Alex Esposito as Assur(Image courtesy of Culturebox)
Alex Esposito, who is probably the preeminent interpreter of Assur from Rossini Semiramide in the world today, reprised his successful portrayal at La Fenice. He previously performed the role on three occasions at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Esposito remains one of the few low voices around today who can flawlessly maneuver Rossini's coloratura to great effect.
Fortunately, a video of the October 25, 2018 performance is being shown on Culturebox with a cast that includes the formidable hunkentenor Enea Scala as Idreno, Jessica Pratt in the title role and Teresa Iervolino as Arsace.
The production by Cecilia Ligorio is set in a timeless space with the chorus in shimmering gold and white costumes (including some shirtless eye candy along the way) The priests are costumed in black, while Semiramide is decked out in a black and white gown with golden accents.
The video is available until October 30, 2019 and can be viewed HERE.
Italian barihunk Alex Esposito will be featured in two Rossini anniversaries within 30 days of each other.
The first will be a (slightly premature) celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer's death with a performance of his Petite Messe Solennelle. The actual date of death of Rossini is November 13, 1868.
The first will be on February 19 at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, followed by a performance on February 20 with the Berliner Philharmonie. Both casts include soprano Lauren Michelle, countertenor Bejun Mehta and tenor Francesco Demuro under the baton of Marc Minkowski.
Alex Esposito sings "Quoniam tu solus sanctus" from Petite Messe Solennelle:
Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, thirty years after the composer's official retirement and thirty-four years after his last opera. The piece was originally composed for twelve singers (four of them soloists), two pianos and harmonium, but he later created an orchestral version. That version was never performed in his lifetime because he could not obtain permission to perform it with female singers in a church.
The bass solo aria in the piece is "Quoniam tu solus sanctus" (For You alone are Holy) from the Gloria, which after a short introduction, marked adagio, leads to an extended section, marked Allegro moderato with contrasts in dynamics.
Esposito has also recorded Petite Messe Solennelle with Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Alex Esposito sings "Cade dal ciglio" from Mosè in Egitto:
Esposito will then head to the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples for the 200th anniversary of Rossini's Mosè in Egitto, which premiered at the theater on March 5, 1818. He will perform the role of the Pharoah. There will be four performances between March 15-20 and the cast includes hunkentenor Enea Scala as Osiride and barihunk Mirco Palazzi as Mosè, for the March 17th performance. The Barihunks team will be in attendance! Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
The opera is loosely based on the Exodus from Egypt of the Israelites led by Moses. It opens as the plague of darkness is dispelled by Moses' prayer, and it ends with the spectacle of the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's host. Billed in 1818 as an azione tragico-sacra, the sacred drama with some features of the oratorio circumvented proscriptions of secular dramatic performances during Lent.
Rossini slightly revised the opera in 1819, when he introduced Moses' prayer-aria "Dal tuo stellato soglio", which became one of the most popular opera pieces of the day and which inspired a set of variations for violin and piano by Niccolò Paganini.
Mirco Palazzi and Enea Scala
The opera has only had sporadic performances outside of Italy and France. In the U.K. it was performed for 142 years after its premiere in 1822, and then not revived again until 1994. The Welsh National Opera staged it again in 2014 in Cardiff and on tour. This is the production that will be seen in Naples next month.
In the U.S., Mosè in Egitto had not been heard in Chicago since 1865, but it was presented in that city by the Chicago Opera Theater in 2010 and subsequently by the New York City Opera in April 2013.
In 1827 Rossini revised the work with a new title, Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge for performances in his adopted home of Paris.
Italian Bass-barihunk Alex Esposito will be making his role debut as Méphistophélès in Hector Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust at the Rome Opera. He'll be joined by soprano Veronica Simeoni as Marguerite, tenor Pavel Černoch as Faust and bass Goran Jurić as Brander. Berlioz, who was inspired to compose the piece after reading Goethe's dramatic poem Faust, referred to the piece as a "légende dramatique" (dramatic legend), rather than an opera. The piece is often performed in symphony halls rather than opera houses, due to its structure as a hybrid between an opera and a cantata. In addition to Méphistophélès' serenade "Devant la maison," "Une puce gentile" and "Voici des roses," the piece is known for Marguerite's dramatic aria "D'amour l'ardente flamme" and Faust's rapturous "Nature immense."
Performances run from December 12-23 and tickets are available online.
