Bass-barihunk Cody Quattlebaum accepting the Marcella Sembrich-Kochańska Prize
They had to wait until after midnight when the final prizes were finally announced, but barihunks Cody Quattlebaum and Hubert Zapiór both walked away with prizes at the 10th International Moniuszko Vocal Competition. Quattlebaum walked away with $2,000 and the Marcella Sembrich-Kochańska Prize, as well as a Beethoven Prize, which gives him the opportunity to perform the composer's work in Poland.
Hubert Zapiór won a special prize, which affords him the opportunity to perform with a major Polish orchestra. This year's competition clearly belonged to higher voices, as First Proze went to Russian soprano Maria Motolygina, Second Prize to Slovakian soprano Slávka Zámečníková and Third Prize to Chinese tenor Long Long.
We learned about British barihunk Huw Montague Rendall in a unique manner, having seen him as response to our question on Twitter and Facebook: "Name a parent and their child who both sang opera professionally."
It turns out that Huw Montague Rendell comes from operatic royalty, being the son of British mezzo-soprano Diana Montague and tenor David Rendall, who also was one of his voice teachers.
Montague Rendall graduated from the Royal College of Music and was as a 2016 Jerwood Young Artist with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. At Glyndebourne he sang the role of Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, for which he was awarded the John Christie Award. The following summer he joined the prestigious Young Artist Programme at the Salzburg Festspiele where he made his debut in the role of Second Apprentice in Berg's Wozzeck. He is currently a member of the International Opera Studio Zürich with fellow barihunk Cody Quattlebaum.
Huw Montague Rendall sings "Avant de quitter ces lieux" from Gounod's Faust:
On July 4th, he'll make his debut as Harlequin in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in a cast that includes Lise Davidsen as Ariadne, Eric Cutler as Bacchus, Sabine Devieilhe as Zerbinetta and Angela Brower as The Composer. He will also be making house debuts this season wit the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Komische Oper Berlin and Garsington Opera. In Zürich his roles include the Nazarene in Richard Strauss' Salome with Catherine Naglestad in the title role, Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Saimir Pirgu as Pinkerton and Svetlana Aksenova as Cio-Cio San, and Nardo in Mozart's La finta giardiniera, which runs from May 5-18.
Cody Quattlebaum and his mane of Biblical proportions
After competing in the Glyndebourne Cup this month, Cody Quattlebaum will make his official U.K. debut with the Academy of Ancient Music as Christus and the Bass
Soloist in Bach's Johannespassion (St John Passsion) at the Barbican Centre on March 30th.
Quattlebaum is one of seven of the 24 singers selected for the inaugural Glyndebourne
Opera Cup on March 22. The field will be narrowed to 10 finalist for the
March 24th competition, which will be broadcast on Sky Arts.
The St John Passsion will also feature James Gilchrist as the Evangelist, countertenor Iestyn Davies, soprano Lydia Teuscher and the rising tenor sensation Ilker Arcayurek, all under the baton of Riccardo Minasi. Tickets are available online.
The St John Passion was written during Bach's first year as director of church music in Leipzig and was first performed on April 7, 1724 at Good Friday Vespers. The anonymous libretto draws on existing works and is compiled from recitatives and choruses narrating the Passion of Christ as told in the Gospel of John, ariosos and arias reflecting on the action, and chorales using hymn tunes and texts familiar to a congregation of Bach's contemporaries.
Quattlebaum, who has already gained a following in the U.S., will also be making his German debut this year.
Clockwise top left: Dmytro Kalmuchyn, Cody Quattlebaum, Denis Milo and Hubert Zapiór
Baritones landed seven of the 24 slots for the inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup on March 22. The field will be narrowed to 10 finalist for the March 24th competition, which will be broadcast on Sky Arts.
The Glyndebourne Opera Cup focuses on a different single composer or strand of the repertoire. In 2018 the featured composer is Mozart and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will accompany the singers at the final.
The field includes some popular barihunks led by Cody Quattlebaum (US), Hubert Zapiór (Poland), Dmytro Kalmuchyn (Ukraine), Denis Milo (Germany), as well as Jorge Espino (Mexico), Jake Muffett (UK), Carl Rumstadt (Germany), Charles Sy (Canada), Jack Swanson (US), Jacquelyn Stucker (US), Anita Rosati (Austria), Emily Pogorelc (US), Eléonore Pancrazi (France), Alexandra Nowakowski (US/Poland), Gemma Ní Bhriain (Ireland), Diana Newman (US), Mirjam Mesak (Estonia), Aurora Marthens (Finland), Elbenita Kajtazi (Kosovo), Samantha Hankey (US), Adriana Gonzalez (Guatemala), Francesca Chiejina (US) and Adèle Charvet (France).
Hubert Zapiór sings the Count's aria from the Marriage of Figaro:
The winner
will receive £15,000 and the guarantee of a role within five years at
one of the top opera houses represented on the competition jury.
The international jury for The Glyndebourne Opera Cup includes representatives from top international opera houses. Among them are Barrie Kosky, Artistic Director of Komische Oper Berlin, Sophie de Lint, Artistic Director of Zurich Opera and Director Designate of Dutch National Opera, David Devan, who runs Opera Philadelphia, Fortunato Ortombina, Sovrintendente of Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and Joan Matabosch, Artistic Director of Teatro Real in Madrid.
Acting as the competition’s honorary president is Dame Janet Baker, whose own early career was fostered by Glyndebourne. As well as presenting the prizes, she will adjudicate at the live final.
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.
Der Traum von Dir is the first
in a series of opera compositions that the Zurich Opera will be commissioning from
Swiss composers over the coming seasons.
