Opera news from around the world

Tom Corbeil in opera and as Lurch

Today is one of those days when we have a bunch of miscellaneous items to posts. First up is the Michigan Opera Theater, which we have a special affection for since they managed to survive an economic calamity in Detroit to open their forty-second season. During a time when many opera companies were shutting their doors, MOT managed to raise money and trim some costs to keep opera alive in the Motor City.

They also manage to put out casts which are always of interest to us at Barihunks. They are kicking off this season with Rossini's Barber of Seville. In the small, but important role of Basilio, is Tom Corbeil who returns to opera after a successful run as Lurch in the Addams Family Musical (he's been replaced by Zachary James). Roddion Pogossov and Eugene Chan will share the role of the Barber. There are two other singers that we should highlight, who you want to miss: Elizabeth DeShong as Rosina and Eleazor Rodriguez as Almaviva.

Tickets are available by calling 313-237-SING or online at the MOT website. The opening night performance will be broadcast on WRCJ 90.9 FM on October 13 beginning at 7 PM CST.

"Teddy Bare" and his co-star are in the tabloids again

We're really not an opera gossip site, there are too many great ones out there for us to compete with and we like staying focused on promoting barihunks. However, we can't stop following the Teddy Tahu Rhodes/Lisa McCune romance that's playing out in the Australian tabloids during their tour of South Pacific. It almost seems like the couple is seeking out the publicity, as they keep engaging in very public displays of affection.

You can read the latest story in the Herald-Sun.

Philip Kalmanovitch shirtless as the Don and with Hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock

We keep trying to wrap up the 2013 Barihunks Calendar, but seem to get distracted by pictures of the 2012 models. Here is Philip Kalmanovitch from a 2011 IVAI production of Mozart's Don Giovanni with hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock, another one of our favorite people in opera.

Perhaps this is a good time to clear up any misunderstanding about Hunkentenors. We get a lot of mail asking us why we don't post more on Hunkentenors. The simple answer is it's not our site. We focus on baritones, although we do give the occasional shout out to a few irresistible tenors like Blalock, Noah Stewart, Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Flores.

Sébastien Lemoine

We post about a lot of singers and many are top of mind because the singers, their agents, their publicists or opera marketing departments make sure that we know about their every move. Other singers we chose to follow because you've shown an interest in their careers or they are particular favorites of ours. Every so often, we see someone appear in our analytics under "searches" that reminds us about our reader's interest in a singer. Recently, Sébastien Lemoine appeared near the top of our searches after a long absence from the site.

The former aviator and all-around jock, wrapped up performances in April of Bernstein's Wonderful Town and now is scheduled to perform  scenes from Don Giovanni in Macon, France on November 18th. The performance is part of the Les Symphonies d’Automne Festival and tickets are available online.

For those of you who were searching for Lemoine, thanks for keeping him on our radar!

Randal Turner makes network TV debut; Donizetti up next

Which Tristan would Isolde fall for?: Randal Turner (L) or Joseph Albert-Ludwig (R)

Barihunk Randal Turner made his network television debut this week in the premiere episode of "Elementary" on CBS. The show is a modern take on Sherlock Holmes with Jonny Lee Miller as the famed detective and Lucy Liu as his sidekick Watson. In the episode in which Turner appears, Holmes and Watson attend the opera where soprano Melissa Zapin and Turner are performing Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde." The next episode airs on October 4th on CBS.

 The CBS trailer of "Elementary":

Although Turner would look like an amazing Tristan, it's unlikely that he'll ever be seen in the role, which is written for a tenor. In fact, he'd look like a great Lohengrin or Siegmund, making us wonder if Wagner should have written those roles for baritone (who would look more the part). For the record, Turner does have one Wagner opera under his belt, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which he performed in Darmstadt, Germany. 

Turner can next be seen on October 13th at the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria where he'll be performing "The salon cantatas of the Bel Canto” with I Virtuosi ambulanti. Tickets are available online. You can hear Turner sing Donizetti's Canto XXXIII from a previous performance with I Virtuosi ambulanti on his website.

