Juan Diego Cancellation Update: The Fishbone Did It!

Crazy update to the JDF cancellation we reported early this morning:

Star tenor Juan Diego Florez has been forced to cancel all performances in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" because of a throat infection caused by a swallowed fishbone, the company said Thursday.

Doctors in Parma, Italy, have advised the 35-year-old singer that he not perform through mid-March at the earliest, the company said.

WTF???

Comments

[number five alive]

Oh my god that is nasty! Opera Chic, why don't you step up and volunteer to take it out for him? You know, try it the creative way!

[CrewMantle]

Over the years, I(and likely anyone who seriously is involved with the art form which is opera) have been asked advice on how to break into opera. What would be a good first choice to see live? Which opera set should I buy? etc.

Opera is not only the domain of the 'moneyed' class; though it is purveyed as such. There exists a modern loggionista out there. People with not a lot of money who want to come to the opera, who want to find romantic expression in thier lives through this music. That may be a young apprentice plumber who wants to take his GF out for a special night, or a pensioned widow who just wants to illuminate a feeling that lives in the recesses of her memory... Paycheck to paycheck lives.

THESE are the people who pay immeasurably for the caprice of some arrogant tenor whose fey temperment determines not to honour his contractual obligation. In this instance, the Chicago Lyrics terse notice speaks volumes in noting the fishbone excuse. Without question the Lyric is rightfully not buying this lame doctors note, and making the excuse public for all to see. The Lyric should go further and sue for breach of contract. Who cares if this tenor does not appear their again?

What good that does come out of it all, is that good Mr. Gunn will recieve his due primacy like the stand up man he is... and deserves.

[number five alive]

To be fair, Crew Mantle, I've visted Milan on business, and have friends there, and it's a city with a strong fish based diet. Most of the very best restaurants in Milan boast fish heavy specialties, and I'm assuming that Florez gets taken to the best of the best restaurants. Also keep in mind that the Italian culture isn't as sterilized as the American restaurant culture, and serve their fish on your plate literally with the head still attached, all bones completely intact. You don't get any of that farmed "fake fish" that you have in the American restaurants, so eating fish in the restaurants is a very up close and personal experience, and you have to debone it yourself. Also, there are many more fish breeds in Milan that are available, so you get much smaller and delicate fish than you do in the USA like Tuna, Salmon, or Trout. So the bones are much harder to detect, and therefore easier to swallow. To hear that Florez indeed has a fish bone lodged in his throat is a very plausible claim. Especially knowing that he'd be on a high protein diet before a recital, as opposed to scarfing down a huge greasy steak.

And Opera Chic wrote anyway that he was visably uncomfortable on stage during his recital, so he must have been feeling the pain.

Florez strikes me as a man of honor. You never hear about him making bad contractual decisions and then pulling out for stupid reasons like Alagna. I really doubt that this is a guise. I know it sounds a bit ridiculous regarding whole fish bone circumstance, but I believe it.

He, of all people, must be so angry at what has transpired. He's very groomed and I don't feel like he pushes himself the way other obnoxious singers out there do. He's got great guidance from his manager, and I don't think they have any reason to lie about what happened.

[number five alive]

Oh, and besides: With Gunn as the replacement Almaviva, it's not that shabby of a trade-off now, is it?

[CrewMantle]

None of what you say takes addresses the obvious; that he found it within himself to perform at prestigious La Scala whilst at his most supposedly indisposed (THAT FACT ALONE BLOWS ANY PLAUSIBLE LOGIC TO CANCEL CHICAGO OUT THE DOOR!). Yet the tenor could not cope with an engagement THREE weeks hence? When, without question, any residual of the 'small infection' will have long been taken care. I'm not even taking into account the absurd notion that one could accrue ANY sort of seriously deleterious infection from ingesting a fish bone. The whole hypothesis is to ridiculous to bear.

If the little princess wished to have removed from the production, he could have more honestly begged exhaustion to the Lyric. They MAY have accepted that with a penalty, or an agreement he return at a reduced rate. No siree not this callow lamer...he opted for the cavalier, thinly veneered health excuse so as to save his sorry skinny ass any further troubles with a series of Chicago performances he simply doesn't wish to do.

What further apologists that are out there who blindly wish to overlook such base behaviour; knock urself out. He's done like dinner with me from here on in.