Quattlebaum, was a recent participant in San Francisco's prestigious Merola Opera Program, where he performed Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte and the title role in William Walton's The Bear. He will also appearing be as Larkens in Zurich Opera's La fanciulla del West, which runs from December 21 through January 12.
Cody Quattlebaum in the 2018 Barihunks Calendar
Quattlebaum also appears in our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men. The calendar 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!
Barihunks has released its 2018 calendar, which includes nineteen of opera's hottest singers, hailing from seven countries. Baritones and basses include Alexander Elliot, Brad Baron, Marco Vassalli, Malte Roesner, Cody Quattlebaum, Gianluca Margheri, Jason Duika, Joa Helgesson, Ken Mattice, Règis Mengus, Robert Brouwer, Sam Roberts-Smith, Thomas Weinhappel, Zacharias Niedzwiecki, Zachary James and Zachary Gordin. Most of our calendar ahave included one honorary hunkentenor, but we added three this year, including Derek Chester, Daniel Lopez and John Tibbetts. The calendar is available HERE.
Zacharias Niedzwiecki
Due to requests from our readers, we've added a Barihunks Photo Book, which includes numerous additional photos not included in the calendar. The 20-page photo book is available HERE.
All proceeds will go to promote baritones and musical commissions for low voice.
Barihunk John Chest is on a roll, having recently been named as the U.S. representative at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in June 2017 and closing the Opera Philadelphia season opposite his wife Layla Claire in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. To top that off, he was just awarded a $10,000 2017 Richard Tucker Career Grant along with bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee and baritone Anthony Clark Evans.
The top prize of $50,000 went to soprano Nadine Sierra. Winners of the $5,000 Sara Tucker Award went to countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Alexander McKissick,
bass-baritone Christian Pursell, bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum,
mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, tenor Jack Swanson, and soprano Vanessa
Vasquez.
Bass-barihunk Cody Quattlebaum was the only low male voice to advance in the Metropolitan Opera Audition semi-finals on Sunday.
Other singers who advances were tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven, soprano Vanessa Vasquez, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, soprano Natalie Image, soprano Kirsten MacKinnon, soprano Gabriella Reyes de Ramirez, and tenor Richard Smagur.
On March 19th, the nine finalists will perform in a concert on the Met stage. Tickets are available online. The judges will choose five winners who are awarded a grand prize of $15,000 each, and the remaining finalists will each receive $5,000.
Past winners include Thomas Hampson, Jessye Norman, Grace Bumbry, Teresa Stratas, Shirley Verrett, Richard Stilwell, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt, Stanford Olsen, Susan Graham, Eric Owens, Sondra Radvanovsky, Brian Asawa, Stephanie Blythe, Keith Phares, Lawrence Brownlee, James Valenti, Donovan Singletary, Jamie Barton, Michael Fabiano, Angela Meade, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Elliot Madore, Philippe Sly, Brandon Cedel and Heidi Grant Murphy.
(Clockwise top left) Will Liverman, Brian Vu, Cody Quattlebaum and Shea Owens
Four barihunks walked away with awards at the 46th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.
After three days of preliminary auditions, 18 were selected as finalists and a total of $75,000 was given in awards. Five were selected as winners of George London Awards of $10,000, including Will Liverman. Three singers received $5,000 awards, including Cody Quattlebaum and the remainder received $1,000 each, including Shea Owens and Brian Vu.
Barihunk Richard Stilwell in his singing days
his year's panel of judges included soprano Harolyn Blackwell, mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, former Metropolitan Opera administrator Alfred F. Hubay, George London Foundation President Nora London, mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, tenor and voice professor George Shirley, and barihunk Richard Stilwell (who won a George London Award at the first competition in 1971). The competition pianist was renowned collaborative pianist Craig Rutenberg.
Other $10,000 prize winners included tenor Aaron Blake, soprano Michelle Bradley, tenor Errin Duane Brooks and soprano Lara Secord-Haid.
Bass-Barihunk Cody Quattlebaum was one of 12 singers who advanced at this week's Metropolitan Opera National Council Eastern Region District competition. In June, he took home $5,000 for winning the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition in Oakland, California. He finished his summer as a participant in the prestigious Merola Opera Program across the Bay in San Francisco.
Cody Quattlebaum sings Wolfram's Aria:
He'll be joined by two other baritones, as both Lawson Anderson and Michael Gracco advanced. Others who made the cut includes sopranos Heather Bobeck, Mary Claire Curran, Betsy Diaz, Anna Dugan, Emily Misch and Julia Wolcott, mezzo soprano Samantha Hankey, tenor Jonathan Tetelman and countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen. (BTW, don't miss any chance to hear Cohen, who possesses one of the most beautiful and thrilling countertenor voices to emerge in a decade).
Encouragement awards went to bass-baritone Derrell Acon, soprano Alaysha Fox, mezzo-soprano Kirsten Scott and soprano Yesul Yeon. We'll be keeping our eye on Acon!
The dozen winners will move on to the Region Finals on January 18th at Merkin Hall in New York City.
The 2017 Barihunks in Bed Calendar is on sale and is available HERE.
Bass-barihunk Cody Quattlebaum took home $5,000 for winning the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition in Oakland, California on Saturday. He also won another $1,000 for winning the audience prize.
The New York singer sang "Se vuol ballare" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and "O du, mein holder Abendstern" from Wagner's Tannhäuser. Soprano Yelena Dyachek came in second, followed by tenor Arnold Livingston Geis.
Quattlebaum is earning is Master's Degree in Voice Performance at The Juilliard School of Music, where he has performed Der Lautsprecher in Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Sylvano in Cavalli's La Callisto.
He is currently at the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, where he will perform Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. Performances are August 4 and 6 and tickets are available online.
