Tenor Jonas Kaufman sings 14 arias from the French grand opera repertory, all roles he has sung in public performance. Several works derive from German texts and literature, such as Werther, Faust, and Hoffmann. Kaufman’s light, lyric tenor finds its proper medium in this program, particularly in Le Cid of Massenet and Mylio’s aria from Lalo’s Le Roi d’Ys. He opens with Romeo’s admission of devotion to love from Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. From Massenet’s Werther, Werther laments the irony that verses of springtime have only left him desolate. In Ambroise Thomas’ version of Mignon, Werther wishes he could restore the bloom of innocence to the woman he has conquered. Don Jose in Bizet’s Carmen cherishes the flower from her that he kept while in prison. He both desires and hates Carmen for the miseries of love he feels. Kaufman joins baritone Ludovic Tezier in Bizet’s duet from Les Pecheurs de Perles, in which two men who love the same woman dent any pangs of jealousy.
Lalo’s Mylio sings of unrequited love for Rozenn. Hoffmann in Massenet’s opera speaks of the burning lights of love, rapturous perfumes. Vasco in Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine sings from an enchanted garden that love has granted him a vision of Eden. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva joins Kaufman in the love-duet from Massenet’s Manon, in which Des Grieux tries to deny his fatal attraction to Manon, in vain. In Le Cid, Rodrigue resigns himself to a life without his love, a fate God commands. In Halvey’s La Juive, Eleazar pleads to his Lord to deliver his beloved Rachel from death. In Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Faust anticipates his meeting with Marguerite, a moment of perfect love. In Les Troyens of Berlioz, Aeneas regrets he must abandon Carthage and his beloved Dido, a departure he senses will prove fatal.