Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann has canceled one of his two performances in the Metropolitan Opera’s highly awaited show Carmen. Tickets to the performance were running for almost $1,000 on online ticket broker sites before the singer dropped out due to the flu.
The Met announced Monday morning, March 2, that Kaufmann, due to play Don José in the popular opera Wednesday, March 4, was suffering from the flu and would be unable to travel to New York as scheduled Sunday, March 1. The Met also said Kaufmann was hoping to recover in time so he could be a part of the second performance, which will be a matinee Saturday, March 7.
Kaufmann’s performance in Bizet’s Carmen were so anticipated that online ticket brokers were offering seats in the Grand Tier for $999.75, which is several times what the Met initially sold the tickets for. Now, it is unknown what will happen to the people who bought their tickets from a secondary-ticket market.
Yooghoon Lee will be replacing Kaufmann in the role of Don José for the Wednesday performance. Lee will also be singing the title role in Verdi’s Don Carlo later on in the month, but he should be careful. It seems as if everyone surrounded with Carmen is catching something.
Last week, Hei-Kyung Hong was set to play the role of Micaëla but was replaced by Ailyn Pérez after getting sick. Pérez will be part of the cast for all of this week's performances.
