Dean Murphy joins ensemble at Deutsche Oper Berlin

Dean Murphy (photo: Jiyang Chen)

We first introduced American barihunk Dean Murphy to readers back in 2015 when he was singing Top in Aaron Copland's Tender Land at Opera North in Lebanon, New Hampshire. His career has clearly taken off since then, as he has now joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he'll start performing as part of the ensemble in January 2018.

He'll be performing Dancairo in Bizet's Carmen, a judge in Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane, Fiorillo in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, a mocker in Prokovfiev's The Love for Three Oranges, a Flemish Deputy in Verdi's Don Carlo, Wagner in Gounod's Faust, the sargeant in Puccini's La bohème, a singer in Ponchielli's La Gioconda, a delivery boy in Verdi's La traviata, an officer in Meyerbeer's Le Prophète and the bailiff in Verdi's Rigoletto.

Murphy holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Hartt School of Music. He will graduate from Yale’s School of Music with a Master of Music degree in the spring of 2017. He was a resident artist with Opera Connecticut from 2013-2014 where he performed a number of roles. He has been a regular at a number of other New England companies including Salt Marsh Opera, Opera Connecticut, Connecticut Lyric Opera and Yale Opera.

Murphy can next be heard on May 20th as Mercutio in excerpts from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette with the Opera Theater of Connecticut in Clinton. Tickets are available online.

Ed Parks reprises Mercutio; Premieres as Steve Jobs

Ed Parks

Ed Parks, who sang a successful Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Atlanta Opera last season, will reprise the role halfway across the globe later this month. He'll be joining tenor Jean- François Borras and soprano Nino Machaidze at the Opera de Monte Carlo at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman for three performances on September 29 and 30, and October 1. Tickets are available online.

Next season, he'll be singing a very different role, as he performs the title role in the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at The Santa Fe Opera from July 22 July to August 25, 2017. He'll be joined by Sasha Cooke as Laurene Powell Jobs, Wei Wu as Kôbun Chino Otogawa and Garrett Sorenson as Woz. The opera will be directed by Kevin Newbury with sets by Victoria Tzykun.

 Ed Parks sings Avant de quitter ces lieux from Faust 

The opera is composed by Mason Bates with a libretto by Mark Campbell. It examines the life of Apple founder Steve Jobs, an innovator who simplified communication with sleek devices, but who paradoxically learned that  complex human relationships require more than one button to work. The opera starts at a moment in Jobs’ life  when he must face his own mortality and circles back to the events and people in his past that shaped and  inspired him: his father Paul, Zen Buddhism, his relationship with a woman whose child he initially disowned,  his quick rise and fall as mogul, and – most importantly – his wife Laurene, who showed him the power of love  and connection.    

In between, Parks is singing Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen with Nashville Opera and Marcello in Puccini's La bohème at the Minnesota Opera.

Watch Juan Diego Flórez and Gabriel Bermúdez in live stream of Roméo et Juliette

Juan Diego Flórez and Gabriel Bermúdez

There aren't many singers who get one to take their eyes off of Juan Diego Flórez, except for perhaps Gabriel Bermúdez (who remains our most popular barihunk ever based on page views). The two singers are performing together in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Vienna State Opera with Marina Rebeka as the other ill-fated lover. There are two performances remaining on February 26 and March 1st.

If you can't make it to Vienna, you can watch a live stream of the performance on March 1st for 
€ 14.00. You can opt to watch the performance any time within 72 hours of the broadcast.

In addition to be a member of the Zurich Opera House ensemble since the 2002-03 season, the Spanish barihunk has been a member of the Vienna State Opera since 2014, where he has performed Melot in Tristan und Isolde, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Marcello in La bohème, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore and Heger in Ruskala.   

He next performs Albert in Massenet's Werther at the Royal Opera House Muscat in April and then Marcello in La bohème at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in June and July.