Opera singers ‘face a mental health crisis’

Singers’ agents tell us of a tsunami of depression that is sweeping through the profession. Opera budgets have been cut, contracts arrive late and the basic security of the profession is under threat. One agent says she has four singers presently receiving treatment for depression.

The conversations were sparked by the suicide, on Tuesday in Korea, of the popular tenor Seehon Moon. Seehon was 39.

He was working with Glyndebourne, Malmo and opera houses in France and had every reason to feel confident. But he had given up his residency in Milan during Covid and had failed to find a partner to accompany him through life.

‘He was an angel, everybody loved him,’ said a close associate, but depression is an insidious condition and there is often no swift remedy.

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