Marco Vratogna profiled: Next Great Verdi Baritone

Marco Vratogna

We've been touting Marco Vratogna as one of the next great Verdi baritones for some time now. He's in San Francisco performing the title role in Verdi's "Rigoletto" right now and local writer Sean Martinfield penned this wonderful and insightful profile of the singer for the Huffington Post, which we just had to share.

San Francisco Opera opened its 2012-13 season this month with Verdi's Rigoletto. Conducted by Music Director Nicola Luisotti, the final performances on Tuesday, Sept. 25 and Sunday, Sept. 30 will feature Marco Vratogna in the title role, Albina Shagimuratova as Gilda, and Arturo Chacón-Cruz as the Duke of Mantua. In his third appearance with SF Opera, Italian baritone Marco Vratogna marks his debut as "Rigoletto," a role he began crafting years ago with Maestro Luisotti prior to either of them arriving in San Francisco. Still in his thirties, a lion-hearted Leo, Vratogna is that rare breed of natural dramatic baritone who owns the vocal prowess and seductive appeal of the alpha male so predominant in the Verdi repertoire.

"Maybe it's a side of me," he said during our recent visit. "I didn't choose anything. Maybe Verdi chose me." [Article continued HERE]

Edwin Crossley-Mercer sings Beethoven Rarities on French TV

Edwin Crossley-Mercer

It's no secret that two of our favorite young lieder singers are Henk Neven and Edwin Crossley-Mercer, both of whom have also impressed critics and audiences. We were thrilled to be informed that Crossley-Mercer recently appeared on a French television show called "Beethov' on the Rocks." He sang three songs that are rarely heard in a Beethoven recital and once again he was magical.

The first piece he sings is "Elegie auf den Tod eines Pudels" (Elegy on the Death of a Poodle), for voice & piano, WoO 110. Scholars believe that the song was composed sometime before 1793. The song was not published until the 1860s, as part of the complete edition of Beethoven's works printed in Leipzig. boasts some of the most advanced formal characteristics of any of Beethoven's Bonn-era songs. The first two strophes are through-composed, which in itself is unusual because most of Beethoven's songs before 1800 were strophic. As the narrator reflects on the death of his pet, and on death's destruction of all earthly pleasures, the tempo remains slow, the piano accompaniment is pensive, and the atmosphere is tainted with minor harmonies. An abrupt change in mood after the second strophe divides the song into two sections, the second of which is organized in a unique manner.

Edwin Crossley-Mercer begins singing around the 59:11 minute mark:

In late 1809, Beethoven began composing folk song arrangements for the Scottish publisher George Thomson, located in Edinburgh. Thomson first sent Beethoven a group of forty-three melodies, without texts, which the composer began to set in November. By July, 1810, Beethoven was able to send these settings, plus ten more to Thomson. Nine more songs followed in 1812. From this point on it seems that Beethoven asked Thomson to send the texts along with the melodies, a request that was not always fulfilled. Their professional relationship continued through 1820. Although Beethoven composed nearly 180 folk song settings for Thomson, the Scottish publisher printed only 125. The rest were published after Beethoven's death, some not seeing the light of day until the twentieth century.

Among them were Crossley-Mercer's next two selections, "Since greybeards inform us that youth will decay," WoO. 153 (20 Irish Songs for voice, piano, violin and cello, no. 4, G. 224 no. 4, published 1814/6 and "The pulse of an Irishman", WoO. 154 (12 Irish Songs for voice, piano, violin and cello) no. 4, G. 225 no. 4, published 1814/6.

Michael Kelly & Zach Altman in Monteverdi Rarity

Michael Kelly & Zach Altman

Gotham Chamber Opera begins its 2012-2013 season with GOTHAM @ LPR: ORIENTALE, a collaboration with Company XIV and MAYA, featuring the artists of Gotham Chamber Opera. The program will include Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, along with music by Rameau, Lully, Szymanowski, Delibes, Schumann, Bizet, John Hadfield, and traditional Armenian music.

