David Jones to reprise retelling of Schumann song cycles

David Jones (Photo left: Alejandro Tamagno)

British barihunk David Jones is reprising his performance of "Unknowing," a turbulent love tale told through the interweaving of two Schumann song cycles: Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und Leben. He originally performed the piece with Teatime Opera at Cambridge, but on November 29 and December 3, he'll perform the piece with soprano Christine Cunnold at the Tristan Bates Theatre in London.

Olivier-Award winning libretti translator and composer David Parry created the new English translation of Schumann's most well known song cycles.

David Jones performs The Salley Gardens:

Jones studied at Oxford University and Trinity Laban and was prizewinner in the 2015 AESS Patricia Routledge English Song Competition. He enjoys a fruitful ongoing collaboration with Cantata Dramatica, with whom he has given the first performances of four substantial works, most recently Nick Bîcat’s Red Dragon, White Dragon.

Operatic roles have included Jesus in Jonathan Harvey's Passion and Resurrection  at the Voices of London Festival, Edward VIII in the premiere of Josh Spear's That Woman at the Tête-à-Tête Festival, Pritschitsch in Lehar's The Merry Widow with Opera Danube, Jamie in the world premiere of The Sleeper with the Welsh National Youth Opera and Ko-Ko in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado with Co-Opera Co.

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Malte Roesner

Introducing British Barihunk David Jones

Barihunk David Jones

British barihunk David Jones in new to us and came to our attention via Twitter. He will be performing "Unknowing" at Leys Recital Hall at Cambridge on October 17th with Teatime Opera. Directed by Matthew Monaghan, the staged piece uses music from Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und -leben to explore the intense and violent relationship between two lovers.

Jones will be joined by soprano Christine Cunnold and pianist Richard Harker. Tickets are available online.

Jones studied at Oxford University and Trinity Laban and was prizewinner in the 2015 AESS Patricia Routledge English Song Competition. He enjoys a fruitful ongoing collaboration with Cantata Dramatica, with whom he has given the first performances of four substantial works, most recently Nick Bîcat’s Red Dragon, White Dragon.

Operatic roles have included Jesus in Jonathan Harvey's Passion and Resurrection  at the Voices of London Festival, Edward VIII in the premiere of Josh Spear's That Woman at the Tête-à-Tête Festival, Pritschitsch in Lehar's The Merry Widow with Opera Danube, Jamie in the world premiere of The Sleeper with the Welsh National Youth Opera and Ko-Ko in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado with Co-Opera Co.

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Introducing British barihunk Felix Kemp

Felix Kemp showing his Wagnerian side

We discover new barihunks in a variety of ways, with the most common way still being from readers. It used to come almost exclusively from emails and Facebook, but lately we're seeing more suggestions appear on Twitter.

That's how British barihunk Felix Kemp came to our attention. In fact, it came from fellow barihunk James Newby, who we introduced to readers in August 2013 and recently featured on the site.

Kemp lives in London and studies singing with Neil Baker at postgraduate level at Trinity Laban, where he's supported by the Kathleen Roberts vocal scholarship. He also receives coaching from mezzo soprano Wendy Dawn Thompson.

Felix Kemp

Recent concerts have include the bass solos in Bach's St John Passion in Oslo, Bach's Magnificat in London and Bach's Christmas Oratorio in the English town of Leighton Buzzard. Last summer he  performed as part of the Grange Park chorus in Britten's Peter Grimes and Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades. He also participated in masterclasses with British Youth Opera.

In 2014, Felix won the audience prize at the John Kerr Award for English Song competition, and performed in a masterclass with Sir John Eliot Gardiner as part of the Greenwich International Early Music Festival.

Engagements this season include bass solos in Mozart's Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers Tunbridge Wells, Dvorak's Stabat Mater in Leeds, and Wagner's Parsifal in Valencia with the Philharmonia Chorus as part of their Professional Singers' Scheme. He returns to Grange Park Opera this Summer to appear in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Fiddler on the Roof alongside Bryn Terfel.

You can follow both James Newby (@jamesn103) and Felix Kemp (@Felix_Kemp) on Twitter.

Introducing James Newby via Twitter

We caught some Twitter messages going back and forth between friends a few weeks ago. One friend suggested that the other should be on Barihunks. The other replied that "this accolade could complete me as a human being!"

The latter response came from 20-year-old baritone James Newby, who is currently in his second year of study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London. He currently studies under Alison Wells and previously studied with Robert Dean and Omar Ebrahim (who has been on this site in all his glory). We're happy to help him in his quest to become a complete human being.

Newby is due to represent Trinity Laban in the junior Kathleen Ferrier award in October after receiving the second highest mark in the year for his end of year recital.

Previous operatic experience includes Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute with Suffolk opera, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen with Puzzle piece opera, Gugliemo in scenes from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with G and T opera and covering Apollo in Trinity Laban's production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld. Oratorio performaces include Bach's "St John Passion" and Haydn's "Nelson Mass" with the Old Royal Naval college chapel choir, Britten's "Rejoice in the Lamb" with the Rodolfus choir and Stainer's "Crucifixion" with the Stamford endowed schools chapel choir.

We have to confess that we were also intrigued that he's been playing rugby since he was fourteen. 

James is also a member of TV star Gareth Malone's new choir, whose innovative new album will be released in November.

Gareth Malone's choir performs their rendition of Guillotine by Death Grips

You can follow James Newby on Twitter @jamesn103.