“Bravo!” exclaimed an enthusiastic signora in the audience before even one note resounded in the Arena di Verona, as the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann took the stage. Capably led by Jochen Rieder (and recorded for commercial distribution), Kaufmann’s concert was one of Verona’s occasional solo offerings of the type normally reserved for superstar talent on the level of Plácido Domingo and Anna Netrebko. Kaufmann has come close to such heights, even if he has not quite reached celebrity status on both sides of the Atlantic. But in Europe, he is one of opera’s hottest commodities, regularly engaged in a host of roles complementing his musky, dark-timbred tenor.
Recent critical comment has speculated with concern about Kaufmann’s trajectory. Now fifty-four, he may be past his prime. The voice retains much of its appeal and still has thrills to offer, but there is an occasional dryness too. During the intermission, a microphone was placed on stage. Although billed as “Jonas Kaufmann in Opera,” the program relied heavily on the gifts of two of Kaufmann’s colleagues, the Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva and the French baritone Ludovic Tézier. Both sang more solo pieces than one might have expected if all was indeed well with Kaufmann’s voice.
The concert started sensibly with Kaufmann singing the brief romanza “Recondita armonia” from Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. The more challenging duet “Già nella notte densa,” from Verdi’s Otello, followed. Yoncheva, singing the part of Desdemona, delivered a shimmering performance. Kaufmann has sung the role of Otello in the past with success, but his voice may now rest too low in the register to pull it off; the same was true in his rendition of Otello’s great aria of desperation, “Dio mi potevi scagliar.” The last time such concerns were raised about a tenor in this role was during Domingo’s final performances as a tenor. He progressed into baritone roles just a few years later. Kaufmann’s voice was stronger, however, in the finale duet from Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, again performed with Yoncheva. His recent performance of the full opera at Milan’s La Scala was a rousing success, and it was good to hear more from it.
Interwoven into the concert’s first half were Tézier’s performances of Iago’s “Creed” from Otello and “Nemico della patria” from Giordano’s Andrea Chénier. Both selections were beautifully lyrical and more Gallic than Italian in timbre.
The second part of the concert tended more toward the popular side of the repertoire. Kaufmann got off to a rollicking start with the life-affirming “Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert!” from Lehár’s Giuditta, and he was just as lively in his iconic “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz.” The two arias paired pleasantly. Kaufmann’s only other solo piece in this section was the rather insipid “Nelle tue mani” from the film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott. Yoncheva gave a splendidly sultry rendition of “Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen, and Tézier gave a beguiling performance of that same opera’s “Toreador Song” in addition to Offenbach’s “Scintille, diamant,” from Les Contes d’Hoffman. Yoncheva and Kaufmann united again for a fine effort in Ernesto di Curtis’s “Non ti scordar di me.” They also joined for “Somewhere” and “Maria” from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, two songs already overdone, and both proved woefully out of the singers’ idiom. While these may have been popular with a more casual audience, they otherwise proved unfortunate choices. The trio came together for but fell a bit flat in “Nella Fantasia” from Roland Joffé’s 1986 film The Mission, scored by Ennio Morricone.
Concerts such as this one normally feature an encore or two, but Kaufmann and his colleagues generously accorded the crowd six unscheduled pieces. Kaufmann opened the encores with another selection from Andrea Chénier, “Come un bel dì di Maggio,” a poet’s reflection on love. Kaufmann performed it in strong voice. Yoncheva then surprised and delighted with the plaintive “O mio babbino caro,” a serious soprano aria from Puccini’s otherwise uproariously funny comedy Gianni Schicchi. Kaufmann returned for Leoncavallo’s uplifiting “Mattinata,” a tenor favorite, before Tézier struck a darker mood with the main baritone aria from Massenet’s Thaïs, a meditation on the city of Alexandria and its descent into sin. Kaufmann’s vocal changes notwithstanding, he proceeded with a more than credible “Nessun dorma” from Puccini’s Turandot. For the finale, he and Yoncheva returned for the tenor and soprano parts in the famous drinking song from the party scene in Verdi’s La traviata, “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici,” ending the concert on a festive note.