Barihunks Photo book
Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for
purchase HERE.
In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book
this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the
calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!
Rossini's Semiramide will be live streamed from the Bavarian State Opera on Sunday, February 26th at 5 p.m CET/11 AM EST/8 AM PST. The production stars Honorary Barihunk Joyce DiDonato and barihunk Alex Esposito along Daniela Barcellona and Lawrence Brownlee. The broadcast will be available HERE.
The new production by David Alden sets the action in a modern, generic Middle Eastern dictatorship, rather than in ancient Babylon. Both Alex Esposito and Joyce DiDonato are making their role debuts, as Semiramide and Assur respectively. The role of Semiramide was written for Rossini's mistress Isabella Colbran, an alto with great extension. In recent years the role has been sung primarily by sopranos including Joan Sutherland, Angela Meade, Laura Aikin, Elena Mosuc. Leah Crocetto, Montserrat Caballé, June Anderson and Edita Gruberová, Perhaps the most famous Assur of our generation was Sam Ramey, who recorded the role and performed it on stage.
The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis,
which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria.
In the opera, Queen Semiramide is haunted by the ghosts of her past. Together with her
lover Assur, she once murdered her husband King Nino; a deed which ever
since has weighed heavily upon her. With her marriage to Arsace, she
hopes her soul will at last find solace. Her love, however, is
misplaced. Arsace not only loves another, he is also, as is later
revealed, the son Semiramide and Nino believed to be dead. He is faced
with a decision: should he avenge the death of his father – and thus
become his mother's killer?
Bass-barihunk Erwin Schrott will kick off the the 64th Ljubljana Festival tonight in an open air concert in Congress Square joined by Argentine soprano Jaquelina Liveri.
The opera Don Giovanni
will feature prominently on the program, as it includes the Leporello's Catalog Aria, Donna Anna's Non mi dir and Don Giovanni and Zerlina's duet La ci darem la mano. Schrott will also perform Dulcamara’s aria from L’elisir d’amore "Udite, udite, o rustici," "Et toi, Palerme" from Verdi's I vespri siciliani, Mephistophele’s aria "Le veau d’or" from Faust, in addition to duets with Liveri.
Brandon Cedel (Photo:Opera News) and Alex Esposito
Don Giovanni is also up next on Schrott's calendar, as he performs the title role at the Opernfestspiele at the Bavarian State Opera with fellow barihunks Alex Esposito in his signature role Leporello and Brandon Cedel as Masetto. The all-star cast also includes Pavol Breslik as Don Ottavio, Albina Shagimuratova as Donna Anna, Ain Anger as the Commendatore and Dorothea Röschmann as Donna Elvira. Performances are on July 23 and 25 and tickets are available online.
Erwin Schrott's stage performances for the remainder of the year is nothing but Mozart's Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro. Tomorrow night he performs Don Giovanni in a concert version of the opera in the tent in Gstaad performed by the orchestra La Scintilla from the Zurich Opera under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado. The cast includes Véronique Gens and Regula Mühlemann.
On September 15ht, he opens at the Royal Opera House in London for seven performances as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with fellow barihunk Stéphane Degout as Count Almaviva. The cast includes Ellie Dehn as the Countess, Kate Lindsey as Cherubino and Ann Murray as Marcellina.
In October, he heads to the Wiener Staatsoper to portray Leporello in Don Giovanni with fellow barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role. The cast includes Andrea Carroll as Zerlina and Juliane Banse as Donna Elvira.
The trend continues into 2016, when he returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Don Giovanni in a barihunk-laden cast that includes Alex Esposito as Leporello and Brandon Cedel and Tareq Nazmi rotating as Masetto.
His only U.S. performance is scheduled for December 12th when he performs Rojotango, his show of tangos by Astor Piazzolla and Pablo Ziegler as well as Argentinean and Brazilian folk songs.
We recently posted about the two runs of the Whitsun Festival at Salzburg's highly successful production of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride. The opening night performance on May 22 already has opera aficionados across the globe talking about the production, which included an all-star cast led by Christopher Maltman as Oreste, Cecilia Bartoli as Iphigénie, Michael Kraus as Thoas andTopi Lehtipu sings Pylade.
Iphigénie en Tauride
Beyond the great singing, much of the buzz has centered around an extremely fit Christopher Maltman's nude scene, which proves that a man can be as sexy at 45 than at 25. Maltman is no stranger to nudity, having bared all in the movie Juan, as well in the 2010 Salzburg production on Don Giovanni.
