Introducing Basque Barihunk Gilen Goicoechea

Gilen Goicoechea

A reader suggested Gilen Goicoechea to us, who they saw at the Concours International de Chant Lyrique last Fall.  Goicoechea will be singing in the double bill of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Ravel's L'Heure Espagnole at the Opéra national de Lorraine from September 27 to October 6. He'll be performing Betto and Ramiro respectively and tickets are available online.

The Basque barihunk began by studying trumpet and piano before switching to voice  at the Conservatoire du Grand Avignon. At school, he performed in Offenbach's Le voyage dans la lune and Auber's Fra Diavolo.  

In October 2011, he participated in the Festival Cap Opéra bouffe de Sauveterre, where he played the  Aime in Valérie Marestin's comedic scenes "Les cocottes lyriques." The performance led to an offer to perform in Charles Lecocq's opéra-bouffe Le testament de monsieur Crac at the Festival d'Avignon. Next season he'll perform Monsieur Troundadisse in Sauget's Tistou les pouces verts and Benoit in Puccini's La bohème at Opéra de Rouen.
 
He is a past winner of the Grand concours d'opérette amateur, and was a finalist in vocal competitions in Bezier, Arles and Nimes.

Watch Elliot Madore in Ravel double-bill

You can watch Glyndebourne's 2012 production of L'Heure Espagnole and L'Enfant et les sortilèges starring barihunk Elliot Madore until June 28th. The company will be reviving their production of Ravel's only two operas for thieir 2015 season premiering on Saturday August 8. Étienne Dupuis will sing Elliot Madore's roles and it will also star Danielle de Niese.

Ravel’s two one-act operas will reunites director Laurent Pelly and conductor Kazushi Ono, who made their Glyndebourne debuts in 2008 with Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel.

Canadian barihunk Elliot Madore made his U.K. and Glyndebourne debut as Ramiro in L’heure espagnole and as The Cat/Grandfather Clock in L’enfant et les sortilèges'. 

The video can be accessed HERE. 

Barihunk duo in French double-bill

Ben Connor (far left & right) with Gan-ya Ben-gur Akselrod and Julian Henao Gonzalez

The Theater an der Wien is presenting a double-bill of Ravel's L'heure espagnole with American barihunk Tobias Greenhalgh as Ramiro and Poulenc's Les mamelles de Tiresias with Australian barihunk as Ben Connor as Marì. Performances run through June 23.

Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc wrote their respective works with the hope that they would revive the genre of Italian opera buffa in the French language again. Although both operas failed initially at the Opéra Comique in Paris, both became staples of the standard repertory in the 20th century.

Tobias Greenhalgh in L'heure espagnole

Later this year at Theater an der Wien, Greenhalgh performs two roles in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea and Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes. On June 25 and 27, Ben Connor performs the baritone solo in Orff's Carmina Burana at the Wiener Volksoper.