More great low voices emerge from San Francisco Opera's Adler Fellowship

The 2016 Class of the Adler Fellows in San Francisco

The Adler Fellowship Program, which operates under the auspices of the San Francisco Opera, has turned out some of the greatest singers in the world, including Patricia Racette, Ruth Ann Swenson, Dolora Zajic, Deborah Voigt, Heidi Melton, Brian Asawa and Stuart Skelton. The program is a two-year fellowship that provides gifted singers to develop their craft with the best coaches in the world and to perform on the main stage of the San Francisco Opera.

It's also turned out a number of barihunks who have gone on to world-class careers, including John Relyea, Hadleigh Adams, Philippe Sly, Ryan Kuster, Efraín Solís, Mel Ulrich, Lucas Meachem, Joshua Bloom, Kenneth Kellogg, Austin Kness, Daniel Sumegi and Eugene Brancoveanu. The 2016 class featured some amazing low voices and some favorites of Barihunks readers, including baritone Edward Nelson, bass Anthony Reed, bass-baritone Brad Walker and bass-baritone Matthew Stump.

Julie Adams and Brad Walker in a selection from Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah":

On December 2nd, the latter four joined soprano Julie Adams, soprano Amina Edris, mezzo Zanda Švēde, soprano Toni Marie Palmertree, mezzo Nian Wang and tenor Pene Pete for the Adler Fellows annual showcase called "The Future is Now" at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. We thought that we'd share some of the highlights with readers.

Baritone Edward Nelson sings Billy Budd's "Look, through the port...":

This season at the San Francisco opera, Edward Nelson performed Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's comedy Don Pasquale, Fléville in Giordano's Andrea Chenier and the Eunuch/Stone in the world premiere of Dream of the Red Chamber. The previous season, he created the role of John Buckley in Marco Tutino's Two Women with the company. His 2017 engagements include the Steward in Jonathan Dove's Flight with Opera Omaha, Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème at Cincinnati Opera and the title role in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet with West Edge Opera.

Anthony Reed sings "Wie schön ist doch die Musik" from Die schweigsame Frau:

Bass Anthony Reed, who has appeared in our Barihunks charity calendar, is currently singing the King in the San Francisco Opera's production of Verdi's Aida. Other roles with the company include various roles in Hector Berlioz's epic Les Troyens, the Speaker in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Hans Schwartz in Wagner's Die Miestersinger von Nürnberg, Doctor Primus in Gordon Getty's Usher House, the Mayor in Janacek's Jenufa and Schmidt in Giordano's Andrea Chenier. You can check out his website HERE.

Brad Walker sings Hai già vinta la causa!":

Bass-baritone Brad Walker made his debut with the San Francisco Opera this summer as Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen. At the Yale Opera, he sang the title role in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Colline in Puccini's La bohème and Don Magnifico in Rossini's La Cenerentola. On December 16, he'll be giving a free concert at the Peace Lutheran Church in Lake Zurich, Illinois, performing opera, lieder, jazz and musical theater. You can check out his website HERE.

Matthew Stump sings "Die Frist ist um" from The Flying Dutchman:

Bass-baritone Matthew Stump made his San Francisco Opera debut as a Trojan Soldier in Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens in 2015. He has appeared with the company as Hans Folz in Wagner's Die Miestersinger von Nürnberg, the Monk in Verdi's Don Carlo and the Foreman in Janacek's Jenufa.

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Rehearsal photos of Hadleigh Adams in Bajazet

 

We have rehearsal pictures of barihunk Hadleigh Adams, who is getting ready for the Southern Hemisphere premiere of Vivaldi's Bajazet at Australia's Pinchgut Opera. Adams is returning to Pinchgut after a successful run as Pollux in their production of Rameau's Castor & Pollux in 2012. Adams has also been prominently featured in the company's recent advertising campaign including online banners, print ads and outdoor advertising.

Bajazet, a rarely performed operatic tragedy, premiered in Verona in 1735 and is a pastiche of Vivaldi's own arias, as well as those by Johann Adolph Hasse, Geminiano Giacomelli, Nicola Porpora and Riccardo Broschi. The opera is also known as Il Tamerlano and the story was also successfully set to music by Handel.

Counter-tenor Christopher Lowrey and Hadleigh Adams (Photo: Bridget Elliott)

The libretto revolves around romantic entanglements and love triangles and the struggle for power between Bajazet, ruler of the Turks, and Tamerlano, ruler of the Tartars. When Bajazet’s daughter Asteria is threatened with marriage to the invading ruler, she conspires to murder him. The plot thickens after Tamerlano’s former betrothed, Irene, turns up to reveal the scheme, having taken issue with being pushed aside onto Andronico, Tamerlano’s Greek ally, who is also in love with Asteria.

Vivaldi wove into the opera an underlying tale of power struggles and invasion, reflective of the ones going on at the time, when Neopolitan operas were trouncing their local Venetian counterparts in popularity. Music associated with Neapolitan composers is thus cleverly designated to the invaders Tamerlano, Irene and Andronico.

Counter-tenor Christopher Lowrey and Hadleigh Adams (Photo: Bridget Elliott)

Performances of Vivaldi’s Bajazet will be on July 4, 5, 7 and 8 at City Recital Hall Angel Place in Sydney.  Also in the cast is Christopher Lowrey as Tamerlano, Helen Sherman as Irene, Emily Edmonds as Asteria and Russell Harcourt as Andronicus. Tickets and additional production information is available online.

Adams has been a regular at the San Francisco Opera, after participating in the Merola Opera Program and becoming an Adler Fellow with the company. He performed a number of roles with the company, including Schaunard in La bohéme, Simon in Mark Adamo's The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Marquis in La Traviata, the Grand commissioner in Madame Butterfly and the Jailer in Tosca. He also performed Gendarme in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias with San Francisco's innovative young company Opera Parallèle. He made quite a splash in baroque opera when he performed Claudius in Opera Omaha's production of Handel's Agrippina, which was dubbed by us as the "HOTTEST OPERA CAST" in our Best of 2014 feature.