BTW To correct you.. Mr. Gunn is Figaro, always was.... Almaviva is the tenor role.

[La Verita]

A fishbone? Not as embarrassing as choking on a pretzel, but pretty da*n embarrassing.

[number five alive]

Dear Crew Mantle, the problem with your argument is that you have a gigantic, gaping hole in your defense that you haven’t even addressed. Basically, there is a huge difference between singing in a one-time recital versus singing an entire opera. That is, the taxing mess of singing a full opera, as opposed to the light commitment of cruising through a quick recital, and you seem unwilling to take that into account.

To stand up and do a 1 hour recital with a few encores is easy peasy. You put on a tux, you stand, and you sing. You don't have to deal with heavy costumes, costume changes, long rehearsals, borning intermissions, fussy conductors and orchestras, nor do you have to remember stage blocking, nor do you need to familiarize yourself with your co-singers' cues. In recital, there's nothing much to remember, there's nothing much to practice, and you get paid big money for little effort. You are just singing crap pulled from your repertoire, stuff you’ve sang a million times in the opera house, and stuff you’ve laid down on your albums. Florez is such a pro at this point that recitals for him are like sleepwalking.

However, performing a full opera is exhausting and taxing, not to mention the obvious fact that they run at least three times longer than a recital.

It’s Occam’s Razor here: You keep overlooking the obvious, and making colored assumptions based on your short sightedness. The bottom, undisputable issue is that Florez had it in him to push out a recital in a small theater (yes, compared with the American opera houses, La Scala is very small) at the beginning of the week -- BUT clearly doesn’t have the health to push out half a dozen performances of an entire opera for the next few weeks. It’s really as simple as that.

Let's put this in simpler terms:

1) You're sick at home with a cold, but your boss needs you to come into work for a few hours. Okay, fine. You get in your car and haul yourself to work for a few miles and daydream at your desk for a few hours, and at the end of the day, go home to bed and back to rest.

2) You're sick at home with a cold, but your boss needs you to fly from New York to Chicago on a business trip for a week. Sorry, Sir, I'm too sick for the trip. You'll have to send Johnson in my place instead.

[Miguel]

Didn't this happen to Elizabeth Taylor once? :-)

[Minji]

Fishbone stuck in your throat is not laughing matter. It is truly uncomfortable.

[CrewMantle]

The most nascent and relevant point you make is this;

"In recital, there's nothing much to remember, there's nothing much to practice, and you get paid big money for little effort."

Tell that to the people who bought tickets in Chicago.... Tell them it is too much effort;

"to deal with heavy costumes, costume changes, long rehearsals, borning intermissions, fussy conductors and orchestras, nor do you have to remember stage blocking, nor do you need to familiarize yourself with your co-singers' cues."

I am compassionate regarding all things the fallible human body is capable of. I am not however thus so for any performer that disinegnuosly uses these fallibilities to extricate himself from performances because they perhaps may be 'too much effort'. The little princess has made it all to clear; he refuses to do the heavy lifting at the Chicago Lyric. Sheer caprice.

I guess the fee was insufficient for his indisposition to magically become endurable.....

[Micaëla]

Osborn is pretty good, I hope he gets a career boost out of this. I haven't heard him sing this role but I would guess he would be better than the tenor on the Met broadcast last weekend.

[Les Mitchell]

A very close friend of mine was in Milan on business last summer and ingested some bad fish there as well. By the time he returned to the U.S. five days later, he was very sick. A doctor's diagnosis confirmed a food-borne virus in his entire digestive system, and prescribed big-time antibiotics. It wasn't until Thanksgiving that he was completely healed. So --- Mr. Florez' malaise is not uncommon. Secondly, he most emphatically does NOT have a reputation for being difficult, or even cancelling anything. He deserves to be cut some slack here. The likes of Pavarotti, Caballe, Alagna and Gheorghiu have made audiences over the years very angry and suspicious, and with reason. They all had reputations as "cancellers". Mr. Florez has no such blemishes on his record.

I admire him tremendously and wish him well. Meanwhile, John Osborn is an excellent tenor who is being given a tremendous break. As a subscriber to Lyric, I am very regretful about Mr. Florez' indisposition, but am looking forward to hearing Mr. Osborn, whose appearance on a u-tube Google entry has convinced me that he is indeed an excellent replacement for Mr. Florez. I hope Mr. Osborn has a tremendous success here in Chicago.

