Opera singer claims health checks cost him ROH role

AN OPERA singer has claimed he was sacked from a starring role in the Royal Opera House’s Otello weeks before the production, after taking two days out of rehearsals for health checks.

Ludovic Tézier, the French baritone, said he was “perfectly healthy” but had been compelled to undergo blood tests after missing the first week of rehearsals for illness. He called the ROH’S decision “amazing”.

In a video published on his own Twitter page, he said of the health check: “Unfortunately it was two days of the rehearsal time, and apparently Covent Garden thought it was far too much for me [to miss] to be able to do the part.

“I think that’s an amazing decision but this is my advice. I have to respect the Covent Garden decision. But this is not that I couldn’t do it because I have no voice or something like that.”

Otello, which stars Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, will run from June 21 to July 10. Tézier’s role of Iago will now be sung by Marco Vratogna.

Oliver Mears, director of opera at Covent Garden, said: “‘This has obviously been a very difficult decision to make, and we are disappointed that Ludovic will now not be able to make his role debut as Iago.

“Otello is a major new production for us. The relationship between Otello and Iago is central to the opera, and it is essential to work through in rehearsals the complex interaction between these two characters. We look forward to Ludovic’s return in the 2017-18 season.”