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The Times, September 11, 2015 |
Neil Fisher |
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Everyone’s talking about . . . Jonas Kaufmann at the Last Night of the Proms
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Rule, Britannia! Or should that be, Herrsche, Gross Britannien!? Next
weekend, the superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann becomes the first German singer
to perform the patriotic anthem at the Last Night of the Proms. It’s a new
twist for this annual jamboree, an event that brings the world’s largest
classical music festival to an end, normally in a red, white and blue blur
of flag-waving, topped off by a heartwarming speech from one of the world’s
more rhetorically gifted conductors — this year it’s Marin Alsop for the
second time.
Intriguingly, in a recent newspaper interview, the
46-year-old Kaufmann didn’t rule out singing at least one verse of Rule,
Britannia! in German rather than English. “You tell me,” he said to the
journalist who suggested a multilingual battle cry, adding that he feels
“like an ambassador” to be marking this particular first in Proms history.
Kaufmann did not discuss what he would be wearing on stage, alas —
almost as crucial an issue as what he’ll be singing, given both the
tousle-haired, swarthy singer’s appeal to many opera (and non-opera) fans as
a pin-up, and the outlandish sartorial choices made by some of his Proms
predecessors. In 1991 Gwyneth Jones appeared at the Last Night in full
Brünnhilde fig: spear, shield and winged helmet, while in 1994 Bryn Terfel
sported a Welsh rugby kit. Perhaps Kaufmann could take a leaf out of Sarah
Connolly’s 2009 performance, when she dressed like Admiral Lord Nelson. 2015
does mark 200 years since a British-German alliance defeated treacherous
Bonaparte, so Kaufmann could always pretend he was Prussia’s hero of
Waterloo, General Blücher. We already know he looks good in breeches, a look
he last modelled in London for Giordano’s Andrea Chénier at Covent
Garden.Whatever he’s wearing, however, you can be sure Kaufmann will sound
pretty good. Currently at his vocal peak, and with a new Puccini album to
promote, Kaufmann will preface Rule, Britannia! with dollops of Puccini —
including Nessun Dorma — and don’t be surprised if there’s an unscheduled
duet with the evening’s other vocal soloist, Danielle de Niese, too. By the
time the confetti rains down and everyone is singing Auld Lang Syne, I
suspect any resistance will be futile.
The Last Night of the Proms is
at the Albert Hall, London SW7 on September 12, broadcast live on BBC Two
and BBC Radio 3
What they say “The Last Night of the Proms has
people cheering and waving flags, but still there is classical music. That’s
the dream come true.” Jonas Kaufmann “Not only is Kaufmann recognised as
the greatest tenor since Pavarotti, his much-gushed-about locks make him the
closest thing the opera world has to Justin Bieber.” The Huffington Post
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