[OC]

yeah, i'm also gonna step it up and say that number five alive and Les Mitchell are on the money.

Since living here, i've met more than a few italians who have become fish-phobic over the years because of horror stories like this. They'll eat loads of bigger fish that have smaller amounts of bones, or order special cuts of fish to avoid the bones, and they won't eat the smaller fish dishes at restaurants.

The food in milan is amazingly clean and fresh, and unlike NYC, we don't have hoards of roaches or rats (or even mice) that invade the restaurants. But the food here, much like everything else, isn't idiot proof.

I feel sooooo bad for JDF, and listen: he of all people must have carefully considered his recent PR move in light of this incident. I mean, by admitting to the infected fish bone lodged in his throat has given liscence to h8rs and lame journalists to make fun of him for the rest of his career. He'll never lift the shadow of this very innocent culinary mishap. I can see it now, a review in like 2010 going: "Unfortunately Florez wasn't singing up to par tonight...HA HA he must have ordered the MAHI MAHI before he got to the opera house. GET IT??"

In my opinion, in fact, if we weren't dealing with someone as honest and upfront as JDF, he would have lied and faked some sort of other respitory illness or general exhaustion, or left us in the dark like Villazon or Alagna did recently. But it's JDF, and he's a man of dignity, a rare breed.

[Maguy]

Sad-looking fish-eye! This is stupid if it is true, and I feel sorry for him. He should look twice around him,above all the ones responsible for his communication.
Face to that sort of inconvenience while eating, the quick answer is to grab soft bread-crumb as quick as possible and swallow, normally the fish-bone gets stuck in the sticky crumb and that's it!(if you get the right sort of bread). Dear OC the opera world is fantastic ...and you are its best conductor !

[Zeke]

Perhaps he was at this restaurant in Barcelona with Joyce?

[chris]

Hey the Queen Mother (UK) was always going to hospital to have a fish bone dislodged. But she was a glutton and ate too fast. Now, in the case of our boy....why doesn't he stick to red meat as befits a matinee idol? Fish is for wimps.

[chris]

CrewMantle: did you buy a ticket and can't get a refund? Is that what upsets you so mightily? Anyway I second those who point out that Florez has a "good guy" reputation as a person who will put himself out for his fans. He had to cancel a recital once in NYC but shortly thereafter, not completely recovered, gave one in London saying he "didn't want to disappoint you guys." He has no reputation for temperament or being difficult. He even wears silly stupid costumes if asked to do so. He deserves lots of slack. He's earned it.

[Voce di Tenore]

CrewMantle wrote:
"Opera is not only the domain of the 'moneyed' class; though it is purveyed as such. There exists a modern loggionista out there. People with not a lot of money who want to come to the opera, who want to find romantic expression in thier lives through this music. That may be a young apprentice plumber who wants to take his GF out for a special night, or a pensioned widow who just wants to illuminate a feeling that lives in the recesses of her memory... Paycheck to paycheck lives. THESE are the people who pay immeasurably for the caprice of some arrogant tenor whose fey temperment determines not to honour his contractual obligation."

Che drammone! True opera lovers will have a good time regardless. It's not as if the replacement of one member of the cast is preventing them from seeing one of the most delightful operas ever written, with excellent singers and actors, especially DiDonato and Gunn, in a lovely production.

LOC hasn't cancelled the performances. People will still be able to "find romantic expression in thier lives" through Rossini's music. Ditto the "young apprentice plumber". He and his girlfriend will still have their special night out. And as for the "pensioned widow who just wants to illuminate a feeling that lives in the recesses of her memory". She doesn't need Juan Diego Flórez singing Almaviva for that to happen. I fail to see how these people are "paying immeasurably" for his cancellation.

[chris]

Well, voce, one has to admit that often people go to the opera to hear a specific singer and if he or she is not singing they are mightily disappointed. But I think the important point is that it is not the end of anybody's world, or should not be, and that in the final analysis a singer has to protect his instrument above all else. If Florez were a divo with airs and whims, etc., one might have more reason to bitch. But he isn't and I think his gastronomic misfortune (he is losing obviously his salary) should be treated sensibly and sympathetically. We should all wish him well and hope he is around, singing up a storm, for a long time, enchanting his devoted and adoring fans to whom he has already given such vast pleasure.