Michael Kelly and Zach Altman, two barihunks who have been featured regularly on this site, will perform along with soprano Maeve Höglund and Jennifer Rivera (wife of barihunk and OperaNow! podcaster Michael Rice).

The show will be performed on Monday, October 1st and Wednesday, October 3rd at 8pm (doors open at 7pm) at (le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, NYC. Tickets are $15-$25 and are available online at www.lepoissonrouge.com. 

Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (SV 153) is an operatic scena for three voices by Claudio Monteverdi, although many dispute how the piece should be classified. The piece has a libretto drawn from Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme Liberata ("Jerusalem Delivered", Canto XII, 52-62, 64-68), a Romance set against the backdrop of the First Crusade. Il Combattimento was first produced in 1624 but not printed until 1638, when it appeared with several other pieces in Monteverdi’s eighth book of madrigals (written over a period of many years).

In Il Combattimento the orchestra and voices form two separate entities. The strings are divided into four independent parts instead of the usual five – an innovation that was not generally adopted by European composers until the 18th century.

Il combattimento contains one of the earliest known uses of pizzicato in baroque music, in which the players are instructed to set down their bows and use two fingers of their right hand to pluck the strings. It also contains one of the earliest uses of the string tremolo, in which a particular note is reiterated as a means of generating excitement. This latter device was so revolutionary that Monteverdi had considerable difficulty getting the players of his day to perform it correctly. These innovations, like the fourfold division of the strings, were not taken up by Monteverdi’s contemporaries or immediate successors.

Zach Altman just wrapped up a run as Zurga in Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers" at Opera San Jose, where he is one of the resident artists. He will open as Dr. Falke in Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" on November 10th.

On October 6th, Michael Kelly will be appearing at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City in "Hommage a Debussy" - a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great French composer. On October 21st, he'll perform Durufle's glorious Requiem at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. before heading off for three performances of Orff's Carmina Burana with the Kansas City Symphony in November.

CONTACT US AT BARIHUNKS@Gmail.com

Tenor Daniel Koek and Barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes show off their guns during "South Pacific" run

Tenor Daniel Koek & Barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Here's one form of "gun control" that we can't support. Hunkentenor Daniel Koek challenged Barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes to an arm wrestling match and we have to admit that he's showing off a nice set of guns. However, we have no doubt that the old Barihunk rule applied: "The tenor may win in love on stage, but the baritone always prevails in real life."

Daniel Koek making a case for the Hunkentenors site

By the way, there are lots of hunky men in this production, including a shirtless Daniel Koek, who created a few sighs in the audience.

Koek, Rhodes and co-star Lisa McCune are continuing their successful tour of South Pacific throughout Australia. There are upcoming performance in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney and tickets and performance information are available on the South Pacific website.

Upcoming Barihunk Concerts of Interest: Christopher Temporelli and Markus Beam

Christopher Temporelli

On October 16, Christopher Temporelli performs at the Chamber Music Society in Pusan, Korea in a concert dubbed "Enchanting Low Voice, Christopher Temporelli." We couldn't agree more with the title.

If Korea is too far off the beaten path, he returns to New York City on October 8th to perform at the 2012 Columbus Day Parade Gala and then to perform live from the parade’s red carpet, singing Verdi's ‘O tu Palermo’ from Don Carlos, which will be broadcast on ABC and international affiliates. This year, the Parade will be marching up Fifth Avenue from 44th to 72nd Street.

As we've mentioned previously, he makes his Michigan Opera Theater debut in the role of Achille in Handel’'s Giulio Cesare on November 10th with David Daniels in the title role.Temporelli will be appearing in the 2013 Barihunks calendar, which is slated for release in early October.

Markus Beam

North Carolina appears to be more than a swing state in this year's Presidential election, it seems it's become a cultural hub. We've had a disproportionate amount of barihunks news coming out of the Tar Heal State, with the latest being a recital by Markus Beam.

