Jonas Kaufmann: In Conversation With Voigt, Thomas

This is a very interesting account of JK to date. It's clear that JK is a man of broad interests as well as vocal/musical gifts. I was particularly interested in the chapter concerning Michael Rhodes, the teacher who taught him a new technique at a time of crisis in Kaufmanns career. There is constant talk about JK's way of singing as his career has progressed. So my question is: if JK was singing in any unnatural/unhealthy way, how long would it be before mother nature takes hold of him and bites back? Singers who really sing on faulty technique just don't last that long. JK's first lesson with Rhodes was in 1995, and fairly quickly after this engagements started to come his way so his career is already 20 years plus. Have a read of this and everything else in a career that has made him a star. He has by no means reached his full potential yet...….

I was quite disappointed in this book. I am a huge Kaufmann fan and was perhaps naively expecting more in the way of insights into the personality of a man who injects so much drama and feeling into his performances. Sadly, I found very little of this in the book. Some of the best bits are already in the public domain and can be found in the booklets accompanying his CDs. There are also some interesting snippets about the world of opera and the problems facing singers, but there are simply not enough to justify a whole book. As for the man himself and what makes him tick – anything touching on this was cursory and superficial. Kaufmann’s desire for his own privacy and that of his family is taken to such an extreme that it would have been better, in my opinion, to have avoided the subject altogether. I would rather not have known that his father died from a medical accident when Kaufmann was 25 given that we, the readers, were not told how this affected his singing, acting and career, if in fact it did affect these at all. To me, the book seemed more like a CV than anything else, containing as it does, many facts about his work, but little about his reflections, feelings and strategies for coping with what is, undoubtedly, a difficult life-style. I will continue to love Kaufmann the opera singer, but I rather wish I had not read this book. It added little or nothing to my appreciation of his wonderful talent.

The book is a compilation of various interviews of the Star Tenor by the Author (who works for him). It follows Kaufmann's life with occasional quotes. The information is slightly different from the Wikipedia biography. The illustrations in the Kindle version follow the writing. It would have been nice to pair them with the interview subjects. Perhaps even to refer to various You Tube versions of the glorious singing. We will probably have to wait for many years to have a comprehensive biography and discography. Well worth the price. Needless to say I am a big Kaufmann fan and have even heard him in Werther at the Met.

As an opera lover and a great fan of Jonas Kaufmann I naturally ordered this book. However, I was sceptic and was afraid it would be the usual celebrity biography - a hagiography ot the singer, gushing and full of name dropping. How wrong I was! Much of the book consists of interviews with Kaufmann himself and I learnt a lot that I didn't know about how he approaches his roles and about opera in general. Kaufmann's intelligence, honesty, humour and integrity shine through. Not only is he a great singer but he is a great human being. A must for Kaufmann fans and for all opera lovers.

Excellent; have not finished it yet. Very interesting. Have it on my Kindle, iPad and iPhone. Our singer is a very clever young man who speaks and sings in many languages without effort, softly and loudly charming all around him. No tantrums; he just sings to soothe or break your heart. Knows how to practice and always finishes kissing the girls. Yes the book is very well done and easy to read and understand how hard they all work. So if you like him buy the book; it is easy to read.