Anger in opera world at 'cruel' criticism of female soprano star's appearance

The opera world has reacted with anger to the disparaging remarks made by several critics about the appearance of the female soprano star of this year's Glyndebourne festival opera, Der Rosenkavalier.

Irish mezzo soprano Tara Erraught, who is the principal soloist in the Bavarian State opera ensemble, made her UK stage debut at the 80th anniversary season of the opera festival on Saturday, playing Octavian in Strauss's comic masquerade.

But praise of Erraught's performance was overshadowed by descriptions of the singer's weight by leading critics, who labelled her variously as "unbelievable, unsightly and unappealing", (The Times) "dumpy" (The Independent) and with an "intractable physique" (The Daily Telegraph).

Andrew Clark in the Financial Times added: "Tara Erraught's Octavian is a chubby bundle of puppy-fat." The Guardian described her as "stocky".

Leading opera figures have now spoken of their disgust that the 27-year-old, who is a rising star, should be subject to such comments, with several prominent female singers jumping to Erraught's defence.

Writing for the Guardian website, fellow mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnstone, asked: "How, then, have we arrived at a point where opera is no longer about singing but about the physiques and looks of the singers, specifically the female singers?"

She continued: "Barely any mention of her voice, a gloriously rounded and well produced instrument, was made, and there was little comment on her musicianship, dramatic commitment or her ability to communicate to an audience and to move that audience to tears. Comment was also made about another female singer being 'stressed by motherhood'. I, for one, had thought we as a country had moved beyond the point where women were treated as second-class citizens, but clearly overt sexism is still rife, no matter what we are led to believe.

"All singers need self confidence to perform, and so it is on this level that it is particularly cruel and irresponsible of this set of critics to be so completely disparaging of a singer's appearance."

Jennifer Rivera, a world famous American mezzo soprano, also voiced her anger at the critics comments, which she condemned as demeaning the entire art form of opera.

"The thing that really gets to me about the reviews is that all of them, almost grudgingly, admit that she sang the extraordinarily difficult role beautifully. And yet the bulk of their criticism is reserved for her body type. And she's not even playing some sexy 16-year-old ingenue, she's playing a teenage boy," said Rivera.

She continued: "What we do as opera singers is quite singular. The physical force needed to produce unamplified singing to large numbers of people is unique and has a very different physical requirement than any other performing art form. It also requires a certain natural talent that cannot be trained into a person who isn't born with it. Therefore, expecting every single person to look like the character they are portraying will leave out certain, very special voices that in other eras, when weight and appearance were less of an issue, were considered some of the greatest voices of their generations."

British soprano Elizabeth Meister echoed her words, saying she had been baffled and angered by the judgemental comments on Erraught's performance and added: "What on earth does your body size have to do with how well you can sing?

"I work in an industry that celebrates the most natural thing a person can possess: the human voice… If it's the case that you simply don't like the sound we make, just say you don't like the sound we make. That's entirely valid. But don't make sexist and puerile remarks about our figures; at best, it's childish, and at worst, it dilutes the currency of everything else you have to say."

The critics' comments also prompted one of Britain's most celebrated opera singers Alice Coote to write an open letter to the five critics. In it, she states: "If young singers are pressurised into accepting a bigger emphasis on physical shape over sound and this becomes any more pressured onto them than it already is today then we are robbing ourselves of the great singers of the future. We are robbing ourselves of the singers that will hit our solar plexus. And we are robbing our entire human culture of the human voice. The Olympic Great Human Voice. And you may as well hammer that nail into the coffin of opera right now. And not carry on with the sham of loving it.

Her letter continues: "Be kind to young singers – you may change the trajectory of their lives and career if you wound them with your words. Be kind to middle aged singers. Be kind to old singers. Be kind to all singers. But above all ... If you hear a singer with a great voice listen. Look too. But above all listen. Without us it's over."

Erraught's publicist said that the young singer was "just focusing on what this is all about, the music" and that she had nothing more to add following the critics' remarks.

A native of Dundalk, Ireland, Erraught graduated from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and joined the Bavarian State Opera in 2008. She was catapulted to international acclaim in 2011 following her performances in the title role of a production of Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges and, in the same month, jumping in for an ailing colleague on five-days notice to perform Romeo in a new production of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi.

Following her performance at Glyndeborne, the Irish soprano plans to embark on a second North American recital tour, as well as make her stage debuts at the Washington National Opera and San Francisco Opera later this year.