The Festival has already announced additional performances from August
19-28 to supplement the one remaining show on May 25. Fair warning if
you plan on attending, order your seats now because tickets are scarce.
Visit the Salzburg Festival website for additional information.
Christopher Maltman in Iphigénie en Tauride
With Iphigénie en Tauride, Gluck took the final step in his
mission of operatic reform, radically distancing himself from both the
formulaic opera seria, with its rigid sequence of numbers, and
traditional French opera, creating a psychologically sound musical drama
with self-contained scenes and integrated arias.
Christopher Maltman and Topi Lehtipu in Iphigénie en Tauride
Gluck had long since given the chorus an active role, and in this work,
the ballet scenes that were obligatory in Paris are no longer harmless,
non-committal amusements, but organically integrated in the action.
Gluck stated that opera “...should speak the language of the heart,
credibly portray great human passions, and serve poetry.”
Christopher Maltman inthe movie Juan and Don Giovanni in Salzburg
You can next catch Maltman at the Royal Opera in London as the title character in Don Giovanni with fellow barihunks Alex Esposito as Leporello and Nahuel Di Pierro as Masetto. He'll also be reunited with his fellow cast member from Iphigénie, Rolando Villazón, who is singing Don Ottavio.
Photos from the osterfestspiele, Monika Rittershaus and Salzburg
For yet another season, it would be virtually impossible to avoid seeing a barihunk on stage at this year's Rossini Festival in Pesaro, which runs from August 10-22.
On opening day you can catch the world's greatest Leporello, Alex Esposito, in Rossini's La gazza ladra, which is best remembered for it's lively overture these days. The next night, you can catch the charming young barihunk Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore in the rarely performed La gazzetta. The following night, Davide Luciano, who lit up our pages with some shirtless pictures, performs in another of Rossini's rarities, L’inganno felice.
Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore
On August 14 and 17, the students from Alberto Zedda's Accademia Rossiniana will perform in Il viaggio a Reims, providing attendees to see the next great generation of Rossini singers.
On August 15 and 18, Mirco Palazzi joins hunkentenor Juan Diego Florez in the composer's Messa di Gloria.
Alex Esposito show off why he's not just popular for his singing
The singers have become popular fan favorites over the last few seasons and all of the barihunks are returning from previous seasons, including Esposito, Luciano, Palazzi and Bonsignore. You can check out our feature from last season. Bonsignore first appeared as a student from the Accademia Rossiniana program in 2011.
The festival also includes a number of concerts by various performers. Additional information and tickets are available online.
Davide Luciano is a regular at the Berlin Opera this season where he is performing Sid in La fanciulla del West, Marcello in La boheme, Ping in Turandot, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Sgt. Lescaut in Manon Lescaut. Alex Esposito is serving up another full plate of Mozart this year, singing Papageno in Venice and Munich and Leporello in Munich. Mirco Palazzi switches to Bellini, singing Giorgio in I puritani in Catania and Rodolfo in La sonnambula in Bilbao.
Two of our favorite singers in the world, Alex Esposito and Stéphane Degout, are appearing together in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro from April 11-22 at the Theater and der Wien. Degout is singing the Count, while Esposito takes on Figaro.
The two have been having fun on Facebook posting pictures of themselves "napping" at rehearsals. We're not quite sure how Susanna feels about her beloved Figaro ending up in bed with the Count, but it certainly adds an interesting (offstage) twist to the story.
Alex Esposito and Stéphane Degout
When the two barihunks wrap up their onstage and offstage fun in Vienna they will head their separate ways. Esposito will stick to Mozart taking on his signature role of Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House in London from June 12-25. Degout will head to the Paris Opera to sing Apollo in Gluck's Alceste (and Team Barihunks will be in the audience). That performance runs from June 16-July 15,
Liudmyla
Monastyrska and Simon Keenlyside (left, photo: Clive Barda); Alex Esposito (right)
The Royal Opera House is taking three of the most popular barihunks in the works on a tour of Japan in September 2015. The company had a successful tour in 2010, the last time that they toured the island nation.
The company will perform Phyllida Lloyd's production of Verdi's Macbeth with
Simon Keenlyside in the title role alongside soprano Liudmyla
Monastyrska as Lady Macbeth, Greek tenor Dimitri Pittas as Macduff, and
American bass Raymond Aceto as Banquo.
