Ben Heppner

Opera singers endure merciless scrutiny. Their every onstage phrase and movement are parsed with Talmudic rigor ? a situation the Internet has only intensified. Their body weight and emotional health elicit comment and speculation. They are also the artists most susceptible to the vagaries of illness, climate and the effects of travel. So one feels for the great Canadian tenor Ben Heppner, 54, who has enjoyed the world's praise for his clarion voice but also harsh, sometimes wounding, criticism for a series of problems that have compromised his instrument over the past decade.

— Canadian tenor Ben Heppner is a versatile performer, but Tinker Bell he's not. Yet this mountain of a man will be flying as Captain Ahab in San Diego Opera's West Coast premiere of the opera "Moby-Dick. " The production sets sail Saturday at San Diego's Civic Theatre. At a recent rehearsal of the new opera by Jake Heggie — who made a splash with his first opera, "Dead Man Walking," in 2000 — the imposing Heppner was standing at the back of a cavernous rehearsal space in the Civic Theatre complex, wrapped in ropes and leaning on the cane that is part of the costume package for Captain Ahab, whose wooden peg leg replaces the limb bitten off by the great white whale in Herman Melville's sprawling 1851 novel.

A conquering hero with charm, Ben Heppner strode onto the stage at the Irvine Barclay Theatre Sunday afternoon clearly happy to be there and to share his vocal gifts with a virtually full house. The Canadian tenor, one of the Metropolitan Opera's recent stalwarts in the Wagnerian wing, relishes musical challenges and has regularly met them, as witness his much-followed "Tristan" in Seattle last summer.

Opera singers endure merciless scrutiny. Their every onstage phrase and movement are parsed with Talmudic rigor ? a situation the Internet has only intensified. Their body weight and emotional health elicit comment and speculation. They are also the artists most susceptible to the vagaries of illness, climate and the effects of travel. So one feels for the great Canadian tenor Ben Heppner, 54, who has enjoyed the world's praise for his clarion voice but also harsh, sometimes wounding, criticism for a series of problems that have compromised his instrument over the past decade.

Ben Heppner has been hailed by critics around the world as the latest great hope in the excruciatingly difficult Wagnerian heldentenor repertory. But the 42-year-old Canadian didn't always soar in those rarefied heights. "Early on, when I was 18 through 22 . . . I didn't have an easy access to the upper part of the voice," said Heppner, who will make his Orange County recital debut Sunday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in a program co-sponsored by the theater and the Philharmonic Society.

Tenor change: Tenor Ben Heppner has canceled his appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic this week because of illness. In place of the Sibelius songs he was to sing Thursday and Friday at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct Sibelius' "Death of Melisande." The rest of the program -- Sibelius' fifth and sixth symphonies -- will remain the same.

Ben Heppner, who was to have made his L.A. Opera debut in September as Canio in "Pagliacci," has dropped out, the company said Tuesday. He'll be replaced by tenor Roberto Alagna, whose wife, soprano Angela Gheorghiu, will appear in the role of Nedda. They performed here last season in "La Boheme." A news release from L.A. Opera quoted Heppner's management as saying he had decided "that the role of Canio no longer suits his voice and has removed it from his active repertoire."

At this rate, Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt may never sing "Tristan und Isolde" together. After missing the first four performances of the highly anticipated revival at New York City's Metropolitan Opera, Heppner planned to return Tuesday night. But Voigt woke up Tuesday with a fever and nausea, spokesman Albert Imperato said. She was to be replaced by understudy Janice Baird. Heppner and Voigt, two of the world's leading Wagnerian singers, have never sung the opera together and have one more chance: Friday night.

A conq'ring hero with charm, Ben Heppner strode onto the stage Sunday afternoon at the Irvine Barclay Theatre clearly happy to be there and to share his vocal gifts with a virtually filled house. The Canadian tenor, one of the Metropolitan Opera's recent stalwarts in the Wagnerian wing, relishes musical challenges and has regularly met them, as witness his much-followed "Tristan" in Seattle last summer.

