Status: 25.08.2023, 15:00 p.m.
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Stephen Gould as Tristan and Catherine Foster as Isolde at rehearsals in Bayreuth. © Enrico Nawrath/Bayreuth Festival/dpa
He sang the great Wagner roles - now the tenor Stephen Gould has surprisingly ended his career. He had already cancelled his appearances at the festival this summer. The reason?
Bayreuth - Stephen Gould was once again to sing three mammoth roles at the Bayreuth Festival: Siegfried, Tristan and Tannhäuser. These are not walks. These are marathons in the opera world in their own right. But his health slowed him down that year, and he cancelled. Now Gould is ending his career completely. The American had to say goodbye to the stage for health reasons, his management announced.
Gould, born in 1962, is one of the most important heroic tenors of the past decades. In May 2015 he was awarded the title "Österreichischer Kammersänger" at the Vienna State Opera.
Gould is closely associated with the Bayreuth Festival. He made his debut here 19 years ago as Tannhäuser. At that time, Wolfgang Wagner (1919-2010) was still the director of the world-famous festival. Gould, who quickly became a crowd favorite on the Green Hill, also frequently sang the title role in "Tristan und Isolde", which is considered particularly challenging. He was heard for the first time in Bayreuth in 2015 as Tristan, it was the production of Festival Director Katharina Wagner, conducted by Christian Thielemann at the time.
In 2022, Gould told broadcaster BR Klassik: "I'm not a sprinter. More of a long-distance runner. It is a pity that in our world with Tik-Tok, everything has to happen in the shortest possible time. Wagner is not an opera, it is not entertainment. It's a meditation, a mantra."
Gould is already making new plans
In addition, he shone last year at the first Festival Open-Air in Bayreuth and received great cheers not only for excerpts from Wagner's work, but also for the Lehár song "Dein ist mein ganze Herz". The festival without Gould, the Bayreuth "Iron Man" - for many Wagnerians this has become unthinkable in recent years.
But according to his management, Gould is already making new plans: "I will first concentrate fully on my health and then fulfill my second dream: I would like to teach young talented singers in master classes, pass on my experience to them and accompany them on their path to their singing career."
He continued: "I look back with gratitude on my thirty-year career and the meeting and collaboration with many outstanding artistic personalities in important opera productions and concert projects around the globe, and it is extremely difficult for me to say goodbye."
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In addition to Bayreuth and Vienna, Gould was also frequently heard in Tokyo and Berlin. Before he was able to establish himself in the German field, he sang, for example, in numerous performances of the musical "The Phantom of the Opera". Dpa