Kunde has sung in the greatest opera houses of the world! When I heard
him last at the Opéra-Comique in La dame blanche, he had
almost no voice for the role but paraded like a satisfied peacock on the
proscenium. After
that when Kunde sang La damnation de Faust, he seemed to have a huge voice. This
indicates heavy miking. Kunde even sang Arnold on stage, with boos in Italy. Actually, Kunde's voice grew
not only much bigger over time, but finally even big. Which doesn't imply that his singing got better... I heard him in L'Africaine in
Venice (surprisingly successful), and in La donna del lago in Vienna (Theater an der Wien), which was the ultimate nightmare.
He was born in Kankakee, Illinois. Kunde attended the Illinois State University
to become a choral conductor. At the end of his fourth year of college,
he decided at the last moment to audition
for the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Young Artists Program
and was accepted. Kunde
began performing in 1978 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Center for
American Artists.
Kunde made his European debut
as Nadir in Les pêcheurs des Perles in Nice. Kunde has appeared regularly
in the
world's most notable opera venues, including, in Paris, Opéra Comique and
Opéra Bastille (miked house),
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Colón, Rome, Madrid, Toulouse,
Munich, Vienna, Rossini Festival Pesaro, Athens, Montreal, Zürich, Tokyo,
Verona, Teatro alla Scala, Grand Théâtre du Genève,
Metropolitan Opera, San
Francisco Opera and many others.
His repertory includes:
Arnold!; Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi; Lindoro; Énée!; Julien!;
Des Grieux (Manon); Nadir; Ernesto; Elvino; Fernando; Idreno;
Don Ottavio; Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola;
Rinaldo in Armida; Pirro in Ermione; Benvenuto Cellini; Ricciardo in
Ricciardo e Zoraide; Roderigo in La donna del lago; Gluck's Armide; La Straniera
in the world premiere version written for Rubini; Maria Stuarda; A life for the Tzar; Anna Bolena;
Monteverdi's Orfeo; Nerone in L'incoronazione di Poppea; and Arturo.
