Cleveland Orchestra to perform 5 operas with 5 barihunks

Simon Keenlyside, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Eric Owens, Bo Skovhus and Ludwig Mittelhammer (center)

The Cleveland Orchestra announced that it is extending the contract of Music Director. Franz Welser-Möst’s for five years until 2027, which would be his 25th anniversary with the company.

They also announced five operas for upcoming seasons, each featured a noted barihunk.

First up will be Berg's Lulu, which runs from May 16-22, 2020 and features Bo Skovhus as Dr. Schön. The all-star cast will feature Barbara Hannigan in the title role, Jennifer Johnson Cano as Countess Geschwitz and John Tomlinson as Schigolch.

Next up will be a performance of Verdi's Otello in the 2020-21 featuring barihunk Simon Keenlyside making his role debut as the evil Iago. No other cast information was available.

The 2021-22 season will also include Wagner's Parsifal featuring barihunk Hanno Müller-Brachmann as Amfortas, along with tenor Piotr Beczala in the title role, mezzo-soprano Okka von der Damerau as Kundry and bass Peter Rose making his role debut as Gurnemanz.

The 2022-23 will undoubtedly feature a slew of barihunks in Puccini's almost all-male cast in  La Fanciulla del West. Bass-barihunk Eric Owens and soprano Tamara Wilson will both be making role debuts as Jack Rance and Minnie respectively.

The 2023-24 season will feature an all to rare U.S. appearance by Ludwig Mittelhammer, who will be features as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. He'll be joined by tenor Julian Prégardien as Tamino and bass Peter Kellner as Sarastro.

¡Figaro! (90210) returns to NY after successful L.A. run

Luke Scott (left) and David Castillo (right) (Photo Maria Baranova)

After sold-out performances on both coasts, ¡Figaro! (90210) is back at The Duke on 42nd Street in New York's Times Square until April 23rd.

The opera is an updated and rewritten version of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro about class and power. The piece is set in present-day Los Angeles (with a Trump Tower gag thrown in for New York audiences) and filled with pop references,  contemporary slang and includes current topics like immigration reform and income inequality. 

David Castillo, who we recently featured in his successful run as Anthony Hope in Townsend Opera's Sweeney Todd, will reprise the role of the stoner Atzuko. (Don't miss our interview with him). He's joined by barihunk Luke Scott as Paul Conti, hunkentenor Michael Kuhn as Basel, Jose Adan Perez as Figaro, actor Christin Byrdsong as Lil B-Man, Ethan Herschenfeld as Babayan, Lori Mirabal as Donna, Sahoko Sato Timpone as Ms. Soon-Yi Nam, Emma Grimsley as Barbara Conti, Raquel Suarez-Groen  as Roxanne Conti and Samarie Alicia as Susana.
 

Actor Christin Byrdsong (Photo Maria Baranova)

The libretto is in English and "Spanglish" and is about the undocumented workers Figaro and Susana who can't wait to get married. On their way to the altar they have to navigate a world of lecherous bosses, Botoxed starlets, bumbling human traffickers, ambitious hip-hoppers, and pothead gardeners in a wild adventure that recasts the classic opera as a madcap comedy about citizenship in today's America. 

Tickets are available at Figaro90210.com where you can use the discount code "GOGOFIGARO."  

Castillo next appears as the Doctor and Shepherd in Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande with the Cleveland Orchestra from May 2-6 under the baton of Franz Welser-Most. Fellow barihunks Elliot Madore and Hanno Müller-Brachmann will sing the roles of Pelleas and Golaud respectively. Tickets are available online.

Introducing German Barihunk Ludwig Obst

Ludwig Obst

We'd like to introduce our readers to the Munich-born German barihunk Ludwig Obst, who began his musical training with Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden as a member of the renowned Tölzer Boys Choir from 1998-2004. During this time he also was heard for the first time as an operatic soloist singing Sang Miles in Benjamin Britten's The Turn Of The Screw at the Komische Oper in Berlin.

Since 2010, he has studied Voice at Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, working first with fellow barihunk Hanno Müller-Brachmann and since 2011 with Bernd Riedel. During his studies, he has studied song repertoire and interpretation with Wolfram Rieger and Thomas Quasthoff, as well as participating in masterclasses with Christine Schäfer and Rudolf Piernay. He sang several operatic roles at the Hochschule, including Papageno Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Dr.Falke in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

Ludwig Obst in La Serva Padrona vs. Fuga  (photo: Musica Sequenza)

As a soloist he performs frequently with the Lautten Compagney Berlin, directed by Wolfgang Katschner, and the choirs Sing-Akademie zu Berlin and Staats- und Domchor Berlin. In 2013 he debuted at the Theater Bonn (with the dance-oratorio Maria XXX by Heike Henning), as well as at the Festival de Torroella de Montgrì in Catalonia and at the Trigonale Festival for Ancient music in Austria. He also sang the lead role in Musica Sequenza’s production, Opera del Futuro I (La Serva Padrona vs. Fuga) under the direction of Burak Özdemir in Radialsystem Berlin. In 2014 he appeared in Halle’s prestigious Handel Festival as Isacio in Händel’s Riccardo Primo, conducted by Wolfgang Katschner.

 Ludwig Obst singing Mozart as a member of the Tölzer Boys Choir:

He appears regularly in recital with the pianist Paul Heller, most recently in recitals of Schubert’s Winterreise, Schumann’s Heine-Liederkreis op.24 and settings of Hölderlin poems.

Ludwig Obst is supported by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, a scholarship program of the German government. In addition to being a gifted singer, he is a composer who had one of his pieces performed by the Tölzer Boys Choir in July 2007.

Hanno Müller-Brachmann's West Coast Debut & Only US Performance in 2014

Hanno Müller-Brachmann in Cosi fan tutte in Berlin

American fans of the amazing gifted German barihunk Hanno Müller-Brachmann will have one chance to see him in 2014, when he makes his West Coast debut with the San Francisco Symphony on May 29 and 30. Müller-Brachmann will be performing Fauré's Requiem under the baton of Charles Dutoit along with soprano Susanna Phillips. Tickets are selling fast and are available online.

Müller-Brachmann's U.S. appearances are an unfortunate rarity. He made his New York  in 2000 debut at Carnegie Hall in Elliott Carter's opera "What next" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim.

Hans Müller-Brachmann performs St. Matthew's Passion:

Upcoming European performances are focused on the Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach, as he takes on St. Mark's Passion with the Knabenkantorei Basel on March 20 and 21, St. Matthew's Passion with the Sinfonieorchester des Schwedischen Rundfunks on March 28 and 29, St. John's Passion with the Vienna Symphony on April 13 in Vienna and 15 in Aix en Provence, and finally returns to the St. Matthew's Passion with the Berlin Konzerthausorchester on April 18 and 19.

Guido Loconsolo in La Boheme

Guido Loconsolo

We can't imagine a better way to start the week that with sexy Italian barihunk Guido Loconsolo singing his highly acclaimed portrayal of Marcello in La Boheme. He also has that amazing Italian style that defines fashion at its best.

For those hoping to see Loconsolo live, he has a couple of Belcore's on his schedule. First at Opera de Lille opposite the hunkentenor Bülent Bezdüz. He then flies off to Berlin where he will reprise the role at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin opposite two more hunky Nemorino's: Pavel Brelik and Leonardo Capalbo.

Hanno Müller-Brachmann

For those of you who will be in Berlin, barihunk Hanno Müller-Brachmann will be featured in two Mozart operas during that time, Cosi fan tutte and The Magic Flute.

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