Philippe Sly in Toronto recital tonight (and some upcoming shows)

Philippe Sly

We have a substantial number of readers in Canada, which is probably due in part to our generous coverage of Canadian singers. Of course, when you have talents like Québecois bass-baritone Philippe Sly it's a no-brainer. We've stated that he's one of the great low voice talents to emerge in the last decade. As wonderful as he is as a performer of opera, his true gift is the recital stage where he brings beautiful vocalism and a depth of interpretation far beyond his years. If you're anywhere near Toronto tonight, you won't want to miss his recital with pianist Julius Drake at Walter Hall.

He will be performing lieder by the Austrian composers Schubert and Wolf as well as mélodies by the French masters Ravel and Duparc. Tickets are available online and, remarkably, there are still unsold seats.

If you can't catch him tonight, he will be performing throughout Canada and the U.S. this year. From September 12-17, he joins Kent Nagano and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal for their season opener in performances of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust. Tickets available online.


In December, he has two performances of Handel's Messiah: December 6 and 7 with Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and on December 17 and 18 at the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

His next scheduled performance in the U.S. is with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra in performances of the Fauré Requiem. Tickets are available online.

Peter Bording Shower Scene; Introducing Stephen Hegedus

Peter Bording

We haven't featured the sexy Dutch barihunk Peter Bording in awhile. We received an email alerting us that he has a sexy shower scene in Essen's holiday classic "Die Fledermaus." You can watch the clip HERE. The opera opens Sunday, December 18th and runs through New Years Eve. Bording then moves on to the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck where he'll be performing Franz Lehár's "Die Lustige Witwe."

We also received a reader submission about Stephen Hegedus, who is new to this site. They saw him perform in Handel's Messiah with the Seattle Symphony on Friday night, a performance that he will reprise on Sunday night. The Seattle Times wrote of his performance, "The bass-baritone soloist, Stephen Hegedus, sang with commanding lyricism." On December 21 and 22, Hegedus will perform the Messiah with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Both performances are sold out.

A graduate of the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, Stephen Hegedus’s  appearances in the 2010-2011 season included the title role of Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Hamilton), Albert in Massenet’s Werther (Opéra de Montréal) Zuniga in Carmen (Brott Festival) and the Marquis inLa Traviata (Vancouver Opera). On the concert stage he performed Handel’s Messiah with the Victoria Symphony and the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Bach’s Magnificat with the Orchestre Métropolitain du grand Montréal and Howard Blake’s The Bear with the Toronto Symphony.

Stephen Hegedus

 

He has performed with Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Chile, Pacific Opera Victoria, Les Violons du Roy, San Antonio Symphony, Houston Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, the André-Turp Musical Society The Aldeburgh Connection, the Lamèque International Baroque Festival, La Sinfonia de Lanaudière, the Aldeburgh Festival and the International Bach Festival in Toronto.  

In April 2009, he made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Bach’s Mass in B-minor with the Oratorio Society of New York and returned in 2010 singing Handel’s Messiah. Recently Stephen appeared as a finalist at Placido Domingo’s Operalia, The World Opera Competition, and was awarded 2nd Prize at the 32nd annual Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition hosted by the Oratorio Society of New York. Other awards include The Janet Stubbs Fellowship and The William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award, both from the University of Toronto. He is a grant holder of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers and of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Stephen Hegedus as Figaro

Stephen holds a Master’s of Music in Opera from the University of Toronto and has pursued further studies at the Banff Centre, the Britten-Pears Programme (Aldeburgh, England), The Canadian Vocal Arts Institute (Montreal), The International Vocal Arts Institute (Tel Aviv) and the Centre for Opera in Sulmona, Italy. Upcoming engagements include appearances with the Seattle Symphony, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Victoria Symphony and Pacific Opera Victoria.

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