Alex Esposito looking bari-hunky
Kasper Holten's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni will feature the Italian barihunk duo of Ildebrando D'Arcangelo in the title role and Alex Esposito as Leporello. They will be joined in the cast by mezzo-soprano (and honorary barihunk) Joyce DiDonato as Donna Elvira, tenor Rolando
Villazón as Don Ottavio, soprano Albina Shagimuratova as Donna
Anna, soprano Julia Lezhneva as Zerlina, and bass
Matthew Rose as Masetto.
Both productions will be conducted by ROH Music Director Antonio Pappano. Macbeth runs for four performances in Japan beginning September 12th, with Don Giovanni running for three performances beginning September 13th. Information about tickets and venues will be announced shortly.
The internationally-acclaimed Rossini Opera Festival is kicking off on Sunday, August 10th with the vocally challenging Armida. The piece is best known in opera circles for requiring six tenors and two basses, with a trio for three tenors in Act 3. In between booking tenors, they managed to bring in a quartet of barihunks to perform in the Festival.
Alex Esposito sings Rossini's "Cade dal ciglio" from Mosè in Egitto:
On August 11, the Festival features Il barbiere di Siviglia with bass-barihunk Alex Esposito as Basilio, giving fans the chance to hear him showcase the aria La Calunnia about the spreading of vicious gossip. Although we think of Esposito for his definitive portrayals of Mozart's leading men, he has actually sung far more Rossini. He has 13 Rossini roles in 12 operas to his credit, including Alidoro in La cenerentola, Mustafà in L'italiana in Algeri, Selim in Il turco in Italia, Mahomet II in Le siège de Corinthe, Fernando Villabella in La gazza ladra, Moses and the Pharaoh in both versions of Mosè in Egitto, Assur in Semiramide, Orbazzano in Tancredi, Lord Sidney and Don Profondo in Il viaggio a Reims and Polidoro in Zelmira.
Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore
The opera also features Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore as Fiorello, who is new to this site. The 30-year-old singer studied at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan where he made his debut as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in 2010. He was first invited to the Rossini Festival in 2011 when he sang in Il Viaggio a Reims under Alberto Zedda.
Performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia are on August 11, 14, 17 and 20.
Marko Mimica
On August 13 and 16 the Festival will present Il Viaggio a Reims, with Marko Mimica as Lord Sidney. Opera aficionados will recall that he made waves earlier this year as one of the top five finalists in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He is currently a principle artist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he is singing the High Priest of Baal in Verdi's Nabucco,
Pistola in Verdi's Falstaff, and Mr. Bosun in
David Alden's production of Britten's Billy Budd.
The Festival will also be performing Aureliano in Palmira on August 12, 15, 18 and 22. Tickets for all performances are available online.
Mirco Palazzi
Mirco Palazzi sings "All'invito generoso" from Rossini's Maometto II:
Another of our favorite singers will be featured in Petite Messe solennelle on August 21, when Mirco Palazzi sings the bass part of the vocal quartet under the baton of Alberto Zedda. He will continue singing Rossini after the Festival, as he heads to Edinburgh on August 26 to sing Gualtiero in William Tell. He'll be joined by soprano Angela Meade as Matilde and John Osborn as Arnold. Tickets are available online.
The upcoming performances of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at Teatro La Fenice will feature barihunks Alex Esposito as Nick Shadow and Michael Leibundgut as Father Truelove.
The versatile Swiss singer Michael Leibundgut last appeared at the venerable opera house in a very different 20th century piece, when he performed in Luigi Nono's Intolleranza in 2011. Leibundgut has established himself as an artist who is willing to push boundaries, singing everything from early music to techno mixes. Earlier this year, he made his US debut in the world premiere of Enjott Schneider’s
Robert Schumann's Traumreise at Symphony Space in New York.
Alex Esposito
Esposito has established himself as a favorite of the Venetian opera crowd, performing in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, a New Year's Day concert in 2012 that was released on DVD, Wolf-Ferraris' La Vedova Scaltra, Mozart's Don Giovanni and Mozart's La finta semplice.
Performances of The Rake's Progress are on June 27 and 29, July 1, 3 and 5 and 16. Visit the Teatro La Fenice website for tickets and additional information.
