Randal Turner, Francis Poulenc & Michael Weyandt (Clockwise from top left)
We want to remind readers about the Poulenc Cabaret at 8:00 pm on Thursday, February 2 at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27th Street in New York City. The concert by operamission will include Banalités, Chansons gaillardes, la Courte paille, Les Mamelles de Tirésias (from the opera), plus more settings of Guillaume Apollinaire, Louis Aragon, two cabaret-friendly songs written for Yvonne Printemps, clarinet sonata from 1962, solo piano Improvisation n° 15 and Hommage à Edith Piaf.
Simon Keenlyside sings Poulenc's Hôtel:
In addition to barihunks Randal Turner, Ross Benoliel and Michael Weyandt, artists include clarinetist Cory Tiffin, pianists Max Midroit and Jennifer Peterson, singers Michelle Jennings, John Carlo Pierce, Marcy Richardson, Kimberly Sogioka and Nicholas Tamagna. Tickets are only $20.
The cast of NYCO's "Prima Donna"
You can also see Randal Turner at New York City Opera where he is appearing in Rufus Wainwright's "Prima Donna." Thanks to a generous gift from The Reed Foundation and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation all remaining tickets for Prima Donna, as well as La traviata are only $25. What are you waiting for? Visit their website for tickets now. You can also buy Randal Turner's CD of "Living American Composers" by clicking the link below:
Tenor James Valenti: Minnesota Opera, marketing hot men and not just barihunks
We love the Minnesota Opera for numerous reasons, including their commitment to new works, their innovative programming, their dedication to young artists, their high quality of artistry, their great marketing campaigns (that often feature sexy baritones AND tenors) and, of course, their constant stream of barihunks on their roster.
Next season will mark the 50th anniversary of the Minnesota Opera and the 2012-13 season is once again packed with barihunks. The company will present four operas that are new to their repertory, including the world premiere of the operatic version of "Doubt."
John Relyea (L) & Jason Howard (R)
Opening the season from September 22-30 will be one of Verdi's most underrated works, the biblical epic "Nabucco." The story of oppressed and exiled Jews and the king responsible for most of their troubles will feature Jason Howard in the title role and John Relyea as Zaccharia. We recently featured Relyea in another great early Verdi opera, Attila.
Kyle Ketelsen returns, but without the horns
Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" runs from November 10-18 with Minnesota Opera favorite Kyle Ketelsen as Enrico. Regular readers will recall that Kyle Ketelson stole the show in their 2009 production as a devilishly sexy Mephistopheles in "Faust."
No "Doubt" that Matt Worth is hot
On January 26, 2013, the Minnesota Opera will continue its dedication to new operas by presenting an operatic version of "Doubt" by composer Douglas J. Cuomo. The story, which has been seen on Broadway and made into a movie with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, revolves around scandalous allegations and tensions at a Catholic elementary school.
Matthew Worth was recently featured on this site for his current run in Philip Glass' Orphée at Virginia Opera. He recently sang a successful run as Guglielmo in Mozart's "Così fan tutte" with Minnesota Opera. He'll be making his Fort Worth Opera debut this summer as Charlie in Jake Heggie's "Three Decembers." Performances run from May 13-June 2 and tickets and additional information can be found on the Ft. Worth Opera website.
Other operas next season include Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet" and Puccini's "Turandot." You can call 612-333-6669 or visit their website for tickets and additional cast information. Tickets go on sale on July 23.
David McFerrin (Top L), David Adam Moore (Bottom L) & Jesse Blumberg (R)
A little over two weeks ago we mentioned the CD release party and concert for the Five Borough Music Festival's songbook of works by twenty composers. Each song was inspired by places, themes, and poetry from every corner of New York City. We're thrilled to announce that the CD has shot up the Classical Billboard charts to #12 ahead of the Metropolitan Opera and Sir Paul McCartney. Barihunks David Adam Moore, Jesse Blumberg and David McFerrin are all featured on the CD.
Composers include Lisa Bielawa, Tom Cipullo, Mohammed Fairouz, Ricky Ian Gordon, Daron Hagen, Gabriel Kahane, Jorge Martin, Russell Platt, Matt Schickele and more. Click HERE to buy your copy today.
CONGRATULATIONS to everyone involved!
Jason Detwiler & Susannah Biller (photo by Steve DiBartolomeo)
Last February, we featured Ensemble Parallèle’s production of Philip Glass' "Orphée" with barihunks Eugene Brancoveanu and Austin Kness. The innovative young company is back with another barihunk, Jason Detwiler, in their production of John Harbison’s "The Great Gatsby." The soprano is Susannah Biller Kness who, you guessed it, is married to barihunk Austin Kness.
