Barihunk Paull-Anthony Keightley has been named one of five finalists at the 2017 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition. He'll be joined by Damian Arnold, Daniel Carison, Filipe Manu, and Shikara Ringdahl.
The finalists will compete for over $200,000 in prizes at the July 15th Finals Concert.
Paull-Anthony Keightley made his principal debut with West Australian Opera in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi while he was the 2016 Wesfarmers Young Artist. He recently appeared as Sciarrone in company’s production of Puccini's Tosca while continuing as a member of the Young Artist Programme. Upcoming engagements include the baritone soloist in Faure’s Requiem with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, bass soloist in Bach’s Cantata BWV. 147 with the Perth Symphonic Chorus, Colline in Puccini's La bohème with Freeze Frame Opera and Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Baritone Nathan Lay(Photo on right by Leesa Needham)
Australian barihunk Nathan Lay is currently singing Mr Mayor in Richard Mills' opera The Pied Piper at the Victorian Opera in Melbourne. The children's opera is based on Robert Browning’s classic poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin. There are performances on July 28, 29 and 30 and tickets and additional cast information is available online.
He has been a regular at the Victorian Opera where he recently completed his second year in their young artist program. During his time with the company, he has performed
Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata, the Father in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Sir Riccardo Forth in Bellini's I
Puritani and the quartet in Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins.
Lay recently won the 2016 Australian International Opera Award Scholarship, which is valued at $54,000. The prize includes all of the expenses for one year of full time academic study at the Wales International Academy of Voice under the guidance of its internationally tenor and director Dennis O’Neil CBE. He will commence his studies in September 2016.
Nathan Lay sings Britten's "Look! Through the port..." from Billy Budd:
Nathan completed his Bachelor of Music at the Melba Conservatorium of Music in 2008. He has since established his career in the Melbourne opera and oratorio scene. In 2010, Nathan won the National Liederfest, and Australian Music Events’ “Opera Scholar of the Year”. In 2013, he won the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria competition, and also received 3rd Place in the prestigious Herald Sun Aria competition at Hamer Hall.
In 2013, he made his first appearances with Opera Australia in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and Aida. He also played Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte for Melbourne Opera.
A reader introduced us to Jeremy Kleeman, a graduate of Victorian Opera's Developing Artist Program, who is performing Magus in the world premiere of Voyage to the Moon. The piece was inspired by the epic poem Orlando furioso using a pastiche of music by Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann and Gluck, with new words by Michael Gow.
Kleeman has a Master of Music in Opera Performance and
a Bachelor of Music from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He has been a regular on
the Victorian Opera stage since his debut with the company in 2008. He has performed Rapunzel’s Prince in Into
the Woods, Marquis D’Obiginy in La traviata, Lord Valton in I puritani,
and Albert the Pudding in the Green Room Award-winning world premiere
The Magic Pudding – The Opera.
Jeremy Kleeman sings "Aprite un po’quegli occhi" from Marriage of Figaro:
Kleeman previously sung in another baroque opera when he performed Teobaldo in Handel's Faramondo for
the Brisbane Baroque Festival, which won five Helpmann Awards including Best Opera. He has twice been a finalist at the IFAC Australian
Singing Competition and was as a finalist at
the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria, Australia's premiere oratorio
competition, placing as the joint runner-up and winning the People's
Choice Award. In 2014 Jeremy won the Welsh Male Choir Singer of the Year.
In Voyage to the Moon, the great warrior Orlando has fallen into a deep madness. His
friend Astolfo travels to the heavens with the mysterious Magus to find a
cure and discovers the moon is home to many lost things including
Orlando’s sanity. But first he must convince the all-powerful Guardian
of the Moon, Selena, that Orlando is worth saving.
Performances of Voyage to the Moon at the Victorian Opera remain on February 18 and 19 and tickets are available online.
We first introduced Aussie barihunk Brett Carter to readers last year when he was performing Mercurio in Cavalli's Calisto at the Hessischen Staatstheaters in Wiesbaden. We featured some sexy shots of him performing in Britten's Rape of Lucretia and Ravel's L'heure espagnole.
Brett is a now an ensemble member at the Staatstheater in Mainz, where his upcoming performances include the baritone solo in Orff's Carmina Burana opening on November 22 and Alloro in Dusapin's Perelà in the Spring 2016. He's currently performing Valentin in Gounod's Faust (Margerete) and once again showing off a little skin for the German audiences. Performances run through February 14 and additional cast information and tickets are available online. Next year, he'll be returning to his native country to sing the title role in Rossini's The Barber of Seville.
Carter studied Classical Guitar and Voice at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He then became a member of the Australian Opera Studio where his roles included Mozart’s Conte Almaviva, Don Giovanni and Britten’s Tarquinius. After receiving a Scholarship to participate in the Cincinnati Music Festival in Lucca, Italy, he then went on to become a Young Artist with Opera Queensland. During this time he received first prize in the German Australian Opera Grant and from 2007- 2014 was a member of the Hessischen Staatstheater in Wiesbaden.
MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGERS FROM 9 COUNTRIES.
