Tenor Stanislas De Barbeyrac has spoken out against the Palazzetto Bru Zane’s handling of its home video release of “Carmen.”

The company revealed that it was releasing a special edition package to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the famed Bizet opera in a historic staging from 1875 from Opéra de Rouen Normandie. The video book includes one DVD and one Blu-ray, online access, texts, a libretto, and subtitles in French, English, German, and Italian. The cast includes De Barbeyrac, Deepa Johnny, Iulia Maria Dan, Faustine de Monès, and Floriane Hasler.

However, there is a massive elephant in the room in the form of the picture, and reportedly the artwork in general, being used to promote the package – the tenor on the main image of the package is not De Barbeyrac. It is Thomas Atkins, who was originally hired to take on the production.

“How can you not see that it is not me on the picture?” the tenor wrote in a social media post. “It is another tenor hired for the production. He had done rehearsals but fell ill. I replaced him at the last minute for some of the following shows, including the recorded one. So I sang, but it is him who is displayed.”

He added that neither he or his management was consulted regarding the art chosen for the release and noted that he could not stay silent regarding the mistake by the company. The tenor also shared a story on his social media stories in which he received a response from someone who had secured the package and noted that there are only photos of Atkins and none of de Barbeyrac.

Palazzetto Bru Zane’s social media post did respond to the tenor, noting that they wished to also pay “homage to the other artist who spent time on the project” but that it was de Barbeyrac who was “at the heart of the video recording.” .