iphigenie unconscious
La Cieca hears that Violeta Urmana fainted only an hour before tonight’s performance of Iphigénie en Tauride in Valencia. She decided to soldier on but then collapsed onstage after the interval. American soprano Jennifer Check finished the performance.
So this way Valencia has to pay two fees?
Vergogna!!!!
Urmana…somehow when one was discussing this opera and it was mentioned that a dramatic soprano would work out better than a mezzo (wasn’t my idea but I had to concede the point, fond as I was ((for once)) of SG’s performance), Urmana did not come up. Hope she’s alright.
Was there no Spanish soprano etc etc etc…
Seriously- is Urmana singing Gluck now? That gives me the proper fear.
I hope, of course, that she gets well soonest.
Urmana has previously sung at least 2 Gluck roles, both on opening nights at La Scala. She sang La Haine in Armide in 1996 and the title role in Iphigenie en Aulide in 2002, both conducted by Riccardo Muti.
The “other” Iphigenie (en Tauride) has been sung often by such sopranos as Sena Jurinac, Gre Brouwenstijn and Regine Crespin. More recently both Mireille Delunsch and Christine Goerke have recorded it (in addition to singing it on stage).
I’m not sure about ‘collapsed onstage’ (but my binoculars were focused on Oreste, chained up, on the floor…BDSM tendencies realised through opera…). There was an announcement at the beginning which I couldn’t understand but seemed to be that someone or other would sing anyway. Then suddenly during Act III I thought ‘Violeta is looking very fat in the face’, then I realised that it wasn’t Violeta. I was chatting to someone after who didn’t realise until she saw that Iphigenie had great trouble climbing onto her altar. The replacement was less dramatic but also less squawky than Violeta.
Iphigenie is fast becoming one of my top three favourite operas, but having concluded that Oreste is too high for a high baritone and too low for a baritenor, I am also thinking that although Iphigenie is too high for a mezzo to hit the highest notes it actually sounds better with Susan Graham doing all the primal scream stuff than a soprano who just screams.
PS I was told that replacement soprano had been an Operalia winner