Andrew Garland in Pagliacci/Carmina Burana and World Premiere

Andrew Garland

We've been huge fans of American barihunk Andrew Garland since the beginning of his career. We realized the true extent of his amazing artistry with the release of his CD American Portraits on GPR Records. Garland keeps his incredible body in shape by running and biking (and apparently some weight lifting, as well).

He opened last night at the Hawaii Opera in a double-bill of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Orff's Carmina Burana. Garland is performing both Silvio in Pagliacci and the baritone solo in Carmina Burana. He's joined by the talented young soprano Elizabeth Caballero, who is singing Nedda. There are two performances remaining, a matinee on March 30 and an evening performance on April 1st. Tickets are available online. If the video of Garland singing Estuans Interius from Carmina Burana is any indication, it should be an incredible performance.

If you can't get away to the island paradise to catch Garland, you can hear him on April 13th in Easton, Pennsylvania where he will be the soloist in the world premiere of composer Gabriela Lena Frank's Songs of Cifar and the Sweet Sea composed for the Lafayette Choirs and featuring the Chiara String Quartet.

She wrote the music to texts by the Nicaraguan poet Pablo Antonio Cuadra (1912-2002). As a young man, Cuadra spent more than two decades sailing the waters of Lake Nicaragua, meeting peasants, fishermen, sailors, woodcutters, and timber merchants in his travels. From such encounters, he was inspired to construct a cycle of poems that recount the odyssey of a harp-playing mariner, Cifar, who likewise travels the waters of Lake Nicaragua.

The concert is free to the public and it's only a 90 minute drive from New York City or Philadelphia.