Alex Esposito is bringing his definitive Leporello to San Diego
Never underestimate the power of social media or the devotion of hard core opera lovers. On March 19, the San Diego Opera stunned the world when it voted to close the company at the end of the 2014 season. Social media exploded with employees, performers and orchestra members leading the charge. Questions were raised about the management of the company and the motives for closing.
Yesterday, Board President Carol Lazier, surrounded by fellow board members, opera staff, choristers and union members announced that the 2015 season will proceed after they raised over $2 million in crowd-funding campaigns. Lazier donated an additional $1 million to attain a goad requested by the Board to proceed with the new season.
Morgan Smith and Franco Pomponi
That season will include barihunks in each of their productions, which had already been planned under the old regime. One opera was dropped due to the cost to produce it, which was Wagner’s Tannhäuser. The
singers who were scheduled to perform in the opera have been invited to sing in one of two
gala concerts, a recital, or come back and sing for the opera in a
future season.
The scheduled operas include Puccini's La bohème with Morgan Smith as Marcello, Mozart's Don Giovanni with Ildebrando D’Arcangelo in the title role and Alex
Esposito as Leporello, and the San Diego premiere of John Adams’ Nixon in China with Franco Pomponi.
You can still donate to the San Diego Opera fundraising campaign online or purchase tickets for the new season.
We've previously reported on the wonderful trend of barihunk cover boys increasingly gracing the front of the leading music magazines in the world. We particularly love it when they're featured in February, the month of Valentine's Day. Alex Esposito was featured on the cover of the German magazine Das Opernglas and Ildar Abdrazakov is featured on Opera News, both draped in Valentine's Day hot red.
Alex Esposito is in the middle of the sold out run of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House opposite fellow barihunk heartthrobs Mariusz Kwiecien as the Don and Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore. Ildar Abrdrazakov is in the gorgeous production of Borodin's infrequently performed Prince Igor at the Metropolitan Opera.
Fortunately for opera lover, both performances are being broadcast worldwide. The March 1st performance of Prince Igor will be broadcast live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera. You can click HERE to find a theater near you.
The February 12th performance of Don Giovanni will be broadcast live to cinemas in
Europe. and taped for screenings worldwide throughout March. If you're
in Europe, check the Royal Opera House website for listings. If you're outside of Europe, check your local movie listings.
Abdrazakov next takes on the four villains in Offenbach's Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Wiener Staatsoper from May 23 to June 4. Esposito next takes on Alidoro in Rossini's La Cenerentola from the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich from March 4-12.
We're big fans of music critic Rupert Christiansen in The Telegraph, so we were thrilled when his profile on über-barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien included a link to our site and a mention in the headline. Christiansen goes on to write:
"...another erotic phenomenon in classical music has gone wild on
the internet: the cult of “the
barihunk”. Its pitch is that the more palpitating charm in opera
emanates not from purveyors of high Cs but gym-buffed baritones with
smouldering voices to match their six-pack abs."
We love being included in an article on Mariusz Kwiecien, since he was the original inspiration to create the site. Early discussions were actually about creating a Kwiecien fan site, but it seemed too limiting and casting a wider net seemed much more interesting.
Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni (photo: Bill Cooper)
Kwiecien has just opened at the Royal Opera House in Kasper Holten's amazing production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, which we recently previewed. The cast also includes barihunks Alex Esposito as his sidekick Leporello and the thrilling Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore.
The entire run is sold out through the final performance on February 24th. Don't fret if you missed buying tickets, as the February 12th performance will be
broadcast live to cinemas in Europe. and taped for screenings worldwide
throughout March. If you're in Europe, check the Royal Opera House website for listings. If you're outside of Europe, check your local movie listings.
Kwiecien will appear next at the Vienna State Opera in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin from March 7-14, before returning to the Metropolitan Opera from April 17-May 10 in Bellini's I Puritani.
Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Alex Esposito & Mariusz Kwiecien (L-R)
Perhaps the hottest opera ticket in Europe right now is Kasper Holten's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House. Most performances are either sold out or close to it with opening night still a month away.
The dream cast is led by a trio of our favorite barihunks, Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni, Alex Esposito as his sidekick Leporello and the thrilling Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore. Holten shifts the emphasis from Don Giovanni’s sex life into a darker place, as
this production presents Giovanni’s womanizing as an attempt to stave
off his own mortality. Each woman he seduces represents a life he could
have had.
