Karajan artists: Vinson Cole – from audition straight to Salzburg

For a young singer it could definitely pay off to do an audition with Karajan. In later years, Karajan had his “ensemble” of singers who worked regularly with him without having a contract with a certain institution. This ensemble was constantly in motion. Young singers joined, older ones left. Of course, Karajan was curious when a colleague he valued recommended someone to him but he also did regular auditions and this was the big chance that Vinson Cole took.

According to Karajan’s biographer Roger Vaughn, the audition on 21 October 1982 – the one day off for the Berlin Philharmonic during its American tour – took place at Carnegie Hall. The artist manager Ronald Wilford had invited a number of young singers, among them the tenor Vinson Cole, 31 years old. When he started to sing, Karajan (who wasn’t very attentive to the previous singers) was immediately interested. Cole sang the aria from “Der Rosenkavalier”, Karajan interrupted, demanded a different tempo and asked Cole for “a bit more power”. When the aria was finished, Karajan called Cole to his seat and asked him if he could sing something from “La Bohème” (probably “Che gelida manina”). Cole started, Karajan gave some instructions, started conducting and asked for another go when Cole had finished. “Hold the C a bit longer.” “I’ll try.” “You have to work on it. Why not now? You have good lungs.” Karajan engaged Cole for the part he had performed at the audition, the singer in “Der Rosenkavalier” in his new production in the following year.
It was their only joint opera production but subsequently, Karajan and Cole collaborated a lot on sacred music in concert, in the studio and for concert films – Mozart’s and Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” and his ninth symphony.

After the Verdi Requiem in autumn 1988, the Berlin critic Klaus Geitel (Karajan knew him well) titled: “Vinson Cole was the most pleasant surprise of the evening” and continued: “Nobody else is able to accompany singers like Karajan. Through his artistic faith and his helpful conducting an unknown American tenor whom he discovered in an audition a few years ago suddenly became a new Carlo Bergonzi. […] He sang the ‘Ingemisco’ in so balanced and fervent a way as if he and the conductor shared the same breath.” Vinson Cole appeared in Karajan’s last vocal concert on 27 March 1989 again with the Verdi Requiem. It was also his last concert with the Berlin Philharmonic and his second-last ever.

—  P.R. Jenkins