Thursday, December 21, 2017

GRAMMY nominee Edwin Crossley-Mercer sings holiday music

Edwin Crossley-Mercer from the 2018 Barihunks calendar (photo: JF l'Oiseleur des Longchamps)
2018 Barihunk Calendar model Edwin Crossley-Mercer will be performing at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on December 22nd along with soprano Marina Monzó and Dmitry Korchak. Joined by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and The Little Singers of Tokyo chorus, they will perform holiday favorites, along with some greatest hits from opera. Tickets are available online. 

On January 28th, he will find out if the album "Mademoiselle: Première Audience - Unknown Music Of Nadia Boulanger," which he perform on, will win the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium. He also recently released a recording of Lully's Alceste with Christophe Rousset and the Les Talens Lyriques. Early in 2018, he will be releasing two CD's, one with songs to texts by Oscar Wilde and another to texts by Cody Franchetti. The 80-minute Wilde song set will be premiered this summer in Paris.


If you want to catch him live in an opera, he'll be performing Leporello at the Municipal de Santiago in April with Levent Bakirci in the title role and bass-barihunk Solomon Howard as the Commendatore. In the summer, he heads to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich for Haydn's Orlando Paladino

Jason Duika from the 2018 Barihunks Calendar

 ONLY 10 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Iurii Samoilov to be honored by Frankfurt Opera

Iurii Samoilov
Barihunk Iurii Samoilov will receive the Ottomar Päsel Prize after today's performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte in which he's singing Guglielmo.

He is the first member of the Ensemble at Oper Frankfurt to have received the award. The ceremony will take place tonight in the Holzfoyer of Oper Frankfurt after the performance.

After today's performance, he has remaining shows on December 17, 20, 22 and January 1st. In between performances, he heads back to his native Ukraine for a holiday concert at the Lviv Opera House on December 24th, which includes works by Ukrainian composers, as well as Puccini, Bizet, Mozart and Saint-Saëns.  

Jason Duika from 2018 Barihunks Calendar/Photo Book

ONLY 14 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Happy Birthday, Ludwig von Beethoven!

Ludwig von Beethoven
Beethoven remains the single most influential figure in the history of Western music, having composed some of classical music's most lasting and popular pieces, including nine symphonies (in particular the Eroica, the 5th, 7th and 9th (with it's famous Ode to Joy), the opera Fidelio, Missa Solemnis, many of the greatest string quartets ever written (including the classic String Quartet No.14), five piano concertos (capped by the popular Piano Concerto No.5), Piano Sonata No.30, the Coriolan Overture, Violin Concerto in D, the Kreutzer Sonata and many more!

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany on December 16, 1770. His father was a court musician who had hopes of making money by exploiting his son as a child prodigy. At the time, Vienna was the place where any German or Austrian musician had to go to acquire a reputation, and it's where Beethoven landed, just a year after Mozart's death.


Beethoven had previously visited Mozart in Vienna and had hoped to study composition with him, but ended up studying with Haydn. Beethoven's music has become a testament to the human spirit in the face of cruel misfortune.

His 32 piano sonatas, which he wrote in bursts throughout his career, experiment with form in all directions, using the full expressive range of an instrument that was itself changing rapidly, growing louder and with an ever greater range of notes. 

Benjamin Appl sings "An der ferne Geliebte":

His songs have not gained the popularity that his other works attained, possibly because his emotions came out in the piano parts rather than the vocal lines. Nonetheless he left us the glorious An die ferne Geliebte song cycle, the six Gellert settings, folksong arrangements and, perhaps his greatest song, Adelaide.  

Adelaide was composed in 1794 or 1795 and was the composer's favorite song, which he played  in an 1815 concert in celebration of the Empress of Russia's birthday.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings Adelaide:


Adelaide is structured like a sonata in miniature, with a middle passage that goes through several keys. The first verse of the setting, for example, in which the poet describes wandering in a garden during a spring night, is tranquil; in the second, when he describes seeing the face of his beloved in the grandeur of nature, the music is far more stately; in the third, the piano vividly depicts both rushing waves and the song of the nightingales. Throughout, however, the overall tone, one of ecstatic contemplation, is the same. One of the song's most important unifying elements is the tender repetition of the name "Adelaide." 