On Sunday, October 7th, Beam will sing selections from opera, song and musical theater at the Cultural Center in Lincolnton, which is in the old First Baptist Church. It's being produced by the Lincoln County Concert Association and tickets are only $20. Lincolnton is less than an hour from Charlotte and we assure you that it will be well worth the drive. For additional information or tickets call (704) 732-9066 or email lincolntoncultural@bellsouth.net.

Mark Stone sings Glen Roven's "Shakespeare Songs"

Mark Stone and Daniel Okulitch

One of our favorite song writers at Barihunks is the New York-based composer Glen Roven. He also seems to be the favorite of many actual barihunks, including Randal Turner and Daniel Okulitch, who both included his songs on their recent CD releases. His songs have also been sung in recital and on CD by Morgan Smith, David Adam Moore, Jonathan Beyer and Andrew Garland. Here is a selection of Mark Stone singing his "Shakespeare Songs" from a Carnegie Hall recital on May 19, 2010.



Roven's collection of Shakespeare Songs have just been published and are available at a 15% discount at Bill Holab Music by entering the discount code GRSS-15. [The offer is good until 1/1/2013].  

 Randal Turner's CD and be bought at CD Baby, Amazon or accessed on Spotify. Daniel Okulitch's CD can be purchased at GPR Records.

Rene Pape uses his iPhone for encore

Rene Pape uses his iPhone for encore

Rene Pape's recital debut at La Scala was an eagerly anticipated event. He brought and all-German program to Milano, which delighted the crowd.

He decided to play to some Italian passions by singing Tosti’s "L’Ultima Can­zone" as an encore, but needed some help with the text. In a major sign that we've entered the digital age, he whipped out his iPhone and announced "text." He then proceeded to deliver a perfect version of the song in the backyard of Leo Nucci and Renato Bruson, who have made Tosti virtually a calling card at Italian recitals.

Renato Bruson sings "L'Ultima Canzone":

Emerging Barihunk: Kyle Guglielmo

Kyle Guglielmo (Photo: Dave Brown)

Kyle Guglielmo is new to this site and is another sign that the barihunk bench is deep. He'll be performing on Sunday, September 23 at the Emerging Artist Operatic Showcase at Christ and St. Stephen's Church in New York City at 3 PM. Guglielmo will be joined by soprano Jodi Burns and tenor Adam Ulrich in selections by Mozart, Bellini, Puccini, Donizetti, Rossini, Gounod, Richard Rodgers and Frank Loesser. The event is free to the public.

According to his website, on November 10, Guglielmo will be premiering Daron Hagen's opera Little Nemo in Slumberland with the Sarasota Opera. Based on Winsor McCay's 1905-1914 newspaper comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland recounts the adventures of a boy over the course of two nights on a quest to save Slumberland from the Evil Emperor Sol who wants it to be bright all night and day.  Nemo's adventures along the way include encounters with a crystal enchantress, menacing giants, a floating bed, a balloon ride, and a palace that turns upside down.

Timothy McDevitt to premiere "Ghost Train"

Timothy McDevitt

We've watched Timothy McDevitt's physical transformation from a skinny student into a full-fledged barihunk during his performances of Philip Glass' "Les Enfant Terribles" at North Carolina Opera. His vocal evolution has been equally successful as he's been a finalist in a number of international vocal competitions and he has become increasingly in demand as a recitalist on both sides of the Atlantic. This emerging talent returns to the Tar Heel State today with the Carolina Chamber Music Festival in New Bern in the world premiere of Paul Crabtree's The Ghost Train.

The Ghost Train, a funny thriller for six singers and instrumental ensemble, is based on an original stage play written by Arnold Ridley in 1923. The original play was turned into a movie in 1941 to help with the War effort, in an effort to cast suspicion on potential local Nazi sympathizers, and at the same time to jolly along the career of two struggling entertainers.

