Perhaps they are following in the example of Procrustes in Greek mythology, who stretched or cut people to a standard length? Oh my goodie! Opera is still about music and singing and I hate it when they do it as a model contest.
This is among the craziest cases of discrimination that I have ever heard of. Because the average Tatar male is about cm high, unlike the average Dutch male, whose height is about cm.
In truth, this singer is probably discriminated against for another reason — I surmise he is homosexual, which is generally frowned upon in Tatarstan. Khachatur Badalyan married a woman named Svetlana last June. Shades of Joseph Schmidt. On the other hand I do not believe Schmidt ever lied about his height which might have played a role in this fiasco. Still ridiculous if he did lie about his height.
And what a gorgeous voice Schmidt had! What was he? He seldom appeared on the operatic stage, appearing mostly as a concert singer and on films. I guess 5 foot 6 inches is not a giant , but he is in good shape and handsome also. Where is the problem? Its impossible to understand. How could her height be a reasonable motive for this unbelievable decision? This is outrageous, no matter how tall she is….
Male singers of little height are very discriminated in the opera world. When will this subject be brought to light? Simply shameful. I can think of several short operatic tenors past and present who had careers despite their physicality, most famously the great Carlo Bergonzi of savoured memory.
There is no disgrace in having to look up to a soprano. What IS disgraceful is discrimination on such grounds. There are often excuses for numerous ulterior motives in my experience. Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Share this article:.
Opera fail: Tenor is fired for being too short main. M McAlpine says:. February 18, at am. February 19, at pm. The director takes into account how they look and move, and works with them to draw the best out of them. This works the other way, too, with slim singers who are playing physically larger characters — and again, if they are not given the right direction, the effect can be far from realistic.
And even if a singer does seem physically perfect for a role, any shortcomings in the acting department can still be disastrous. But, in the case of Aida , I felt that singers were not given the right direction to overcome any physical limitations imposed by their size. Acting ability has always varied among singers but, again, with the right direction and coaching, any shortcomings should be able to be overcome. Here I didn't think they were. It used to be the case that opera singers could look how they liked — it was their voices that counted.
Other singers seem to be embracing this notion, too. We all know that, on the whole, opera plots can be far-fetched, and at times, frankly ridiculous, but if we are to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the experience, the singers involved need to convince us that they believe they are who they say they are.
Back in , Deborah Voigt hit the headlines when she was sacked by Covent Garden for being too fat. Is she bitter about the experience? I think opera houses have to compete for entertainment dollars just like anyone else…I would like to believe that the most important thing in opera is the voice. But at the same time it's a business.
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