John Brancy recitals look at Freud, WWI

John Brancy flexing his vocal chops and his barihunk guns

American barihunk John Brancy has two fascinating recitals coming up before the end of the year.

On November 11, he'll join the gifted young soprano Janai Brugger at the New York Festival of Song for "Art Song on the Couch: Lieder in Freud's Vienna"  at the Merkin Concert Hall. NYFOS, Tuesday November 11th,  2014, 8pm  Merkin Concert Hall. The concert features music by Hugo Wolf, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Franz Schreker, and others.

The program will explore German lieder in the early years of the 20th century as it took on a new psychological and musical complexity. The duo will be joined at the piano by Michael Barrett and the always entertaining Steven Blier.

Visit the NYFOS website for ticket information.

On December 10th, Brancy will return to Vocal Arts DC for a recital honoring the centenary of World War I. The concert is titled "Silent Night: A World War I Centenary Tribute in Song" and features songs from England, Germany, Austria, France & America. He'll be joined by Peter Dugan at the piano. The program includes music by Butterworth, Gurney, Orff, Alma Mahler, Ravel, Poulenc, Debussy, Ives and renditions of "My Buddy" and "Danny Boy"

The gifted young singer, was the winner of both the Sullivan Foundation and Marilyn Horne Song Competitions before graduating from Juilliard. Brancy has also already made solo recital debuts at both Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and has appeared in opera in Paris, Dresden, and Frankfurt.

Tickets are available online.

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Teddy Tahu Rhodes featured in Anzac Day concert

Teddy Tahu Rhodes (left) and and Australian soldier from Gallipoli in WWI (right)

The Melbourne Symphony announced their upcoming 2015 season this week and it includes a fascinating concert scheduled for April 23rd and 24th. The concerts lead up to Anzac Day on April 25, which honors the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

The concerts, which includes both Beethoven’s Egmont and the Ninth Symphony, commemorate the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli. The Ninth Symphony will include British soprano Susan Gritton, Australian mezzo Fiona James, New Zealand bass-barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Turkish hunkentenor Bülent Bezdüz who respectively represent the main combatant nations.

The Battle of Gallipoli was a campaign of World War I that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire between April 24, 1915 and January 9, 1916. The peninsula forms the northern bank of the Dardanelles, a strait that provides a sea route to what was then the Russian Empire, one of the Allied powers during the war. Intending to secure it, Russia's allies Britain and France launched a naval attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula with the eventual aim of capturing the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul).

 

Turkish hunkentenor Bülent Bezdüz

The naval attack was repelled and, after eight months' fighting, with many casualties on both sides, the land campaign also failed and the invasion force was withdrawn to Egypt.  The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war and a major Allied failure. 

 

In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the nation's history: a final surge in the defense of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. The struggle formed the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the founding of the Republic of Turkey eight years later under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who first rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli. 

 

Anzac Day remains the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in Australia and New Zealand, surpassing Remembrance Day.

Click HERE for tickets.

 

Don't forget to order your 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar by clicking the Lulu.com button below. It features 19 of the hottest singers in opera, including Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek (featured above).