If you can't make it to London, the February 12th performance will be broadcast live to cinemas in Europe. and taped for screenings worldwide throughout March. If you're in Europe, check the Royal Opera House website for listings. If you're outside of Europe, check your local movie listings.
There are only 48 hours left to buy your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar, so order NOW by clicking below. We'll be announcing our newest recipients of our grants from the proceeds next week.
Luca Pisaroni appeared on BBC's "In Tune" to talk about his Covent Garden debut as Figaro in David McVicar's "Marriage of Figaro." You can listen to the interview and hear him sing Schubert's "An die Musik" on BBC Radio 3 until September 19th.
Performances of the opera will run from September 16-October 7 and include fellow barihunk Christopher Maltman as the Count. The opera will be conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. The opera will be revived in May 2014 with barihunk Alex Esposito as Figaro and the sensational Gerald Finley as the Count. Tickets for all performacnces are available online.
Pisaroni actually made his opera debut
in 2001 as Figaro in Klagenfurt, Austria after completing his studies at the Verdi Conservatory
in Milan, and later in Buenos Aires and New York. He'll be reprising the role again at the Wiener Staatsoper in January 2014 opposite the Count of fellow barihunk Simon Keenlyside.
San Francisco's restored Nourse Theater, site of April 1, 2014 Luca Pisaroni recital
His fans in the United States will have to wait until 2014 to hear him live. He'll be performing recitals on opposite coasts, beginning in Washington D.C. on January 31 with the Vocal Arts DC series and then at the beautifully restored Nourse Theater in San Francisco on April 1. In between those recital, he will return to the Met as Caliban in The Enchanted Island from February 26-March 20.
Today is the anniversary of the premiere of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito and we thought it deserved a mention, since we give a disproportionate amount of attention to the Big 3 - Don Giovanni, Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte. The opera doesn't really have much music for a baritone to show off. In fact, there is only one aria, "Tardi s'avede," which belongs to Publius and was written for a lyric bass.
Nonetheless, we found this beautiful version of the aria sung by bass-barihunk Luca Pisaroni, which is worth sharing. In the aria, Publius feels sorry for his Emperor and tries to get Tito
to wake up to the fact that his best friend, Sesto, had tried to
assassinate him.
The opera premiered on September 6, 1791 and was written as a commission to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor as King of Bohemia. The opera remained popular after Mozart's death and in 1806 became his first opera to be performed in London. It wasn't performed in the United States until 1952, when it was presented at Tanglewood in English.
There are a couple of all-star productions of the opera this year, led by barihunk Alex Esposito taking on Publius at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in October. The cast also includes Kurt Streit as Tito, Véronique Gens as Vitellia and Anna Bonitatibus as Sesto.
In November and December, the opera will be performed at the Paris Opera with Bálint Szabó as Publius and Saimir Pirgu as Tito.
One of our favorite Mozart singers just wrapped a stunningly sexy turn in an opera by another composer. Alex Esposito caused a lot of opera glasses to be raised with his shirtless Mustafà in L’Italiana in Algeri at the Rossini Opera Festival. The performances, which ended on Thursday night, were also broadcast live on Rai Radio 3.
The cast also included Anna Goryachova as Isabella, Yijie Shi as Lindoro and the delightful Mario Cassi as Taddeo. The singers were a hit with audiences, but so was the production, which was directed by Davide Livermore. The whimisical
costumes were by designer Gianluca Falaschi and the scenes and
lighting were by designer Nicolas Bovey.
Yijie Shi, Alex Esposito and Mario Cassi
Esposito now returns to Mozart with a turn as Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera and Publio in La clemenza di Tito at Monnaie in Brussels. However, the performance that we're looking forward to is his turn as Nick Shadow in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in Venice next summer.
Last month we posted about Alex Esposito's recital at Wigmore Hall, which happened on February 5th. We now have some video, which was part of the Rosenblatt Recital series.
Alex Esposito sings Tosti's "Non t'amo più":
Alex Esposito - ROSSINI Cade dal ciglio (Mosè in Egitto)
Alex Esposito - ROSSINI Accusata di furto (La Gazza Ladra)
Esposito can next be seen performing his signature role of Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni a the Théâtre du capitole in Toulouse, France. The title role will be shared by barihunks Christopher Maltman and Kostas Smoriginas. Performances run from March 15-28 and tickets are available online.