NEW YORK -- Stage lore holds that Shakespeare's "Macbeth" is cursed and that it's best called "the Scottish play" inside the theater to avert bad luck. Even the Metropolitan Opera has historically had troubles mounting Verdi's operatic version. But after a mishap-free run of the Verdi last fall and a seemingly jinxed production of "Tristan and Isolde" this month, it appears that Met insiders would do better by referring to Wagner's masterpiece as "the Cornish opera." Tuesday night did not break the jinx.

At this rate, Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt may never sing "Tristan und Isolde" together. After missing the first four performances of the highly anticipated revival at New York City's Metropolitan Opera, Heppner planned to return Tuesday night. But Voigt woke up Tuesday with a fever and nausea, spokesman Albert Imperato said. She was to be replaced by understudy Janice Baird. Heppner and Voigt, two of the world's leading Wagnerian singers, have never sung the opera together and have one more chance: Friday night.

NEW YORK -- Stage lore holds that Shakespeare's "Macbeth" is cursed and that it's best called "the Scottish play" inside the theater to avert bad luck. Even the Metropolitan Opera has historically had troubles mounting Verdi's operatic version. But after a mishap-free run of the Verdi last fall and a seemingly jinxed production of "Tristan and Isolde" this month, it appears that Met insiders would do better by referring to Wagner's masterpiece as "the Cornish opera." Tuesday night did not break the jinx.

Tenor change: Tenor Ben Heppner has canceled his appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic this week because of illness. In place of the Sibelius songs he was to sing Thursday and Friday at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct Sibelius' "Death of Melisande." The rest of the program -- Sibelius' fifth and sixth symphonies -- will remain the same.

Ben Heppner, who was to have made his L.A. Opera debut in September as Canio in "Pagliacci," has dropped out, the company said Tuesday. He'll be replaced by tenor Roberto Alagna, whose wife, soprano Angela Gheorghiu, will appear in the role of Nedda. They performed here last season in "La Boheme." A news release from L.A. Opera quoted Heppner's management as saying he had decided "that the role of Canio no longer suits his voice and has removed it from his active repertoire."

Science tells us that energy is diminishing in the universe. That's called the second law of thermodynamics. But it doesn't apply to tenor Ben Heppner. At his recital Sunday afternoon at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Heppner started strong and got stronger. His voice grew bigger, brighter and more thrilling the more he sang. It was an extraordinary experience.

A conquering hero with charm, Ben Heppner strode onto the stage at the Irvine Barclay Theatre Sunday afternoon clearly happy to be there and to share his vocal gifts with a virtually full house. The Canadian tenor, one of the Metropolitan Opera's recent stalwarts in the Wagnerian wing, relishes musical challenges and has regularly met them, as witness his much-followed "Tristan" in Seattle last summer.

Ever so slowly working its way beyond the fringe, Dvorak's best-known opera arrives in its first stellar recording. Fleming's growing celebrity and Heppner's reputation as the heldentenor of choice will likely draw a whole new audience for this sentimental fairy tale of a water sprite longing for human love. "Rusalka" is best known for the exquisite soprano aria "Song to the Moon," which Fleming sings with splendid surety.

Science tells us that energy is diminishing in the universe. That's called the second law of thermodynamics. But it doesn't apply to tenor Ben Heppner. At his recital Sunday afternoon at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Heppner started strong and got stronger. His voice grew bigger, brighter and more thrilling the more he sang. It was an extraordinary experience.

A conq'ring hero with charm, Ben Heppner strode onto the stage Sunday afternoon at the Irvine Barclay Theatre clearly happy to be there and to share his vocal gifts with a virtually filled house. The Canadian tenor, one of the Metropolitan Opera's recent stalwarts in the Wagnerian wing, relishes musical challenges and has regularly met them, as witness his much-followed "Tristan" in Seattle last summer.

Ben Heppner has been hailed by critics around the world as the latest great hope in the excruciatingly difficult Wagnerian heldentenor repertory. But the 42-year-old Canadian didn't always soar in those rarefied heights. "Early on, when I was 18 through 22 . . . I didn't have an easy access to the upper part of the voice," said Heppner, who will make his Orange County recital debut Sunday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in a program co-sponsored by the theater and the Philharmonic Society.