Rehearsal footage from The Ghost Train:

What begins as melodrama—travelers thrown together by fate one stormy night at a rural railway station—turns into political allegory as the group ignores repeated warnings to leave before a legendary apparition appears, bringing destruction in its wake. Increased and more elaborately hysterical warnings to look away if the ghost train should pass keep the travelers from realizing the truth, until one of the conspirators realizes she has been betrayed. Providing a level of intimacy by being performed without a proscenium, The Ghost Train is intended to expand the operatic tradition into relevant political debate, and at the same time provoke audiences to think about venues and their meanings, their potential disappearance, and perhaps challenge them to engage with their reuse.

Duncan Rock becomes first winner of Chilcott Award

Duncan Rock

Scooping up a prize fund of £10,000, 28-year-old barihunk Duncan Rock has become the first recipient of the Chilcott Award for young British opera singers. The award is given to the British singer who shows most promise and potential for an international singing career.

Named after the late singer Susan Chilcott, the prize money is specifically meant to further advanced learning and career development. Rock will be spending his on having singing lessons with eminent performer Robert Dean, as well as French and German language lessons.

Rock has previously appeared as Don Giovanni for the Welsh National Opera, alongside several roles at Glyndebourne and Longborough Festival Opera. Duncan just opened a month long run as Papageno with the English National Opera where he is performing Papageno in The Magic Flute. He returns to ENO on November 21 for a run as Morales in Bizet's Carmen opposite the Escamillo of fellow barihunk Leigh Melrose.

The Susan Chilcott Scholarship, which offers the prize fund, was founded in 2005 in memory of the late singer, who died in 2003.

Nathan Gunn to spearhead American opera project

Nathan Gunn in "An American Tragedy" (photo by Ken Howard)

The Opera Company of Philadelphia has announced that barihunk Nathan Gunn has been appointed as the director of its newly-formed American Repertoire Council. Gunn will work with Opera Company of Philadelphia General Director David B. Devan and a steering council in advancing the company's American Repertoire Program, which aims to produce a new American work in 10 consecutive seasons. The program launched in June 2012, with four announced co-commissioned operas as part of both the Aurora Series for Chamber Opera at the Perelman Theater and the Opera at the Academy Series. 

For the next three years, Gunn function as artistic advisor to the company's two composers in residence, Lembit Beecher and Missy Mazzoli, and will guide American repertoire choices and assemble both partnerships and creative teams for new works.

Patricia Racette and Nathan Gunn get hot and steamy in "An American Tragedy":

Gunn is already involved with the opera "Cold Mountain," a co-commission by the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winner in music, Jennifer Higdon. Based on the bestselling novel by Charles Frazier, which won the National Book Award, it features a libretto by Gene Scheer, and will premiere at the Santa Fe Opera in 2015 before making its February 2016 East Coast Premiere at the Academy of Music. Nathan Gunn stars in both productions.

Gunn has premiered a number of new American operas, including Andre Previn's Brief Encounter at the Houston Grand Opera, Daron Hagen's Amelia at the Seattle Opera, Peter Eötvös' Love and Other Demons at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy at the Met.

CBC's "The Sexiest Barihunks in Canada"

Mike Nyby (L) and Philip Kalmanovitch (R)

We've been featured and even interviewed on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and they've mentioned us a number of times. But they've stepped it up a notch with their "The Sexiest Barihunks in Canada" feature.

The post features four barihunks hot enough to melt the ice caps north of the Yukon: Etienne Dupuis, Phillipe Sly, Phillip Addis and Brett Polegato. The singers are asked about their sexiest features, sexiest roles, workout routine and what they'd sing to woo a lover. It is definitely worth checking out and we appreciate the ongoing love from the CBC, who we adore more than a Molson at a hockey game.

We're pretty sure that limiting it to four singers was more about who they could successfully contact than creating a comprehensive list. We're pretty certain that Canada has the highest per capita ratio of barihunks in the world. We've featured close to two dozen Canadians on this site, including three in last year's calendar: Philip Kalmanovitch, Jonathan Estabrooks and Aaron Agulay. Estabrooks will be reappearing in the 2013 calendar.

