Ben Heppner retires

[Guest]

Ben Heppner has just announced his retirement. Here's another link.

I watched him suffer agonies during his vocal breakdown as Tristan at the ROH. I'm grateful to have heard him at his glorious best (in Les Troyens at the Barbican), and his Walter von Stolzings (on CD with Sawallisch and on DVD at the Met) are my favourite versions of my favourite opera. Thank you Ben Heppner

[Flosshilde]

He's rather older than I thought - I only seem to have noticed his name comparatively recently.

[CallMePaul]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) link says that he was 32 when he won the Birgit Nilsson prize that catapulted him to worldwide fame, although he had been singing in Canada for some 10 years before that. He was not, alas, a prolific recording artist. The only recording I have of his is Les Troyens conducted by Charles Dutoit. 58 may seem a young age for a tenor to retire, but the roles he sang - Tristan, Aeneas, even Peter Grimes, are very demanding and must sap anyone's strength. There have never been more than a handful of great Heldentenors at any one time and now is no exception - Simon O'Neill is one, but am I alone in feeling that Jonas Kaufman has came too early to Wagner?

[Mary Chambers]

His Peter Grimes wasn't very good the night I heard him. Can't remember the date.

[Dave2002]

I have a vague recollection of seeing him/hearing him in Otello at the ROH sometime in the last decade.
I don't recall being either knocked out or disappointed by the performance - certainly was OK, and I think overall I rated it as good.

[ARBurton]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) link says that he was 32 when he won the Birgit Nilsson prize that catapulted him to worldwide fame, although he had been singing in Canada for some 10 years before that. He was not, alas, a prolific recording artist. The only recording I have of his is Les Troyens conducted by Charles Dutoit. 58 may seem a young age for a tenor to retire, but the roles he sang - Tristan, Aeneas, even Peter Grimes, are very demanding and must sap anyone's strength. There have never been more than a handful of great Heldentenors at any one time and now is no exception - Simon O'Neill is one, but am I alone in feeling that Jonas Kaufman has came too early to Wagner?

The Aeneas on the Dutoit Troyens is Gary Lakes, surely. Heppner would have been infinitely better. I too heard him at the Barbican in 2000, so glad I was able to do so.