Stressed Opera Singers Turn to Drugs

[DueBaci]

" Stripping away opera's glamour, singers are increasingly speaking out about a more sordid side of their world - increased drug and alcohol use sparked by relentless pressure to perform often and well. ....

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Tenor Endrik Wottrich received harsh criticism for pulling out of a performance of the Wagner festival at Bayreuth, Germany, because of a cold.

Fuming, he lifted the curtain on the pressure and resulting abuses.

``We are faced with the choice of performing and being attacked because we sing one false note, or being attacked because we are taking care of ourselves,'' he told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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more at this link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/s ... 43,00.html