Alexander Chancellor

Sorry, Tara Erraught, but the age of the fat lady singing is over

It ended at the Royal Opera House ten years ago. People seem to have forgotten

Tara Erraught [DIETER NAGL/AFP/Getty Images] 
issue 31 May 2014

London’s opera critics have been roundly condemned for suggesting that a female singer’s personal appearance could make her unsuitable for a role. The singer in question is Tara Erraught, a young Irish mezzo-soprano based in Germany, who has just made her British debut in the new Glyndebourne production of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier.

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