Daniel Okulitch in The Last Savage

Two Canadians barihunks are having huge international careers, Daniel Okulitch and John Relyea. Relyea is a regular at the Met and other major opera houses, while Okulitch is a fan favorite in opera houses across the globe. His performance in a loin cloth in  Menotti's "The Last Savage" at the Sante Fe Opera still has opera cognoscenti buzzing with delight.

Elliot Madore is on the verge of breaking into the upper tier of singers. He has a redesigned website and has caught the attention of opera general managers everywhere. We recently received emails from opera executives in three countries praising this gifted young artist.

Other Canadians who we've featured include Mike Nyby, Stephen Hegedus, Olivier Laquerre, Tyler Duncan, Riley McMitchell, Peter Barrett, Gordon Bintner, Philip Kalmanovitch, Benjamin Covey and Michael Adair (who co-opted "Barihunk" for his Twitter name).

 John Relyea sings "Scintille, diamant" from The Tales of Hoffmann":

Jewish Journal: Profile on (Kinda) Jewish Joshua Bloom

Joshua Bloom

[Jewish Journal] The old theater saying that there are no small parts, only small actors, can also be said for opera. Just ask Australian bass Joshua Bloom, who was in town last month to begin rehearsals as Masetto for the Los Angeles Opera production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” The opera’s seven performances run Sept. 22 through Oct. 14 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Masetto marks Bloom’s L.A. Opera debut. “Masetto is a small role, but a good one because you can certainly make an impression,” Bloom said during a break in rehearsal. “There are some roles where nobody remembers you, but Masetto has enough meat to it — it’s great to debut with in a major house.”

[Read the remainder of the article HERE]

Of course, Bloom opens as Masetto opposite fellow barihunk Ildebrando D'Arcangelo in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Los Angeles Opera. Performances begin on September 22nd. Visit the website for tickets and additional information.

New Henk Neven Recital Coming on CD

Henk Neven

We're unabashedly huge Henk Neven fans and his recitals are as magical as those by Simon Keenlyside or Christopher Maltman. His recital from earlier this year was recorded by ONYX and will be released next month. The CD entitled 'Auf einer burg' includes music by Schubert, Faure and Debussy, all with a theme of the sea.

Henk Neven sings Schubert's "Gute Nacht":

If you can't wait for the CD, he has two upcoming recitals of note. 

On September 17, Neven will perform a recital of music by Brahms and Liszt at Wigmore Hall with accompanist Hans Eijsackers. On September 22, he'll give a recital at the Huis te Linschoten sponsored by the Schubert Foundation. Neven will perform accompanied by guitar player Fernando Riscado Cordas. Many of Schubert's songs were originally written for both piano and guitar accompaniments.

Amazingly, despite his meteoric rise as one of the top recitalists in Europe, no one has booked Neven yet in the United States.

NY TIMES WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT: Barihunk Michael Rice & Mezzo Jennifer Rivera

Jennifer Rivera, Michael Rice

Jennifer Michelle Rivera was married Saturday in New York to Michael Jason Rice. Herschel D. Garfein, a librettist and composer who is a friend of the couple and who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated at the Ladies Pavilion in Central Park. 

The bride, 37, will continue to use her name professionally. She is a mezzo-soprano who performed the title role in “La Stellidaura Vendicante” last month at the Innsbruck Early Music Festival in Austria,; in March she sang the role of Stephano in “Romeo et Juliette” with the Palm Beach Opera. Her discography includes “Agrippina” with Rene Jacobs for the Harmonia Mundi label and “L’Olimpiade” with Alessandro de Marchi for the Sony Music label. She also writes a blog about her life and travels, “Trying to Remain Opera-tional,” and is a contributor to the culture section of the Huffington Post. 

She graduated summa cum laude from Boston University and received a Master of Music in vocal performance from Juilliard. 

She is the daughter of S. Patricia Rivera and Rafael Rivera of Hyde Park, N.Y. The bride’s father retired as a sixth-grade teacher from Strawberry School in Santa Rosa, Calif., and is an adjunct professor of speech and theater arts at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Her mother retired as a loan officer at Washington Mutual Bank in Santa Rosa. 