The quartet from Fidelio:

Fidelio, Beethoven's only opera, dates from the heady days of revolutionary idealism, but its cry for freedom has echoed through the centuries.  The opera premiered at the Theater an der Wien in November 1805, only days after Napoleon and his army had occupied Vienna. Fidelio seemed to have all the ingredients for success, but the initial performances were a disaster, attended by sparse crowds, which included the composer’s friends and a handful of stray French soldiers. It is best remembered for the Prisoners' Chorus ("O welche Lust" - "O what a joy"), an ode to freedom sung by a chorus of political prisoners, a glorious vocal quartet, Fidelio's magnificent aria "Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?" and Florestan's aria "Gott! Welch Dunkel hier!," which he sings from deep inside a dark dungeon.

Walter Berry sings Ha! Welch ein augenblick:

Fortunately, Beethoven also left us the sinister aria "Ha! Welch ein augenblick," sung by the evil bass-baritone Don Pizarro, who orders that Florestan be killed.



ONLY 15 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Friday, December 15, 2017

Watch Christopher Maltman in his 3rd role debut in 46 days!

Christopher Maltman and a scene from Arabella in Vienna
Christopher Maltman is currently performing the role of Mandryka in Richard Strauss' Arabella, which will be live-streamed worldwide. The performance from the Wiener Staatsoper begins at 7 PM (2 PM EST/11 AM PST). He'll be joined in the cast by Kurt Rydl as Graf Waldner, Anna Gabler as Arabella, Chen Reiss as Zdenka and Benjamin Bruns as Matteo.

Arabella was the sixth and final collaboration between Strauss and his famous librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written during the collapse of the Weimar Republic and given its premiere in Dresden in the first months of the Third Reich. The story revolves around Arabella, a poor little rich girl, looking for the ideal man in Vienna during the declining years of the Austro-Hungarian empire. That man turns out to be Mandryka, but along the way one meets some pretty horrendous family members.

Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson in the finale to Arabella:

 
Tickets to view the performance can be purchased on the Wiener Staatsoper website. After this production, the company will live stream Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus and a full cycle of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Maltman has been on a whirlwind of late, making three role debuts in 46 days, which included thirteen performances in 3 cities, and sung in three different languages. It started on October 30th with Donizeti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House in London, and then Frankfurt in November for Verdi's Les Vêpres Sicilienne and finally Arabella in Vienna.

Jason Duika in 2018 Barihunks Photo Book

ONLY 16 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Barihunks Craig Verm and Michael Adams alternate Guglielmo in Seattle

Craig Verm (as Billy Budd) and Michael Adams
Barihunks Craig Verm and Michael Adams will alternate the role of Guglielmo in Jonathan Miller’s production of Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Seattle Opera. They'll be joined by Kevin Burdette as Don Alfonso and Laura Tatulescu as Despina for all performances, while Ginger Costa-Jackson and Hanna Hipp will alternate as Dorabella, Marina Costa-Jackson and Marjukka Tepponen alternate as Fiordiligi, and Tuomas Katajala and Ben Bliss alternate as Ferrando. 

Verm will perform on January 13, 17, 24 and 27, while Adams will perform on January 14, 20 and 26. Tickets are available online

After the run, Verm will stay with the Seattle Opera to perform Claudio in Mozart's Beatrice & Benedict, which runs from February 24-March 10. 

Michael Adams will open tomorrow as the Pilot in Rachel Portman's The Little Prince at the Washington National Opera, which runs from December 14-17. Tickets and additional cast information is available online. The opera is directed by Francesca Zambello.

Derek Chester and Marco Vassalli in the 2018 Barihunks Calendar/Photo Book

ONLY 18 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Barihunk switch in Oviedo's Pelléas et Mélisande

Baritone Edward Nelson
Gyula Orendt will will be replaced by fellow barihunk Edward Nelson in Ópera de Oviedo's upcoming performances of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. He'll be joined by Andrew Foster-Williams as Golaud, Anne-Catherine Gillet as Mélisande, Maxim Kuzmin-Karavaev as Arkel, Yulia Mennibaeva as Geneviève and Eleonora de la Peña as Yniold. The opera runs from January 28-February 3.

Edward Nelson and Ingeborg Gilebo in the Tower Scene from Pellées:

Nelson made his European debut at the Norwegian National Opera on April 7th as a replacement in the title role of the same opera. The performance was the first time that the company had performed the opera.

Pelléas et Mélisande was the composer’s only opera and is based on the Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck’s play of the same name. The story is about lost love and forbidden relationships.

Thomas Weinhappel and Sam Robert-Smith from the 2018 Barihunks Calendar/Photo Book
ONLY 18 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Three barihunks advance at Mid Atlantic Met Auditions

Ethan Simpson, Andrew Bogard and Brent Michael Smith
Bass-baritone Andrew Bogard, baritone Ethan Simpson and bass Brent Michael Smith all advanced to the next round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Also advancing at the Middle Atlantic Region auditions in Philhadelphia were mezzo-soprano Gillian Cotter, tenor Matthew White, tenor Joshua Blue and soprano Meryl Dominguez.

A number of barihunks have recently advanced from the Middle Atlantic Region, including bass Patrick Guetti, bass-baritone Brandon Cedel, baritone Sean Michael Plumb and baritone Elliot Madore.

The National Semi-Finals concert will be held on Thursday, April 19, 2018 and the Grand Finals Concert will take place on Sunday, April 29, 2018 in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera House. Bertrand de Billy will conduct this year's concert.

Ethan Simpson will be making his movie debut as Cesar in an upcoming film based on Anne Patchett’s New York Times best selling Bel Canto starring Julianne Moore and Ken Watanabe.

In January 2018, Andrew Bogard will star as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute at CoOPERAtive in Princeton, New Jersey.

In January 2018, Brent Michael Smith will sing Fafner in Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Academy of Vocal Arts. 


ONLY 22 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

 

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Malte Roesner co-creates and performs in sold out Opera Parallèle concert

 
Malte Roesner from the 2018 Barihunk Photo Book
Malte Roesner, who earlier this year made his U.S. stage debut with West Edge Opera in Vicente Martín y Soler's The Chastity Tree (see our post), as well as his U.S. concert debut, is returning on December 10th for a recital at San Francisco's historic Palace of the Legion of Honor. The concert is a collaboration with Opera Parallèle and the museum. 

A musicologist, as well as a singer, Roesner helped put together the program, which centers around composers who had some connection to the painters Gustav Klimt and Auguste Rodin. The two artists are being featured at an exhibit at the Legion of Honor. The program also features the rising young star, lyric soprano Amina Edris, as well as accompanist Keisuke Nakagoshi. The innovative show quickly sold out and resulted in online bartering for tickets and a demand for a second concert! (None has been announced). 

Roesner will be performing Hugo Wolf's Michelangelo Songs, as well as pieces by Alexander von Zemlinsky and Hans Pfitzner. Amina Edris will be performing works by Reynaldo Hahn, Alma Mahler, Claude Debussy and Henri Duparc.

According to Roesner the paths of Klimt and Rodin intersected in the 1898 Secession in Vienna and both of their most famous pieces are titled "The Kiss." 

According to his program notes, other connections include:   
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti was one of Rodin's main role models. He traveled to Rome to study him. Rodin said, "It is Michelangelo who has freed me from academic sculpture." 
  • Alma Mahler was a close friend of Gustav Klimt and the 5 Lieder contain one song with lyrics by Rainer Maria Rilke, who was Rodin's private secretary.      
  • Alexander von Zemlinsky was a Viennese contemporary of Klimt's and together with Gustav Mahler a competitor for Alma Schindler's (later Mahler-werfel) affection. According to her diary and her autobiography Klimt was her first kiss and Zemlinsky both her composition teacher and the man she experienced her sexual awakening with, but ultimately she decided to marry Mahler, who was 20 years her senior.       
  • In a scandal over an artistic dispute, Debussy came out publicly as a supporter of Rodin. Debussy and Klimt were both born and died the same year.   
If you're missing this concert, you may have a chance to see Roesner with Opera Parallèle during their 2018-19 season. We recommend that you buy early. Check out their current season online, which includes the world premiere of Marcus Shelby's Harriet's Spirit, as well as a double-bill of Jake Heggie's At the Statue of Venus and Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti.

Malte Roesner from the 2018 Barihunks Calendar

ONLY 24 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.


Wednesday, December 6, 2017

David Adam Moore appearing in fitness book, The New Yorker and world premiere.

David Adam Moore from Complete Vocal Fitness
American barihunk David Adam Moore, who just scored a huge triumph in Thomas Adés' The Exterminating Angel, is featured in a Kickstarter campaign for the book Complete Vocal Fitness: A Singer's Guide to Physical Training, Anatomy & Biomechanics. The book, authored by vocal coach Claudia Friedlander, offers the same tools that fitness trainers use to train elite athletes to assist singers in developing their instrument to perform at peak performance.

