Introducing barihunk Shannon De Vine

Shannon De Vine

Meet barihunk Shannon De Vine, who will be singing Claudio in the revival of Franco Faccio's Amleto (Hamlet) with Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Baltimore Concert Opera. The opera has not been performed since 1871 and this will be its U.S. premiere.

De Vine earned his Master's Degree from the Juilliard School, where he performed the roles of Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Silvio in I Pagliacci. In 2007, he took 3rd Prize at the Licia Albanese – Puccini Foundation Awards, was a semi-finalist in the Marseille International Voice Competition in France, the International Voice Competition of Francisco Vinas in Barcelona, finalist in the Opera National de Paris de la Bastille International Voice Competition, winner of the MacAllister Awards, the Rosa Ponselle International Voice Competition and winner of the Verdi Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival.

Last season, he was seen as Gerard in Giordano's Andrea Chenier with the Opera Orchestra of NY, Iago in Verdi's Otello at the Il Teatro Verdi and Ceccho del Vecchio in Wagner’s Rienzi at Avery Fisher Hall. He made his Houston Grand Opera debut as Morales in Bizet's Carmen, where he also sang Riolobo in Catan's Florencia en las Amazonas, Top in Copland’s The Tender Land and Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

Ivo Rizzi sings Claudio's aria from Faccio's Amleto:

In 1865, Verdi’s contemporary Franco Faccio wrote an opera about Shakespeare’s melancholic Danish prince, to a libretto by Arrigo Boito. Conceived as an anti-Verdi/pro-Wagner manifesto for the “music of the future,” Amleto was originally a critical and audience success, but setbacks at the 1871 La Scala revival propelled it into obscurity, where it languished for more than a century.

Since 2002, Maestro Anthony Barrese has painstakingly reconstructed the score of the opera based on historical documents and microfilm held by the Ricordi Archives. BCO will present the American premiere of this lost operatic treasure in collaboration with Opera Southwest, conducted by Maestro Barrese himself. Celebrated American tenor Alex Richardson will sing the title role, and soprano Abla Hamza will sing Hamlet’s doomed love Ophelia (Ofelia).

Performance in Baltimore are on October 2 and 5 and tickets are available online. Performances in Albuquerque are on October 26, 31 and November 2 and tickets are available online.