Celebrating 150 years of Tristan und Isolde

René Pape as King Mark and Ryan McKinny as Kurnewal

Today we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Richard Wagner's masterpiece Tristan und Isolde. The opera premiered on June 10, 1865  at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich.  

We were planning on doing a more comprehensive post, but due to time restraints, recommend that you listen to today's feature on WQXR. 

One of our favorite performances in recent years was Ryan McKinny role debut as Kurwenal in Christof Loy’s production at the Houston Grand Opera in the 2012-13 season featuring Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme as the lovers.
 
A couple performances featuring barihunks that we're looking forward to include René Pape singing König Marke in Munich from July 8-12, Kay Stiefermann as Ein Steuermann in Bayreuth from July 25-Aug 23 and Tommi Hakala as Kurnewal in Helsinki from May 14-28, 2016.

Brandon Cedel discusses barihunks on WQXR

Brandon Cedel in a lovely tee shirt

Barihunk Brandon Cedel, whose career is on the steady ascent, joined some operatic royalty on WQXR's show with Naomi Lewin. The AVA graduate and winner of the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions joined legendary soprano Renata Scotto, superstar tenor Michael Fabiano and fellow Richard Tucker Grant award winner Jennifer Johnson Cano for a discussion and selection of music.

Watch the video HERE. At 16:30 you can hear him discuss being in the 2012 Barihunks Charity Calendar.

He'll be performing at the Metropolitan Opera in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk opening on November 10 and Verdi's Don Carlos next March.  In the Summer of 2015, he heads to the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis where he will be performing in Handel's rarely produced Richard the Lionhearted. Fans on the West Coast can catch him with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas on January 9 and 10.

Met Grand Finals on Sunday; Radio performance Monday

Patrick Guetti

The Metropolitan Opera Grand Finals Concert will take place in New York City on March 30th with the nine finalists. The finalists were chosen from 1,500 singers who auditioned in 40 districts and 13 regions in the United States and Canada.

Finalists include bass-barihunk Patrick Guetti, 27, bass (Middle Atlantic Region: Highland Park, NJ); Julie Adams, 26, soprano (Western Region: Burbank, CA); Nicole Haslett, 26, soprano (Northwest Region: Mt. Laurel, NJ); Ao Li, 26, bass-baritone (Rocky Mountain Region: Dezhou, China, currently living in San Francisco, CA); Yi Li, 30, tenor (Middle Atlantic Region: Jinan, China, currently living in Silver Spring, MD); Christopher Lowrey, 30, countertenor (New England Region: Johnston, RI); Rafael Moras, 27, tenor (Gulf Coast Region: San Antonio, TX); Rexford Tester, 24, tenor (Middle Atlantic Region: Tazewell, VA); Amanda Woodbury, 26, soprano (Western Region: Crestwood, KY).

Each finalist will be competing for an individual cash prize of $15,000 each at the Grand Finals Concert. Even more important than the prize money is the contestants' opportunity to perform with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra on the historic opera house stage before an audience that will include opera company executives, artist managers, music critics, and other opinion-makers of the music world.

You can hear Guetti and the other eight singers this Tuesday, April 1 at 7 PM EST on WQXR. Their event appearance marks their first New York performance following the grand finals concert.

Don't forget to join our campaign to send barihunk Xavier Edgardo to the Opera on the Avalon young artist program. Even a $5 or $20 contribution will go a long way in supporting this talented young artist. Click HERE to give today. 

Watch the Met Audition winners on WQXR

Met audition winner Brandon Cedel performs in the WQXR studio

Fresh off of their thrilling wins as Met audition winners, a handful of singers appeared in the WQXR studios the next day to reprise some of their winning arias. Brandon Cedel kicked it off with Aleko's cavatina from Rachmaninoff's opera of the same day. Click HERE to watch.

Sydney Mancasola sings the Silver Aria from the Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe; Michael Brandenburg sings Lensky's aria from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin; Musa Ngqungwana sings "Riez, allez, riez du pauvre idéologue” from Massenet's Don Quichotte; Rebecca Pedersen sings “Pleurez, mes yeux” from Massenet's Le Cid; and, Thomas Richards has been ill and didn't sing, but former winner Eric Owens wraps it up singing from Verdi's Macbeth.

New York Post's Barihunk Spotting on New Year's Eve

Chris Herbert (photo by Geoff Silver)

In an item titled "Sweet celebration," the New York Post's Page Six gossip column features this about Martha Stewart and her barihunk nephew Chris Herbert. 

