Georg Festl turns heads with sexy Golaud in Freiburg

Georg Festl in Pelléas et Mélisande (Photo: Rainer Muranyi)

German barihunk Georg Festl certainly caught the attention of the audience with his sexy, oft-shirtless performance of Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Theater Freiburg. We thought readers might enjoy seeing a few of the pictures, since the run ended on July 20. This was his role debut.

For those not familiar with the piece, the opera is tragic love triangle involving two noble half-brothers, Golaud and Pelléas, and the enigmatic Mélisande, who comes into their lives unexpectedly after a tremendous and undisclosed personal calamity. She marries Golaud, but he is soon convinced of her illicit union with his brother, and his jealous rage ends in Pélleas’ murder.  Mélisande dies after giving birth to a child.

Georg Festl in Pelléas et Mélisande (Photo: Rainer Muranyi)

Festl make his house debut at the Opernhaus Zürich next Spring as Masetto in Don Giovanni in a cast led by fellow barihunk Luca Pisaroni in the title role, Andreas Wolf as Leporello, Wenwei Zhang as the Commendatore, Jane Archibald as Donna Anna, Sine Bundgaard as Donna Elvira, Mauro Peter as Don Ottavio and Natalia Tanasi as Zerlina. 

Georg Festl was born in Nuremberg, Germany and studied English and American studies at the University of Music Würzburg. After graduating, he was cast as Artie Green in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg.  He is a recipient of the Richard-Wagner Society scholarship and the Da-Ponte Society scholarship

Introducing American barihunk and podcaster Jared Ice

Jared Ice (Photos l & r: Uwe Hauth)

A fellow barihunk brought American baritone Jared Ice to our attention.

Ice grew up in Seattle and received his Master’s Degree from the University of Washington. After working with Dolora Zajick at her Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, he dabbled in various types of music including Country & Western, Off-Broadway and opera.

After arriving in Germany in 2013,  he won the International Kammeroper Schloss Rhiensberg Singing Competition, eventually landing the role of Holofernes in Siegfried Matthus’ opera Judith with the Staatstheater Braunschweig.

Jared Ice sings the Te Deum from Puccini's Tosca:

He has gone on to sing a number of Siegfried Matthus’ new operas, including world premieres in Bochum, Frankfurt, and Berlin. In 2018, he performed in the burlesque opera “A Bad Man’s Life” in Rheinsberg, written by the composer's son Frank Matthus. The opera was subsequently performed in Berlin, Latvia and Estonia.

In 2016, he returned to the Rheinsberg summer festival to sing the role of Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca. In 2017, he made his debut at the Hamburger Kammeroper in Hamburg performing Count Walter in Verdi’s Luisa Miller.

Jared Ice (Photo: Oliver Junge)

In 2018, Ice started the opera podcast “Sex, Drugs, and Opera” with tenor Michael Pegher, which has featured barihunks John Brancy and George Festl. They have covered topics ranging from addiction to dealing with rejection, as well as giving their unique breakdown of opera plots.

Ice also founded his own music production company, Towermint Studios, which creates music for corporate training videos, advertisements or webinars.

Georg Festl featured in title role of Saint François d’Assise

Georg Festl as Saint François (Photo: © Stephan Ernst)

Georg Festl created quite a stir with our readers when we introduced him with a shirtless picture back in July.

He's now performing the title role in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d’Assise at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, which runs through October 28th. The cast includes fellow barihunks Julian Orlishausen as Frère Léon and Johannes Seokhoon Moon as Frère Bernard, along with Katharina Persicke as the Angel, Mickael Spadaccini as the Leper, David Lee as Frère Massée, Michael Pegher as Frére Elie and Werner Volker-Meyer as Frére Sylvestre. Tickets are available online.

This was Messiaen's only opera and it took him eight years to complete. It premiered at the Paris Opera in 1983 and reflects his devout Catholicism.  In searching for a subject, Messiaen pondered dramatizing either Christ's Passion or his Resurrection. Feeling unworthy of either subject, he eventually chose to dramatize the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, which paralleled Christ's chastity, humility, poverty, and suffering. Messiaen also wrote the libretto, consulting Franciscan sources, reading biographies by Thomas of Celano and St. Bonaventure, as well as Francis' own prayers (including Canticle of the Sun). He also cited passages from the Fioretti, Considerations on the Stigmata and the Bible.  

Georg Festl as Saint François (Photo: © Stephan Ernst)

Festl was born in Nuremberg, Germany and studied English and American studies at the University of Music Würzburg. After graduating, he was cast as Artie Green in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg.  He is a recipient of the Richard-Wagner Society scholarship and the Da-Ponte Society scholarship.

From 2015-2017, he sang at the Theater Augsburg, where he performed in Zemlinsky's Der König Kandaules, Verdi's Macbeth, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Die Csárdásfürstin, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Tosca and the children's opera Ritter Odilo und der strenge Herr Winter by Mareike Zimmermann.

Reader Submission: German bass-barihunk Georg Festl

Georg Festl

German bass-barihunk Georg Festl, who is part of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, was suggested to us by one of our readers.

This season he has performed the lead role in Messiaen‘s Saint François d’Assise, Papageno/Speaker in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Tom in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Pietro in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. On November 15th, he will begin a run as Frank in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, which runs through December 9th.

Georg Festl als Figaro @ Staatstheater Darmstadt from Georg Festl on Vimeo.

From 2015-2017, he sang at the Theater Augsburg, where he performed in Zemlinsky's Der König Kandaules, Verdi's Macbeth, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Die Csárdásfürstin, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Tosca and the children's opera Ritter Odilo und der strenge Herr Winter by Mareike Zimmermann.

Georg Festl was born in Nuremberg, Germany and studied English and American studies at the University of Music Würzburg. After graduating, he was cast as Artie Green in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg.

He is a recipient of the Richard-Wagner Society scholarship and the Da-Ponte Society scholarship.