It is a rare event indeed to welcome to our country singers who are on the height of their career, since they usually arrive at this part of the world rather late.
High expectations therefore were in order when it was announced that the famous tenor was to appear at the Athens Megaron invited by the Athens State Orchestra with arias by French Italian and German composers a compilation so to speak of his new CD.
He seemed to be more at ease with the arias by Flotow and Wagner, a repertoire he seems to want to pursue in the future. The voice was in it’s best form, with great ease on the top register but one felt that in the Italian repertoire a certain flavor was missing, there was no “italianita” although especially in the Puccini arias he exhibited an interesting dramatic fervor. His real tour de force was the two Carmen arias which delighted the audience.
The Athens State Orchestra under the baton of M.Gilter filled the rest of the evening with orchestral interludes and overtures from various operas.
All in all it was an enjoyable evening, with a rather vocally uneven program which the friends and admirers of the great German tenor enjoyed to the full.