The Great Gatsby will run from February 10-12 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts in San Francisco. Jason Detwiler is performing the role of Nick Carraway. Visit the Ensemble Parallèle website for additional cast and performance information.
Andrew Garland: Our Favorite Valentine
Back in July we mentioned the New York Festival Of Song's upcoming season and we've been following each concert throughout the season. We're particularly excited about the February 14th concert for Valentine's Day entitled "A MODERN PERSON’S GUIDE TO HOOKING UP AND BREAKING UP." The concert will examine the full range of modern love with affection and humor through songs of Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, The Bobs, Noël Coward, Jason Robert Brown, Ed Kleban, and others. Subjects range from voyeurism, S&M, and ménages à trois, to good old-fashioned heart-to-heart love. The concert also repeats on February 16 at 8:00PM at Merkin Concert Hall.
Most importantly, the concert includes our favorite Valentine's Day barihunk, Andrew Garland. Click HERE to spent your Valentine's Day with the hottest redhead in opera.
Laurence Meikle
Laurence Meikle debuts as Marcello in Puccini’s "La Boheme" tonight at the Teatro Guiditta Pasta in Saronno, Italy. There will be an additional performance at the Teatro dell’Opera di Milano in Varese on February 4th.
Regular readers might remember Meikle from our "Hottest Aussie Barihunks" or our feature on his performance of Marcello at a Soho restaurant in London.
What could we possibly say about Mozart that either hasn't been said or you don't know already? Born on January 27, 1756, he was a child prodigy, who wrote his first symphony when he was eight years old and his first opera at age twelve. He went on to write some of the most important masterpieces of the Classical era, including symphonies, operas, string quartets and piano music. Of course, he has been an endless source of material for Barihunks, especially his operas Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte, which provide us with an ongoing stream of sexy low voices.
We think the best way to celebrate his birthday is with some music from our favorite singers:
Erwin Schrott sings "Madamina" from Don Giovanni:
Markus Werba sings "Hai già vinta la cuasa" from "Marriage of Figaro":
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo & Ruxandra Donose sing "Il core vi dono" from Cosi fan tutte:
Gérard Souzay sings "Deh vieni alla finestra"from Don Giovanni:
Simon Keenlyside sings "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" from the Magic Flute:
There is nothing like a cast change announcement to get the online opera world abuzz. Three recent announcements involved barihunks at major houses.
Lucas Meachem (L) & Simon Keenlyside (R)
London opera bloggers seem to be taking sides in the recent announcement that American barihunk Lucas Meachem will replace British barihunk Simon Keenlyside for all performances of Le nozze di Figaro due to the latter's illness. The Brits love the ageless Simon Keenlyside and the raw sexuality and swagger he brings to his Mozart portrayals. We've seen Meachem many times and he's a very different performer, but a solid replacement.
Meachem has sung the role of Count Almaviva at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera and the San Francisco Opera. His repertoire also includes the role of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini’s prequel to Le nozze di Figaro. Lucas made his Royal Opera debut as Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, most recently performing in the UK as the titular character in Glyndebourne’s Don Giovanni last summer.
Luca Pisaroni: Sexy whether he's "groomed," or not
Baritone Thomas Quasthoff announced his retirement on January 11th due to unspecified health reasons. Theaters have been scrambling to replace the German singer around the globe. At New York's Lincoln Center it was announces that Italian barihunk Luca Pisaroni will step in for Quasthoff in his joint recital with tenor Michael Schade at Alice Tully Hall on March 25.
Pisaroni, who is currently appearing in the Metropolitan Opera's production of The Enchanted Island, has previously performed alongside Schade on the opera stage. Pisaroni will present selections by Schubert and Brahms. Schade and Pisaroni will also perform duets by Mendelssohn, Schumann and others.
Diogenes Randes (L) & Thorsten Grümbel (R)
At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Diogenes Randes announced that due to health reasons, he will be unable to sing the role of Fasolt in the performances of Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold on February 4, 8 and 12, 2012. Taking his place will be Thorsten Grümbel.
Fasolt and Fafner fight in the famous Met production under James Levine:
Rossini's comic masterpiece "La Cenerentola" and "Elektra," Richard Strauss' bloody story of revenge couldn't be more different in mood or music. However, both debuted on this day in history almost 100 years apart. La Cenerentola debuted at the Teatro Valle in Rome in 1817 and Elektra in Dresden in 1909. We thought it would be fun highlight these two great works, despite neither being known as vehicles for barihunks.
