Reader Submission: Dean Murphy

Dean Murphy in Tender Land (center)

Our latest reader submission is Massachusetts native Dean Murphy, who is performing Top in Aaron Copland's The Tender Land at Opera North in Lebanon, New Hampshire. There is one remaining performance on August 15th and ticket and cast information is available online.

Murphy graduated in 2014 from the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance.  At Hartt, he performed Tobias in Thomas Pasatieri's The Hotel Casablanca, Frank in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, and Frank Maurrant in Weill's Street Scene.

In May 2014, Dean made his Connecticut Lyric Opera debut as Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. In June 2013, he made his debut with Hartford Opera Theater as Gideon March/Mr. Dashwood in Mark Adamo's Little Women. In November 2013, he sang Brighella in Antonio Salieri's The Little Harlequinade with Connecticut Concert Opera, where he is a Resident Artist. Dean was a participant in Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance Young Artist Program, where he covered the role of Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore.

Catching up with Damien Pass in France

Damien Pass

When we last featured Aussie barihunk Damien Pass in 2007, he had recently graduated from Oberlin, had won and Encouragement Award from the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition and was starting to get small roles in places like Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera North and the Music Academy of the West. Somehow we lost track of him until we received an email recently asking why he wasn't included in our poll of sexiest Aussie barihunks.

We're pleased to announce that we found him in France, where he's been singing smaller roles at the Paris Opera.  He's performed Don Inigo (L’heure Espagnole, Ravel), Frank Maurrant (Street Scene, Weill), Lucas (Les Troqueurs, Dauvergne), and the Marquese (Mirandolina, Martinů) with the Atelier Lyrique at the Paris Opera.

Damien Pass sings Aaron Copland's "At the River":

In September 2001, Pass made his Parisian recital debut with the Fesival les journées romantiques with a program that included Aaron Copland, Franz Liszt, Cole Porter, Franz Schubert and Henri Duparc.

He's also made his mark outside of France, singing the title role in Handel’s Saul with the Britten-Pears Orchestra conducted by Richard Egarr in Aldeburgh.

 Damien Pass sings Aaron Copland's "Long Time Ago":

Pass will next be seen March 15th at the Palais Garnier in a program of Massenet with the Paris Opera Orchestra. A week later he'll be part of a concert of music by Franz Schubert, Hugo Wolf et Richard Wagner at the Goethe Institute in Paris. We'll try to keep better tabs on this promising young talent in the future.

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