16.07.2020 – 10:00. Kaufmann loves portraying shattered characters, immersing himself in their world and making their thoughts and emotions strikingly believable.Besides his vocal and musical qualities, it is his total identification with his roles that has been received with such enthusiasm by press and public. In February and March 2014 he portrayed Massenet’s Werther in a new production at the Met, in June he gave his debut as Des Grieux in Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” at the ROH in London.Highlights in 2015 were his debut as Andrea Chenier in a new production at the ROH with Antonio Pappano conducting, his first Radames in Rom (in a concert performance with Anja Harteros and Pappano), a high acclaimed double debut in the new production of “Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci” at the Salzburg Easter Festival, a Puccini recital at La Scala, and new productions of Beethoven's “Fidelio” in Salzburg and Berlioz’ “La Damnation de Faust” at the Opéra National in Paris.After the big success of his solo album with evergreens from the late Twenties and early Thirties (“Du bist die Welt für mich”) he presented his new album with Puccini arias (“Nessun dorma”) in September 2015. The breadth of line was missing as well, with Kaufmann seemingly rushing through several phrases.One could hear and see the tenor increasingly clear his throat with each subsequent aria and his singing became increasingly restless and unsettled (it didn’t help that right after a very troubled rendition of “Ah! Start News Schedule New releases All CDs Jonas Kaufmann. After a revival of “Andrea Chenier” at the Bayerische Staatsoper in November/December 2017, Jonas Kaufmann performed opera concerts in Japan as well as recitals in Santa Monica and at Carnegie Hall in January 2018. Audience energy and enthusiasm pushes artists to their very best. Particularly memorable was “o dolci baci languide carezze,” where Deutsche’s piano matching Kaufmann’s threadlike pianissimo singing note for note; it was the kind of chamber music magic reserved for the recital hall and generally not heard in this repertory.These two arias were Kaufmann at his very best and it was interesting, especially in hindsight, that the program took a quick detour into a decidedly different style of music.Whether he was managing some cold or allergies, or the shift in repertory was far from comfortable for the tenor, Kaufmann struggled through a gauntlet of four French arias from “Carmen,” “Roméo et Juliette,” “L’Africaine,” and “Le Cid.” Coarseness would set in during many of the softer phrases with some of the pianissimo high notes, which had sounded so glorious in “E luce van le stelle” moments earlier, lacking the same level of ease. After all, one of the major selling points of the series was the fact that these iconic artists would be performing in correspondingly famed venues.Ultimately, this concert series is a solid endeavor by the Met Opera and it should be interesting to see how they evolve over the coming months. One could immediately hear it in “Cielo e mar,” where the tenor’s voice sounding increasingly confident and poised as the aria progressed with the final high notes examples of peak Kaufmann – precise, controlled, but thrilling.He was even better in the brief “L’anima ho stanca” from “Adriana Lecouvreur, his singing finding a freedom in the lines. She was joined briefly by General Manager Peter Gelb for a brief introduction to the concert series.Kaufmann and pianist Helmut Deutsch joined forces for a program featuring 12 major arias from the French and Verismo repertory. Furthermore he undertook two Verdi roles for the first time: Manrico in “Il Trovatore” and Alvaro in “La Forza del Destino”, both in new productions at the Bayerische Staatsoper. The international press has singled him out as the “new king of tenors”. This was the case at his role début as Siegmund in “Die Walküre” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the spring of 2011. I‘ve decided to help opera singers in my country: I would, however, like to ask you to maybe donate to one of the many artists associations in your respective countries: #WeWillMetAgain, for instance, is an organization of the unemployed METorchestra, which is trying to get their musicians through the hard times until The Metropolitan Opera can open again. In this kind of setting, that major asset is not available to an artist.