Duncan Rock takes on Don Giovanni Down Under before heading to The Met

Duncan Rock rehearsing with Opera Queensland

British/Australian barihunk Duncan Rock will make his principal role debut with Opera Queensland in the title role of Mozar'ts Don Giovanni, which runs through November 2nd. He'll be joined in the cast by Shaun Brown as Leporello, Eva Kong as Donna Anna, Virgilio Marino as Don Ottavio, Hayley Sugars as Donna Elvira, Samuel Piper as Masetto, Katie Stenzel as Zerlina and Andrew Collins as The Commendatore.

After his run of Don Giovanni, he heads to The Metropolitan Opera to sing Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème from November 29-Deccember 13 and Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute on January 3rd. 

Duncan Rock to be featured at Petworth Festival in WW I program

Duncan Rock

Australian barihunk Duncan Rock will be featured at this year's Petworth Festival in the U.K., performing music related to WWI.  The centerpiece of the concert will be George Butterworth's setting of A.E. Houseman’s A Shropshire Lad, which comprise eleven settings from the original sixty-three poems. The concert also includes music by Gerald Finzi and Ned Rorem. Tickets are available online.

Butterworth was killed in the Battle of the Somme and was posthumously awarded the Military Cross. His brigade commander, Brigadier General Page Croft, only learned after Butterworth's death that he was one of England's most promising young composers. Butterworth's body was never recovered and his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial, honoring the 72,246 British and South African soldiers missing in action during WWI.

John Brancy sings Butterworth's "The lads in their hundreds":

Petworth was also impacted by war, having suffered a horrible tragedy in World War II a generation later.  On September 29, 1942, a lone German Heinkel 111, approaching from the south over Hoes Farm, aimed three bombs at Petworth House, the stately 17th century home of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. The bombs missed the house, but one bounced off a tree and landed on the Petworth Boys' School killing 28 boys, the headmaster and an assistant teacher.

American barihunk John Brancy also has toured with a popular program of WWI songs with pianist Peter Dugan. The recital. "A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song," is also available on CD.

Barihunk Duncan Rock returning to Glyndebourne

Barihunk Duncan Rock

Duncan Rock will be returning to the Glyndebourne Festival this Summer and Fall, where he previously scored a career-changing success as Tarquinius in Fiona Shaw's production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia.      

From August 11-28, he'll perform the role of Demetrius in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with an all-star cast that includes Tim Mead as Oberon, Elizabeth DeShong as Hermia and Kate Royal as Helena. From October 15 to December 9, he travels around the U.K. with Glyndebourne on Tour portraying the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni with fellow barihunk Brandon Cedel as his sidekick Leporello.

On Wednesday, June 1st he'll be performing with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the spirited conducting of Nic McGegan. The program includes songs by Thomas Arne, Ralph Vaughan Williams' In Windsor Forest , highlights from Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, highlights from Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen and the duet from Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict. He'll be joined by soprano Fflur Wyn, tenor Andrew Henley and mezzo Sandra Piques Eddy.

Barihunk afficionados won't want to miss him as Donald in Deborah Warner's new production of Britten's Billy Budd at the Teatro Real in Madrid, where he will be joined by barihunks Jacques Imbrailo in the title role, Borja Quiza as Novice's Friend and Thomas Oliemans as Mr. Redburn.

He is also slated to make his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in an upcoming season as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème.