Gary Griffiths (photo from Oedipus Rex, Barbara Aumüller -left)
Welsh barihunk Gary Griffiths is making his Oper Frankfurt debut in a double bill of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, both of which deal with suppressed fears. He is singing Creon in Oedipus Rex and Robert in Iolanta. Fellow barihunk Brandon Cedel will perform the Messenger in Oedipus Rex.
Iolanta was Tchaikovsky's last opera and was first performed in 1892, the same year his Nutcracker ballet exploded onto the scene, keeps Iolanta's process of realization very focused on a musical level – in a one act work with a vivid, brightly colored, shimmering musical language.
Stravinsky and Jean Cocteau, on the other hand, fully intended to reach monumental heights in two acts. They created a mixture of music stereotypes and patterns: fateful, pulsating rhythms combine with harmonies, influences drawn from the Middle Ages, Russian orthodox church music and folk music, classic and jazz.
Griffiths was the winner of the Welsh Singers Competition in 2012 and a finalist representing Wales in the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where, in 2009, he won the Gold Medal Competition.
Performances run through November 25 and tickets are available online.
The Boston Lyric Opera has announced their 2018-2019, which focuses on operas about strong women, inspired by stories of women, and led by women directors. They also add a few barihunks to the mix!
The season kicks off from October 12-21 with Rossini's classic opera The Barber of Seville, directed by Rosetta Cucchi and starring barihunk Matthew Worth in the title role alongside the amazing mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as Rosina. The cast is rounded out by Jesus Garcia as Almaviva and David Crawford as Basilio.
Next up is the world premiere of Tod Machover’s and Simon Robson’s Schoenberg in Hollywood, part of the company's New Works commissioning series. The opera is about the composer’s struggle to
assimilate into American culture after fleeing Nazi Europe and maintaining his artistic integrity
amidst the lure of celebrity.
Brandon Cedel and David Cushing
That will be followed by Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, a timely opera for the #MeToo era, as rape and issues about male sexual aggression were not discussed when the composer wrote the piece. For that reason, the opera’s sensitivity to Lucretia’s experience, and
her husband’s response is both prescient and uncomfortably
familiar. The opera will feature the barihunk trio of Duncan Rock as Tarquinius, Brandon Cedel as Collatinus, and David McFerrin as Junius. They'll be joined by Kelley O’Connor as Lucretia, Nancy Maultsby as Bianca and Jesse Darden and Antonia Tamer as the Male Chorus and Female Chorus. Performances run from March 11-17, 2019.
Duncan Rock sings Tarquinius' aria from The Rape of Lucretia:
The season ends with Poul Ruders and Paul Bentley adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid’s Tale directed by Anne Bogart and with new orchestrations. The story centers around Offred, one woman out of many who were stripped of her name, identity, and personhood by a cruel and oppressive government regime. The seem also seems prescient for today's political climate.
The piece features bass-barihunk David Cushing, along with Jennifer Johnson Cano as Offred, Caroline Worra as Aunt Lydia, Maria Zifchak as Serena Joy and Matthew DiBattista as The Doctor.
Additional information about the season can be found at www.BLO.org.
Opera Philadelphia's season comes to a close with a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro starring barihunks John Chest and Brandon Cedel from April 28-May 7. This is a new co-production, which premiered last year at Lyric Opera of Kansas City and next travels to San Diego Opera and Palm Beach Opera.
John Chest will be performing with his wife soprano Layla Claire, both of whom are making their company debuts. They will be singing the bickering Count and Countess Almaviva. Joining them as Figaro is bass-barihunk Brandon Cedel, whose last appearance on the Academy of Music stage was in the East Coast premiere of Kevin Puts's award-winning Silent Night.
Brandon Cedel
Chest and Cedel will be joined by Cecelia Hall as Cherubino, Patrick Carfizzi as Dr. Bartolo, Lucy Schaufer as Marcellina, Jason Ferrante as Don Basilio, Ashly Milanese as Barbarina, Ying Fang as Susanna and Thomas Shivone as Antonio. Tickets are available online.
Chest will represent the United States at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in June 2017.
Bass-barihunk Erwin Schrott will kick off the the 64th Ljubljana Festival tonight in an open air concert in Congress Square joined by Argentine soprano Jaquelina Liveri.
The opera Don Giovanni
will feature prominently on the program, as it includes the Leporello's Catalog Aria, Donna Anna's Non mi dir and Don Giovanni and Zerlina's duet La ci darem la mano. Schrott will also perform Dulcamara’s aria from L’elisir d’amore "Udite, udite, o rustici," "Et toi, Palerme" from Verdi's I vespri siciliani, Mephistophele’s aria "Le veau d’or" from Faust, in addition to duets with Liveri.
Brandon Cedel (Photo:Opera News) and Alex Esposito
Don Giovanni is also up next on Schrott's calendar, as he performs the title role at the Opernfestspiele at the Bavarian State Opera with fellow barihunks Alex Esposito in his signature role Leporello and Brandon Cedel as Masetto. The all-star cast also includes Pavol Breslik as Don Ottavio, Albina Shagimuratova as Donna Anna, Ain Anger as the Commendatore and Dorothea Röschmann as Donna Elvira. Performances are on July 23 and 25 and tickets are available online.
Barihunk Brandon Cedel, who appeared in our 2011 Barihunks calendar with his husband Jonathan Beyer, is featured in Opera News this month in their Sound Bites feature:
Brandon Cedel, who is
in his third and final season as a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, is the Sergeant in the
company’s new production of Manon Lescaut this month. Cedel
started at the Met in 2013, fresh from seven years at the Curtis
Institute and a win in the company’s National Council Auditions. “The
Met is like Disneyland for a young opera singer—literally everything you
could possibly want is there. You see how to act onstage, how to act
offstage. And you are surrounded by the best of the best every minute.”
The semi-finalists in the Queen Sonja Vocal Competition were announced with four baritones amongst the final twelve. In a competition that was heavily loaded with female voice, it was a sign of the healthy state of baritone talent that they represented a third of the singers moving ahead.
Advancing are American Brandon Cedel, Turk Kartal Karagedik, Croatian Krešimir Stražanac and Moldavian Oleg Tilbulco. They will compete against six sopranos and two tenors. None of the five mezzos advanced.
Brandon Cedel sings "Vi ravviso" from La Sonnambula at the George London Competition:
The Semi-final concert will occur on Sunday, August 18th at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. Five finalist will move on and perform on Friday, August 23rd. That concert will also include the world premiere of new overture by Jan Erik Mikalsen, commissioned by Queen Sonja International Music Competition with support from the Norwegian Arts Council.
The other singers advancing are soprano Julia Maria Dan, soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan, soprano Nina Minasian, Soprano Emma Moore, tenor Sergey Radchenko, soprano Mélissa Petit, soprano Hamida Kristoffersen, and the highly entertaining tenor Andrew Stenson.
Both archived and live concerts can be watched on live streaming HERE.