[Idreno]

I'm not going to get too far into this, most of it is for Crew Mantle's benefit...
As someone in the same repertoire who is personally acquainted with JDF, I will tell you that I have NEVER found him to be anything but genuine and sincere. There are always stories, but in my personal experiences, he (and his wonderful wife as well) is an extremely nice and down-to-earth man who does not deal in ego and arrogance.

The problem in this industry is that we singers are constantly expected to be on point 100% of the time - the moment we fall ill (just like ALL humans do) or find ourselves victim to an out-of-the-ordinary happenstance (like a fishbone, or a parasite, or God-knows-what-else) - we are either accused of having vocal problems, we are tired or are pulling some diva stunt. We are HUMAN BEINGS, not machines.

Crew Mantle, get OFF your high horse. JDF would have no reason to cancel singing for Chicago Lyric unless he was truly indisposed. I happen to also share some of the SAME doctors as JDF in Italy and I certainly trust them and take their advice seriously. If they told him NOT to sing until mid-March, he should do what they told him.

Another note: Actually, singing a full recital is MUCH more taxing than singing an opera. In most operas, there is some down time inbetween scenes and arias - a chance to rest - in a recital, it is just you, all you, and if you don't carefully plan the recital, you might burn yourself out too early in the evening. Singing a recital once is MUCH more difficult and stressful then singing 8 performances of an opera.

I wish Juan Diego a speedy and uncomplicated recovery!

[chris]

I am sure we'd all love to know the identity of Idreno who knows Florez personally. Any guesses permitted? Rockwell Blake?

[Opera Chic]

Chris dear, we'll never OUT anyone on this blog in any way, shape, or form. You can speculate all you want, but it's not our style here.

[chris]

I didn't expect or ask that you OUT him or her. I was just speculating for the fun of it. Whoever it might be, he/she writes good English.

[chris]

There is a new interview that Ernesto Palacio gave recently to a Lima newspaper and it includes some items of interest re Juan Diego. One is that JDF hopes to retire when still young and do other things rather than sing until he dies, like Pavarotti and Kraus. Another is that he is not tempted to follow the example of Bartoli and move from opera to concerts almost exclusively. He is an opera singer and will remain so. Finally asked why Latin American singer had come to the fore recently, he opined that it was not that they had improved so much but that European and American singers had declined in quality, due to poor training. (I hope I have accurately represented what he said, but one should always go to Voce di Tenore and read the whole interview).

[Susan]

I'm one of those people who plunked down a pile of cash to travel to Chicago specifically to see JDF and Gunn perform together. I'm still pretty upset but as most people have said, I don't think he's cancelling on a whim. It would be a very poor career move to pull out of a contract without good reason, and JDF doesn't have a history of poor career moves.

Osborn is in Rigoletto with NJ Opera this weekend so I might go check him out. I'm still very upset that I won't be seeing my favorite, but I can't let it ruin my entire trip.

[chris]

The updated voce di tenore site has all his Chicago performances between March 3rd and March 22nd canceled, but lists a "concert" in Parma for March 12th that is not marked "canceled". Hmmmm...???!!!

[chris]

The "voce di tenore" site has an update February 19th about Juan Diego. It includes an account of the interview he gave to the Amics del Liceu in Barcelona during the time he sang in La Cenerentola there. Among the more interesting points: (1) He has to be careful to sing only those roles where his light voice will not be drowned out by the orchestra; for that reason he has opted to do the Duke of Mantua since the orchestral support for the role does not overwhelm his voice. Sometimes he has to arrange with the conductor to insure that the orchestral volume will not drown him out when he is singing. [I myself was not fully aware of how light his voice is until I listened on You Tube to him singing the final of Act I of Maria Stuarda along with Ganassi and Gruberova (Barcelona, 2003); there indeed he seems often to be drowned out by the two female voices.] (2) He believes the best performances comes from "relaxed" singers and he more and more tries to take time off for relaxation with his family between engagements. He also had interesting things to say about vocal training today, etc., that one can read (in Spanish) by going to the "voce di tenore" site.

[Voce di Tenore]

My web site does not have an account of the Amics del Liceu interview. It has an external link to http://gtltornt.wordpress.com where it appears.