the Jan 19th Berlin performance, Dresden is only a two hour drive from Berlin and on the way back so to speak..

What makes me ask is that the Dresden appointment is actually listed on his official website. The Athens one is not... (yet?)

Parsifal said...

It was Jonas himself that gave the info on Friday...

Kenderina said...

I see you very happy, Parsi,with fireworks and everything prepared :P

See you in Athens !! WOW !!! (if the gods allow)

mostly opera... said...

Don´t misunderstand me. I never questioned your source regarding his Athens appearance.
I just think he will turn up in Dresden as well. We will just have to see..

Now I will go down to my mail-box and see if the tickets for the Riccardo Muti Otello in Salzburg on August 21 have arrived, he-he...

JVaughan said...

Greetings!:

While all of you are enthusing about whether or not Mr. Kaufmann will come to Athens next January, I am back here in Washington, D. C., hoping that eventually he will be able to make up for the recital here which he had to cancel a year or two ago due to a health issue. When I met him, for the first time, this past October in New York, he told me of a restriction the Met places on its artists as per taking engagements elsewhere during a production at that house, so hope that the Vocal Arts Society, or whoever can engage him, can find a date with no such conflict!

Do any of you perchance have casting details for his reported upcoming recording of _Butterfly_? That opera, apart from my late mother's LP recording, should probably be in my collection, but I think I will hold out for his, hoping that the supporting cast will be as good as he in their respective roles, _IF_ _POSSIBLE_!

Hoping that this finds all of you well, and wishing you a good time in Athens next January if all goes well,

J. V.

Anonymous said...

The dates on the official site are seldom accurate.They don't list the concerts in Beijing next month and they are listing something in Frankfurt in November of which Jonas doesn't know anything about.
I asked him on Friday and he said that he will not sing in Dresden.

Anonymous said...

...and while the webmaster of the official web site added Dresden he happened to cut out the concert in Mannheim. I'm not very comfortable with that, I have a ticket for the concert :-). But no need to worry, such things always happen on official sites which are made by recording labels.

Parsifal said...

@ Mostly Opera

I hope you dont get to see Farina as Otello in Salzburg...i have my fingers crossed

@ Marion

Marion is the High Priestess of the Kaufmania!

Do you have any info on the Butterfly recording as requested by J.V.? That would be great! (They should record it with Cedolins i saaaaaaay).

Parsifal said...

@ Mostly Opera

The sets for the Otello are by greek George Souglides

Ok, it's Antonenko who you gonna watch, i just checked! Very interesting, i m waiting for your review as he will also sing Otello under Muti in Rome in December and i have an invitation by Willym to join them....

Anonymous said...

He sometimes says that I know his schedule better than he does :-).

The Butterfly is Angela Gheorghiu and the conductor is Pappano. It was already planned since years, the wanted to record it last summer but they postponed it.

JVaughan said...

To my shame, I must have forgotten those _Butterfly_ details since I have indeed heard them previously! If Maestro Pappano ends up being as mercurial here as I felt he was in his Proms _Walkure_ and studio _Tristan_, we should be in for _QUITE_ a treat, hoping that the Suzuki and Sharpless, about whom I should have specifically enquired instead of having the main principals repeated, will be worthy as well!

I have an off-topic comment/query for our host, but think I will send it to him privately.

J. V.

mostly opera... said...

parsifal - believe me, I checked the casting of that otello too !! do NOT try to scare me like that..