The groom, 37, recruits for media companies at Howard-Sloan-Koller Group, an executive search firm New York, and is the producer and a host of OperaNow, a podcast. Until last year, he was a bass-baritone opera singer. He graduated from Northwestern. 

He is a son of June A. Rice and Thomas F. Rice of Stamford, Conn. Until March, the groom’s father was the chief executive of ScanOptics, an archiving service in Hartford.

The groom’s previous marriage ended in divorce.

Read the original announcement in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/fashion/weddings/jennifer-rivera-michael-rice-weddings.html?_r=1&ref=weddings

Our favorite picture of Michael Rice (which didn't run in the Times)

David Adam Moore at Le Poisson Rouge

The Inimitable David Adam Moore

Barihunk David Adam Moore will join pianist Inna Faliks and Sandra Beasley are featured at the Music/Words opening at Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday, September 23rd at 7:30pm.

Moore will perform the world premiere of John Eaton's “Songs of Nature ... and Beyond,” a song cycle for baritone and piano. Faliks will also play Beethoven’s Sonata opus 111 in c minor and John Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato.

Le Poisson Rouge is located at 158 Bleeker Street in New York City. Visit their website for additional information or tickets.

Moore can next be seen on stage at the Arizona Opera from November 10-18 when he will perform Mercutio in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette. Click HERE for additional cast information or tickets.

A Plethora of Barihunks in High Definition from The Met

Mariusz Kwiecien

The Met: Live in HD series kicks off on October 13 with Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, starring barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien, Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani in a new production by Bartlett Sher. If you haven't seen Kwiecien in this role, jump on line NOW and buy your tickets. He practically owns this role in the world of opera right now.

 The Met's Live in HD features a plethora of barihunks this season in addition to Kwiecien including, Simon Keenlyside, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Joshua Hopkins, Rene Pape, Peter Mattei and Guido Loconsolo:

• The Met premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest  on November 10, starring Simon Keenlyside, conducted by the composer and directed by Robert Lepage. 
• A new production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera on December 8, starring Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marcelo Álvarez and Stephanie Blythe. The opera will be directed by David Alden and conducted by Fabio Luisi.
• The Met premiere of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda on January 19, starring Joshua Hopkins as Cecil and honorary barihunk diva Joyce DiDonato in the title role.
• A new production of Wagner’s Parsifal on March 2, starring barihunks Peter Mattei, and René Pape, who will be joined by tenor heartthrob Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Katarina Dalayman. The opera will be directed by François Girard and conducted by Daniele Gatti.
• A new production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare on April 27, starring Guido Loconsolo as Achilla, David Daniels Giulio Cesare and Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra. 

Guido Loconsolo sings "Verrà purtroppo il giorno" from Verdi's Un giorno di regno:

 Other offerings include:

• Verdi’s Otello on October 27, starring Johan Botha and Renée Fleming
• Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito on December 1, with Elīna Garanča, Giuseppe Filianoti, and Barbara Frittol
• Verdi’s Aida on December 15, starring Liudmyla Monastyrska, Olga Borodina, and Roberto Alagna
• Berlioz’s majestic Les Troyens on January 5, starring Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, and Marcello Giordani
• Verdi’s Rigoletto on February 16, starring Željko Lučić, Diana Damrau, and Piotr Beczala
• Zandonai’s rarely heard Francesca da Rimini on March 16, with Eva-Maria Westbroek and Giordani.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes' "South Pacific" coming on DVD

Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Opera Australia's touring production of South Pacific, starring barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes has been a little distracted by tabloid headlines and photographs of an alleged affair between "Teddy Bare" and his leading lady Lisa McCune.

Fortunately for the two married co-stars, the focus is back on the show, which was filmed yesterday for a subsequent release on DVD. No release date has been announced yet.

This is the first time that the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization and Oscar Hammerstein's grandson have approved filming of South Pacific for release on DVD.