The book will be a guide on learning how the vocal instrument functions, offering descriptions of the fundamental components of vocal anatomy – laryngeal function, articulation and resonance – explaining their movements, their interaction with one another, and their integration with the anatomy of breathing and alignment. You can learn more about the book and Kickstarter campaign online.
 
David Adam Moore in the 2014 Barihunks Calendar

Moore has been a regularly featured singer on Barihunks and appeared in our 2012 and 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendars. He was also recently featured in The New Yorker, which included a picture by noted photographer Andres Serrano. Check it out here.

We have featured him in a number of classic, sexy baritone roles, including Joseph de Rocher in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, Stanley Kowalksi in Andre Previn's Streetcar Named Desire and his famous portrayal David T. Little's Soldier Songs.

Moore will next appear in the world premiere of David T. Little's electroacoustic song cycle Book of Dreams: Chapter Sand at the National Sawdust on December 17th. Tickets and additional information is online

2018 Barihunks Calendar
ONLY 25 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Nine baritones to perform Schubert's Winterreise in one night!!!

Joa Helgesson, Reuben Walker and Seth Carico
Advent is being celebrated in Berlin this year with 24 singers performing Schubert's Winterreise, with each performing a different song. Tenors, mezzo-sopranos and sopranos will all be represented, as well as 9 amazing baritones. They include 2018 Barihunks Calendar model Joa Helgesson, along with Julian Arsenault, Reuben Walker, Julien Ségol, Stephen Bronk, Seth Carico, Allen Boxer, Markus Brück and Jason Steigerwalt.

The performance is on December 17th at Puccini's Toaster in Berlin and tickets are available online.

Here is the entire song cycle with performers.

Gute Nacht - Joa Helgesson
Die Wetterfahne - Katrin Le Provost
Gefrorene Tränen - Julien Ségol
Erstarrung - Julie Wyma
Der Lindenbaum - Rachel Fenlon
Wasserflut - Tyler Clarke
Auf dem Flusse - Ziad Nehme
Rückblick - Vera-Lotte Böcker
Irrlicht - Sarah Ring
Rast - Davia Bouley
Frühlingstraum - Julian Arsenault
Einsamkeit - Laura Atkinson
Die Post - Reuben Walker
Der greise Kopf - Stephen Bronk
Die Krähe - Sylvia Klein-Bronk
Letzte Hoffnung - Marie-Audrey Schatz
Im Dorfe - Seth Carico
Der stürmische Morgen - Robert Watson
Täuschung - Caitlin Redding
Der Wegweiser - Allen Boxer
Das Wirtshaus - Markus Brück
Mut! - Sally Drutman
Die Nebensonnen - Mary Osborne
Der Leiermann - Jason Steigerwalt


Joa Helgesson and Derek Chester from 2018 Barihunks Calendar/Photo Book
ONLY 26 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you thin

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Introducing Portuguese barihunk André Baleiro

André Baleiro in The Rape of Lucretia
Our post on Edward Laurenson performing in The Rape of Lucretia prompted a reader to point out that Benjamin Britten's opera is also being performed in Lisbon with a singer who is new to us, André Baleiro. He'll be performing Tarquinius on December 5 and 10 at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlo.

He'll be joined by Christian Luján as Junius, Luís Rodrigues as Collatinus and Maria Luísa de Freitas in the title role.

André Baleiro began his musical and vocal studies at the age ten in Lisbon, Portugal. He completed his Bachelor in Choral Conducting at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa before heading to Berlin to  study Voice at the University of the Arts in Berlin.

André Baleiro performs the Das Lied International Song Competition: 

He is a frequent collaborator with the Kammeroper München, where made his debut as Figaro in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Some of his operatic experience includes Don Parmenione in Rossini's L’occasione fa il ladro at Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas, Conte Belfiore  in Sarti's Fra due litiganti il terzo gode, and the Captain in Bohuslav Martinů's Les trois Souhaits at the Universität der Künste Berlin.

In 2012 he was awarded a scholarship by the Walter & Charlotte Hamel Foundation in Hamburg, and was sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon from 2012-2015.

He can next be seen in recital at the Museu Francisco Tavares Proença Jr. on December 13th. He'll be performing music by Joly Braga Santos, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ruy Coelho, Caio Facó, Fernando Lopes-Graça, Luiz de Freitas Branco, Armando José Fernandes and Cláudio Carnevro. Tickets are available online.


 ONLY 28 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Edward Laurenson to sing Tarquinius in San Francisco

Edward Laurenson
The last we featured New Zealand barihunk Edward Laurenson three years ago, he was off to London to commence his Masters in Music studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has now landed across the globe in California, where he's studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has now studied on three continents in three years!

On December 8th and December 10th, he'll be performing Tarquinius in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at the Conservatory. He'll be joined by fellow barihunk Jorge Ruvalcaba as Junius, Brandon Bell as Collatinus, Molly Boggess as Lucretia, Esther Tonea as the Female Chorus, Ricky Garcia as the Male Chorus, Jessie Barnett as Bianca, and Meagan Rao as Lucia. [Click on the dates for tickets].

The fully-staged production is part of the Conservatory's thematic programming surrounding the institution's centennial celebrations for the 2017-18 season, which is comprised of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire.

Jorge Ruvalcaba (left and center), Edward Laurenson and Brandon Bell
Laurenson was an Emerging Artist with The Dame Malvina Major Foundation, as well as Vocal National Young Performer of the Year at Performing Arts Competitions Association of New Zealand, won the Lieder prize at the New Zealand Aria competition, won the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Award, the Australian Opera Awards Committee’s Sheila Prior Memorial Prize, the Phoebe Patrick Award and the David Harper Award.

Mexican baritone Jorge Ruvalcaba is new to this site. He was the winner of the Coppel Prize VIII in the  Concurso Internacional de Canto Sinaloa in 2016, the Edgar Mason Kneedler Memorial Prize Opera San Miguel 2015, won special prizes for best interpretation of Mozart and for the best interpretation of aria at the XIX Maritza Alemán Singing Contest. He has performed Marcello at Opera de Oazaca, the title role of Don Giovanni a the Escuela Superior de Música and Papageno at the Teatro Alameda.



ONLY 29 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Barihunk trio in Paris Opera's "out of this world" La bohème

Roberto Tagliavini, Andrei Jilihovschi and Alessio Arduini
Artur Ruciński will sing Marcello and Alessio Arduini will alternate the role of Marcello with Andrei Jilihovschi in the Paris Opera's new production of Giacomo Puccini‘s La Bohème, which is set in outer space. The new production, directed by Claus Guth, opens on December 1st and runs through December 31st at the Opéra Bastille.

The new staging is set a century from now, “in a future devoid of hope in which love and art become the sole means of transcendence.”

Paris Opera's La bohème (photo: © Bernd Uhlig/OnP)
The casts includes barihunk Roberto Tagliavini as Colline, Sonya Yoncheva and Nicole Car as Mimi, Aida Garifullina as Musetta, and Atalla Ayan and Benjamin Bernheim as Rodolfo.

Andrei Jilihovschi, who is new to this site, was born in Moldavia in 1985 and studied music at the Stefan Neaga College in Chisinau, specializing in choral direction while also taking voice lessons. He made his stage performance debut at the Conservatory in the title role of Eugene Onegin.

He was a soloist at the Saint Petersburg’s Theatre Mikhailovsky, where he sang the role of Belcore in L’Elisir d’amore, Schaunard in La bohème, Robert in Iolanta, the Prince in Boris Asafiev’s Cinderella, Silvano in Un ballo in maschera, Baron Douphol in La traviata, and Dancaïre in Carmen. This is his debut role with the Paris Opera.

Gianluca Margheri, Cody Quattlebaum and Ken Mattice
ONLY 30 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Cody Quattlebaum in world premiere of "Der Traum von Dir"

Cody Quattlebaum in Der Traum von Dir
Cody Quattlebaum, who recently joined the ensemble at the Zurich Opera, will be featured in the world premiere of Swiss composer Xavier Dayer’s Der Traum von Dir (The Dream of You). The chamber opera is based on the famous novella Letter from an Unknown Woman by Stefan Zweig, and tells the story of an obsessive, unfulfilled love relationship between a young woman and a writer.  

There will be four performances on the company's Studio stage between December 2-9 and tickets are available online.

The story reveals the interaction between different layers of reality, in which the few real encounters of the couple are interlaced with manipulative, invented realities, wistful visions, amorous ecstasy and desperate loneliness. The unnamed female protagonist is split into a threefold ego, and in nine scenes traces the frenetic states of mind induced by an ecstatic love, which has possibly only existed in the head of the protagonist. 

Cody Quattlebaum in Der Traum von Dir
The opera is cast for three female voices, baritone and six instruments. The female voices are performed by Soyoung Lee, Hamida Kristoffersen and Kismara Pessatti.