The role of Don Magnifico is usually performed by older compramario singers, but here is barihunk Jason Hardy singing "Miei rampolli femminini"
La Cenerentola actually rivaled Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" in popularity for decades before mysteriously following out of favor. It found new life during the 1960s, as a series of great mezzos began taking on the title role. In 1899, Jules Massenet had success with his opera "Cendrillon," which is also based on the Cinderella story.
Rossini's libretto actually varies substantially from the actual story, which may have contributed to its decline in popularity. In Rossini's version, the wicked stepmother is replaced by a stepfather, Don Magnifico and the Fairy Godmother is replaced by Alidoro, a philosopher, and the Prince's tutor. Cinderella is identified not by her glass slipper but by her bracelet.
Gino Quilico sings "Come un'ape ne' giorni d'aprile" from Rossini's La Cenerentola:
In the opera, the Prince of Salerno, Don Ramiro, changes places with his valet, Dandini, and then meets the girl of his dreams - Cenerentola (Cinderella). Meanwhile, Cenerentola's stepsisters, Clorinda and Tisbe, fawn over the fake prince (Dandini). When Cenerentola is left alone, weeping, the Philosopher, Alidoro, takes her (dressed in beautiful clothing) to the palace, where she is an immediate hit with everyone - including Dandini. Confusion reigns when the identity of the real Prince is revealed.
The great ensemble "Questo è un nodo avviluppato"
Richard Strauss' "Elektra" is a one-act opera set to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal. Elektra is musically complex and requires great stamina from the singers and orchestra. The role of Elektra is one of the most demanding in the dramatic soprano repertoire. Nevertheless, it solidly entrenched in the standard repertory and is certainly one of the most popular operas based on classical Greek mythology.
Nelson Eddy: The first Orest in the U.S.
The first United States performance of the opera in the original German was given by the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on October 29, 1931 with Nelson Eddy as Orest. Eddy, of course, would become one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars. However, he had a succesful career in opera before being forever remembered as Jeanette McDonald's singing partner in a series of musicals.
Nelson Eddy sings "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Barber of Seville":
In 1924, Eddy won the top prize in a competition that included a chance to appear with the Philadelphia Opera Society. By the late 1920s, Eddy was appearing with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and had a repertoire of 28 operas, including Amonasro in Aida, Marcello in La bohème, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, both Tonio and Silvio in Pagliacci, and Wolfram in Tannhäuser. Eddy also performed in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with The Savoy Company.
Leonie Rysanek as Elektra and Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau as Orest.
The plot of Elektra is based upon the great Greek tragedy of the same name by the tragedian Sophocles. The unrelenting gloom and horror that permeate the original play produce, in the hands of Hofmannsthal and Strauss, a drama whose sole theme is revenge. Klytaemnestra (Clytemnestra), helped by her paramour Aegisth (Aegisthus), has secured the murder of her husband, Agamemnon, and now is afraid that her crime will be avenged by her children, Elektra (Electra), Chrysothemis, and their banished brother Orest (Orestes).
Eberhard Wächter was a great Oreste
Elektra, who is the personification of the passionate lust for vengeance, tries to persuade her timid sister to kill Klytaemnestra and Aegisth. Before the plan is carried out, Orest, who had been reported as dead, arrives, determined upon revenge for his father's death. He kills Klytaemnestra and Aegisth; Elektra, in an ecstatic dance of triumph, falls dead in front of her horror-stricken attendants.
Duncan Rock (L & R) and Opera Poster Banned by Google Ads
If you think opera hasn't caught up with movies, films and the theater in terms of raw sex appeal, then you haven't heard about "Don Giovanni: The Opera." The production, which will open at London's famous nightclub Heaven on April 15 is a modern retelling of Mozart's classic tale of sexual pursuit set in the heyday of the Eighties club scene and inspired by New York's legendary Studio 54. "Don Giovanni" is still a lecherous playboy and licentious nightclub owner, who pursues men as well as women. In this production the sopranos become tenors and baritones become mezzos (except for the Don).
This production was originally seen on the Main Stage at Trafalgar Square for London Pride in 2009 and was huge success. After the run at Heaven, the opera will be shown at the 2012 World Pride celebration.
Barihunk Duncan Rock (photo by Daniel Swerdlow)
The production is already causing waves in London three months before their opening. First, Google Ads rejected the producers ad [see top photo], because it was deemed too racy. Then they snagged one of the hottest young talents in England (in terms of looks AND voice), the sexy strawberry blonde Duncan Rock. Tickets will be available at Ticketmaster.
Duncan Rock sings Billy’s aria fromBritten, Billy Budd:
