Gluck opera shines despite tenor's voice loss

VIENNA (AP) — Two tenors in the same role at the same time — what could have been a recipe for disaster turned instead into a delightful operatic performance of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Alceste,” with Joseph Kaiser’s sudden voice loss leading to a bit of successful improvisation.

The audience groaned at the announcement that the Canadian tenor was not fit to sing Thursday and applauded only dutifully when told that Charles Workman would be singing from the orchestra pit with Kaiser acting out the role of Admete on stage But it worked.