Rolando Villazón's Solitary, Underground Flash Mob

Comments

[deadtenors]

just another member of the opera community who is desperate to find their way onto OC's blog. well, i guess that's mission accomplished

[Constantine A. Papas]

Who's passing the hat? It's sad and not funny.

[Bill Philin-Ploplis]

Wow! I don't know if I would care to hear some operatic singing in a closed subway car. Some passengers looked disgruntled and furtively hoping security agents would tell him to sing in the designated areas in the train station--for street performers.

[Wilhelmina]

There is a longer version here:
http://opera-cake.blogspot.com/2010/09/rolando-who.html

The clip takes it to the end and shows Villazon's obvious surprise at the crowd's reaction. I don't think he got what he was expecting. Sad!

[jaden]

Just confirms what I have always felt - opera is not and never will be a commercial art form. This is not necessarily a bad thing. To the general public only Pavarotti himself might have generated a reaction. Vocally, for one, but also in terms of universal recognition. If these Parisians did, in fact, recognize Villazon, they just didn't feel like reacting. It's unlikely, as he's really only known to opera fans, but it's not their style anyway. There are buskers on the Metro continually.

I don't think Villazon was singing because he feels he's famous, but I do think he expected them to show some appreciation for his song. He shows a good sense of humor at the end, actually.

I think OC would agree that Villazon isn't sitting around wishing he could be on her blog, particularly with some of the comments written about him here!

[Rogier]

He sounds like the singing horse from TOP SECRET!

[Yonax]

The longer version is even more awkward!

[alocksley]

@JADEN I'm not sure that this proves opera is not a viable commercial art form. I think if a rapper had tried the same thing he might have been arrested.

I think Villazon has a poor sense of his own celebrity. Maybe if he'd tried this in Mexico it would've worked. We've seen something similar with WNO in a market recently and it worked great.

[jaden]

My point is simply that it is not generally appreciated by a larger audience, I am pretty sure there are statistics which will support my contention. Maybe a market in Wales put up with it, but the Welsh love singing in any form!

I love opera and I don't enjoy this type of thing at all, particularly as it is frequently done with less than stellar voices.

I'm not sure where you're going with the rapper comment, but it seems an irrelevant example.

[teresa59]

Is a specially recorded video for a TV program that takes this and other fragments.
See the full video:
ROLANDO VILLAZÓN - Le journal de 20h - TF1 - 29 set 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWxWtO4RMdI

[mariù]

did you not realize that it was all a set up. Rolando did not go in the metro and then started singing, like that out of the blue!!
I hate all the nasty comments given on this subject. Do you know about the experiment Joshua Bell did in the tube of NY. He wanted to test the perception and reaction of people about a musician playing there . Nobody stopped to listen or to give a little money. They ignored him. He collected only some cents.Yoshua Bell, world famous violist!
And what some comments said, Parisian metro-population is fed up with all the music played there. They are saturated and annoyed.And the question is, did they recognize Rolando, do they know who he is?

[Gianni]

Poor Villazon. Embarassing how he's fishing for love. He's really underground.

[yappy]

Merci Teresa, just in case anyone didn't think this was a set up TV thing (logo in the bottom left corner, anyone?). As the clip is about, lookie here this famous singer moved to our city from Mexico, and boy is he normal - it fits just fine.

[Lindsay]

As anyone who has ever frequently used public transportation knows, you are trained to never ever acknowledge the other passengers. Brad Pitt could walk onto the train and would probably get the same reaction. The guy in the tan suit actually started to watch Villazon a bit, but then he seemed to remember the subway code and went back to looking at his newspaper (but I guarantee that he was still listening!)

[angeladorable]

I love him dearly-but where are his operas that he is suppose to be performing in? What happened all of a sudden?

[Zurriuss]

And the same can one underground musician should do in the Opera House. The effect would be the same.
But it's so interesting to watch.

[Grazyna Kopij]

I totally agree with jaden assessment on the situation.
I actually admire RV to take the challenge on. I think most of the people in the subway were listening to him anyway but it was too challenging for them to take a stand on it(operatic voice combined with Mexican repertoire).I experienced similar situation when the former popular prominent politician(different country)walked thorough the subway train in the morning hours and he was open to communicate, but it was too intimidated for most of the commuters to relate to it. People just ignored him.

[jaden]

I also thought those people probably weren't too comfortable with the camera being on. Their lack of response may have had as much to do with that fact, as anything else.

God knows I wouldn't appreciate being filmed during my commute!

Again, though, I don't think Rolando gave a hoot. He likes being kooky, so sue him.

[Phil]

In the last couple of years, Rolando's voice has failed him to the point of needing two serious operations on his throat. He has had to cancel almost all of his operatic engagements, and those he has done have not been very successful. I suppose this stunt was to show that he is singing well again, and that he is still very much alive. There is no such thing as bad publicity, "they" say, but it seems pretty cheesy for a famous classical singer to have to resort to this kind of exposure.

[Nick_J]

Although the scenario was no doubt set up by the TV programme, it doesn't change the fact that the commuters seemed either annoyed or uninterested.
Subway performing can be done successfully - check this clip out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxO09epIXB8&feature=related

His song choice was terrible. Why not something in French, or at least a well known aria? He also makes little effort to engage with his audience, though that's not reall a great departure from how he is on stage.

[candelarion]

Villazon's is a very small market, and it's getting smaller and smaller by the day.

In a few years only mom will buy his CD's an attend his recitals.

[Mariuccia Aust]

After reading the comments and looking at add'l clips, I think I would agree that his entire presentation was not very well done. He could have started from a seated (and not very threatening) position, singing something more intimately scaled (as he was not in a genial group of singers relating to one another in a familiar fashion), and delivering the music at a human scale (engaging his "public") rather than "stage" scale (disconnected). Having said that, I'm always overjoyed by music and art, publically delivered or displayed. Much more appreciative of it than having to pay hundreds of dollars for a ticket and a seat miles away from the artist. Even if from a not-so-wonderful voice or artist: Kudos! For trying and putting yourself and your art out there! (And who said you had to "recognize" the artist to make it an important encounter????)

[Pablo Romero]

Not a wise choice for him to sing in the Paris subway. Why not "En Fermant Les Yeux", which is a mostly inoffensive aria in such close quarters? (it can be done piano until 'Car il y manque une chose', at which point you SHOULD already have a captive audience) Or if sticking with the popular vein, "Quel Joli Temps" by Barbara, or "Mon Dieu" by Edith Piaf (which just begs for a tenor version)?