Martha Stewart certainly didn’t spend much time in the kitchen on New Year’s Eve. The domestic doyenne rang in the New Year with her nephew Chris Herbert, part of the acclaimed male singing quartet the New York Polyphony, Herbert’s partner Tim Long, and Stewart’s longtime friend Memrie Lewis. The group popped into Le Cirque in Midtown just before midnight for champagne and a crème brulée. Director Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi, were also spotted at the restaurant. 

Herbert's aforementioned group New York Polyphony will next appear on January 26 with the Miller Theatre's Early Music Series at New York City's Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. They then head off on tour to Massachusetts, North Carolina, California, Alberta, Virginia, Louisiana and Texas. Check out their full schedule at their website. 

Chris Herbert and his Aunt Martha (taken from her wonderful blog)

Also, check out their amazing new album endBeginning, which was was recorded in the superb acoustics of the 14th century church of Länna, Sweden, and features rare and never-before recorded works from the Franco-Flemish Renaissance by composers Crecquillon, Brumel and Clemens non Papa.

 New York Polyphony performs William Byrd's "Agnus Dei" on WQXR in New York:

  

Watch Kelly Markgraf LIVE or ONLINE

Kelly Markgraf

One of our favorite emerging barihunk stars is Kelly Markgraf, who was just part of the sold out two-night performance of Philharmonic 360 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. He was joined by barihunks Keith Miller and Ryan McKinny in one of the most talked about classical music performances in years.

If you missed the performance, you're in luck, as it will be webcast for free by medici.tv beginning July 6 at 2:00 PM EDT/11 AM PST for 90 days. You might recall the medici.tv also provided the same benefit to opera lovers by broadcasting the Operalia competition online. In addition to the three barihunks, who are performing the closing scene from Act 1 of Mozart's Don Giovanni, the webcast features the New York Philharmonic's Music Director Alan Gilbert conducting Karlheinz Stockhausen’s epic composition Gruppen.

Our favorite picture of Kelly Markgraf

We're visual people and will be watching on medici.tv, but if you can suffice with just the audio, the concert will be streamed on Q2 Music, WQXR’s online music station, on Tuesday, July 10 at 3:00 PM EST, Wednesday, July 11 at 7:00 PM EST, and Saturday, July 14 at 10:00 AM EDT and archived for 30 days.

Kelly Markgraf and Sasha Cooke

For those who prefer to see Markgraf live, he'll be performing with his wife Sasha Cooke at the internationally acclaimed Music@Menlo series this month. The attractive couple is going to give Erwin Schrott and Anna Netrebko a run for their money with their "made-for-Marie Claire" looks and great singing. 

The couple will be part of the July 27 concert entitled "TRANSPORTED: Sonic Journeys."  “Transported” will explore music’s ability to enrapture listeners through vivid depictions of places near and far. Markgraf will perform Samuel Barber’s classic Dover Beach which are set to poet Matthew Arnold’s picturesque paean to the English shore. The program also features, Chen Yi’s "Romance of Hsiao and Ch’in, " Debussy’s "Images," Albéniz’s "Iberia Suite," Sibelius’s "Voces Intimae" and Gustav Mahler’s "Das himmlische Leben" from his 4th Symphony.

If you plan on going, order now, as tickets are already limited. Click HERE for tickets.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Sexy Barihunk Trio in Met's "Don Giovanni"; Don't Miss It!

Mariusz Kwiecien: Met promo photo (L); In Krakow Giovanni (Top); From NY Times society pages (Bottom)

New York opera fans have been consumed with Anna Netrebko's portrayal of Anna Bolena and it has often overshadowed some other good offerings at the Met. Mainly, the barihunk-laden performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" that is running through November 11th.

Luca Pisaroni is Leporello & Joshua Bloom is Masetto

Polish barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien, one of the world's greatest and most dramatically interesting Don Giovanni's is leading the cast. If you haven't seen "The Hot Pole" perform this role, then you haven't seen the opera. He brings an intensity and sexual energy to the role that few others have ever mustered. His sidekick is another regular from this site, Italian barihunk Luca Pisaroni. The bumpkin Masetto is performed by Australian barihunk Joshua Bloom, who would make one wonder why Zerlina would even think about being unfaithful. Visit the Metropolitan Opera website for additional dates and performance information.

Here is a Met Opera preview from WQXR's great program Operavore. It starts with Anna Netrebko and includes her singing Anna Bolena's "Mad Scene," but later in the video you'll be treated to Luca Pisaroni singing Leporello's Catalogue Aria [At 43:30 minute mark].



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