Holger Falk premieres "Make No Noise" at Bregenz Festival

Holger Falk in "Make No Noise"

Barihunk Holger Falk just completed a run at the Bregenz Festival in Miroslav Srnka’s new opera Make No Noise. The chamber opera, which based on Isabel Coixet's "The secret life of words," is about the search for communication between people.

Make No Noise tells the story of a young woman who is caring for a man seriously injured in a fire on an oil platform. She is almost deaf, and he bears the blame for the death of his best friend who died in the fire on the platform. Neither has any words for the events which have altered their lives abruptly. Both have found a bearable way of dealing with their respective pasts – silence. When they meet on the shut down oil rig, they sense in their unique connection a way of being able to live with their traumas.

"Make No Noise" with Holger Falk and Okka von der Damerau:

Holger Falk, who is new to this site, began singing as a boy with the famous Regensburg Cathedral Boy's Choir. He studied voice at the Würzburg Conservatory in Milano, including work with the great tenor Franco Corelli. He has performed in many of the great theaters of Europe, including the Theatre de la Monnaie Brussels, Theatre Champs Elysées Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, Bavarian State Opera Munich, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, National Opera Warsaw and Oper Frankfurt.

He was the first singer to record all 115 mélodies of Francis Poulenc for male voice. He has also recorded  lieder by Wolfgang Rihm, Franz Schubert, Josef Matthias Hauer and Eric Satie. He won the prestigious Echo Klassik Award in 2016 for his Satie recording.

Barihunk Duo in Bregenz's Cosi fan tutte

Grigory Shkarupa and Maxililian Krumme (far right in Cosi fan tutte)

The Bregenzer Festspiele opened their production of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte today and we received an enthusiastic email from an attendee alerting us to two barihunks in the cast, both of whom are new to us. Maximilian Krumme is singing Guglielmo and Grigory Shkarupa is singing Ferrando under the direction of Jörg Lichtenstein.

There are three performances remaining on August 18, 20 and 22 and tickets and additional cast information is available online. 

Maximilian Krummen

Maximilian Krumme was born in Fürth and raised in Radolfzell, Germany. He graduated from the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with a Masters of Music.

Since the 2013-14 seaason, he has been a member of the International Opera Studio at the Staatsoper Berlin. At the Opera Studio he has performed Fiorello in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Baron Douphol in Verdi’s La Traviata, Kilian in Weber’s Der Freischütz, Sciarrone in Puccini’s Tosca, as well as the New Music Productions workshops.

He has also performed Papageno, Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Morales in Carmen at the Theater Aachen. He previously sung Guglielmo at Hamburg Theatre Academy. This is his second appearance in Bregenz, having appeared last season in the double-bill of Stravinsky's Le Rossignol and Szymon Laks Le Hirondelle inattendue.  

After the Festival, Krummen returns to the Staatsoper in Berlin to sing Ecclitico in Haydn's Il mondo della luna, Kilian in Weber's Der Freischutz and Sciarrone in Puccini's Tosca.  

Grigory Shkapura

Grigory  Shkarupa was born in St. Petersburg and studied at the Glinka Choral College and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. At the Opera Studio of the Conservatory he performed Gurnemanz in excerpts from Wagner’s Parsifal, Zuniga in Bizet’s Carmen and Panas in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Night before Christmas Eve. He is also a member of the International Opera Studio at the Staatsoper Berlin.

He's performed numerous roles at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, including the Prisoner in Verdi’s Nabucco, Patsyuk in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Night before Christmas Eve, Mityukha in Mussorgsky’sBoris Godunov, Zuniga in Bizet’s Carmen, The Monk in Verdi’s Don Carlo and the Soldier in Berlioz’s Les Troyens. 

After the Festival, Shkarupa returns to Berlin to sing Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca, Samuel in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera and Grenvil in Verdi's La traviata. You can listen to Shkarupa sing a Russian folk song HERE.