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It has to be one of the most dramatic entrances in opera. For half an hour, the story sets up the arrival of a mysterious knight in shining armour, said to be on his way to save the honour of a wrongly accused woman. Then, finally, as the musical swells as only a Wagner score can swell, he arrives: on the back of a boat drawn by a swan, no less. And wins the day. And gets the girl.
Jonas Kaufmann, who’s playing the title role in Opera Australia’s new production of Lohengrin, makes a rather more understated entrance at the stage door of the State Theatre. He’s been out shopping for clothes, attempting to come to terms with Melbourne’s fickle autumn climate, and was a bit put out when Hugo Boss was out of his favourite jumpers and the assistants suggested he try Uniqlo.
Jonas Kaufmann in the 2022 Opera Australia production of Lohengrin.Credit:Opera Australia
But he comes trailing clouds of glory nonetheless. Kaufmann, 52, is one of the world’s hottest tenors – if not the hottest – and not just in looks. Last year The New Yorker dubbed him “the most bankable male star in opera today”. He’s singing and performing across the world, at the greatest opera houses. He even put out a Christmas album with a jaunty version of Jingle Bells.
His name, like his glorious, effortless voice, fills concert halls. He’s the knight in shining armour for the accountants of companies struggling with pandemic malaise.
But he’s worried, nonetheless. He can’t be everywhere, and the pandemic has been an “existential crisis” for opera, he says.
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In Europe, “even the biggest houses, the strongest, the Vienna State Opera, Munich State Opera, Berlin, you name it. They all struggle in selling tickets and they play productions in front of a half empty hall. And that cannot go on for a very long time.”
He’s profoundly grateful to be mostly insulated from it.
“I was in an exceptional position, first of all because I did make a hell of a lot of money in this business, much more than 99 per cent of the people in the business,” says Kaufmann. “And second, as soon as there was an opportunity, a possibility, they would always try to get the ‘dirty dozen’ from the top, to make it as loud as possible, when there was something going on. So I got plenty of business offers after four, five months into the pandemic.