Photo by Doug O’Connor
In the continuing fury over English critics' highly questionable (obnoxious?) preoccupation with mezzo Tara Erraught's appearance, an Irish counter-critic is heard from.
Julia Molony minces no words in Ireland's The Independent about the Irish mezzo:
Is the British Opera press really a cabal of vindictive dinosaurs? I ask because last week, this otherwise fairly niche corner of the Fourth Estate has been catapulted from the back of the arts sections to the mastheads of the international press after they rounded on a bright, promising and embarrassingly talented Irish mezzo-soprano and savaged her, not for her singing, which is unanimously considered top-notch, but for her body shape.Forget sexism, this is bullying. Had those comments been made about a young woman in the early stages of her career on say, social media, they would have been identified as bullying.
Tara Erraught is a rising star in her field — originally from Dundalk, she is now principal soloist in the Bavarian State opera ensemble. But that, at the moment, is no longer the most famous thing about her. Instead, that distinction goes to the reviews by five opera critics following her starring role in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier at Glyndebourne.