Virus lays bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo low at Vienna State Opera

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Finnish bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo could not carry through his performance as Wotan at the première of Richard Wagner’s opera Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) at the Vienna State Opera on Sunday.
      The performance was supposed to be the culmination of Uusitalo’s career. However, in the second act his voice began to break, and the audience began to boo him.
      After a prolonged interval, Uusitalo returned on stage for the third act, performing mute, while local singer Oskar Hillebrandt, singing backstage, helped Uusitalo to carry through his performance.
      Despite the singer's having suffered from a sore throat and a hoarse voice, Uusitalo’s doctor had given him permission to perform.
     
Die Walküre was Uusitalo’s first première role at the Vienna State Opera, where he had previously stood in for another singer in the leading role of The Flying Dutchman.
      Earlier Juha Uusitalo has taken the role of Wotan at the Munich Opera, as well as at the Valencia Opera House.
      The next performance of Wagner's Die Walküre will be on December 6th, by which time Uusitalo should hopefully have recovered fully.


Links:
  Vienna State Opera
  Richard Wagner Die Walküre (Wikipedia)

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