With a cast of 40 and a live orchestra, the production will play Sydney Opera House for four weeks, and then Melbourne’s Princess Theatre for a strictly limited 10-week season.  For more about South Pacific's Australian tour, visit www.southpacificmusical.com.au. 

Philippe Sly Featured; Sidney Outlaw Carnegie Hall Announcement

Philippe Sly

Philippe Sly was recently featured in La Scena Musicale as one of opera's major new talents. 

With his superb voice, leading man good looks and astounding charisma, bass-baritone Philippe Sly has rapidly seduced a considerable part of his Montreal International Musical Competition audience. Yet it still came as a surprise when the young singer walked away with almost all of the prizes. 

This last year has been very fruitful for the 23-year-old artist. He was one of the 2011 winners of the famed Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Radio-Canada’s 2012-2013  “Révélations” in the classical music category, and the Radios francophones publiques’ Young Soloist prize winner. For the MIMC, Sly picked different styles of works and sang them with restraint, hoping that his personality would shine through. He even closed his performance on a meditative note with an excerpt from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. [Continued HERE]

Philippe Sly will record his first album in September with pianist Michael McMahon for Analekta Records. Among the pieces will be Dichterliebe; Quatre Poèmes d’après l’Intermezzo d’Heinrich Heine by French composer Guy Ropartz, based on the same Lyrisches Intermezzo by Heine that inspired Schumann; Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, and Three Tennyson Songs, composed for Sly by his friend, the English composer Jonathan Dove. A second CD, of Rameau’s Cantatas with soprano Hélène Guilmette, harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour and a small ensemble will follow the version performed in concert on September 30 at Bourgie Hall. 

Sydney Outlaw

Sydney Outlaw, another amazing young talent and fellow participant in San Francisco's Merola Opera Program, recently announced that he'll be performing at Carnegie Hall on January 17th. The gifted recitalist will perform lieder by Richard Strauss, Vaughn Williams' "The House of Life" and some Cole Porter and George Gershwin songs. 

We've had the great fortune of hearing Outlaw in recital and we highly recommend this concert. Click HERE for tickets and additional concert information.

Listen to Jesse Blumberg in lost baroque masterpiece Niobe: Regina di Tebe

 In June 2011, we ran a piece about barihunk Jesse Blumberg performing in the lost baroque masterpiece Niobe: Regina di Tebe by Agostino Steffani. We noticed that the post was passed around by many baroque opera enthusiasts who were thrilled to learn about this forgotten opera, which went unperformed for 320 years after its premiere in 1688. The Boston Early Music Festival waited only three years to perform it again in 2011. 

Thanks to Classical New England opera fan worldwide can enjoy the broadcast of this “screwball tragedy” online. We've posted all three acts, but you can also access it at WGBH radio.

In addition to Jesse Blumberg, who plays the evil Poliferno, the stellar cast includes French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky as Anfione, the King of Thebes,  Anfione wants nothing more than to hang up his scepter and immerse himself in metaphysical contemplation of the harmony of the spheres. But Anfione’s celestial ambitions are dashed by a litany of earthly troubles: a foreign invasion, a kidnapping, adultery by enchantment, a dancing bear and some very angry gods.  

  

In Steffani's opera, the King of Thebes is at turns an enlightened demi-god, an enraged, jealous husband and a bellicose warrior-king…and that's just one of many complex characters in this spectacular opera, bringing to life Ovid's timeless tale of love, pride and divided loyalties.  We also get Queen-with-attitude, Niobe herself (Amanda Forsythe); the lovesick courtier Clearte (Kevin Skelton), who pines for Niobe, the enemy prince of Thessaly (Matthew White), who also has designs on the haughty Queen; Jose Lemos is the wisecracking nurse Nerea, Colin Balzer and Yulia Van Doren as the young lovers Tibernio and Manto, and Charles Robert Stephens as Manto’s father, the blind soothsayer Tiresia. Stephen Stubbs and Paul O’Dette co-direct the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra in a production recorded by WGBH engineers at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.