Bass-barihunk Cody Quattlebaum accepting the Marcella Sembrich-Kochańska Prize
They had to wait until after midnight when the final prizes were finally announced, but barihunks Cody Quattlebaum and Hubert Zapiór both walked away with prizes at the 10th International Moniuszko Vocal Competition. Quattlebaum walked away with $2,000 and the Marcella Sembrich-Kochańska Prize, as well as a Beethoven Prize, which gives him the opportunity to perform the composer's work in Poland.
Hubert Zapiór won a special prize, which affords him the opportunity to perform with a major Polish orchestra. This year's competition clearly belonged to higher voices, as First Proze went to Russian soprano Maria Motolygina, Second Prize to Slovakian soprano Slávka Zámečníková and Third Prize to Chinese tenor Long Long.
A reader alerted us to the fact that we've never posted bass-barihunk Jake Stamatis, who is opening next week in Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox with Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton, New York. He'll be joined in the cast by Stacey Geyer, Abigail Smith, Mary Beth Nelson, Jordan Schreiner and Scott Purcell.
Stamatis is a native of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania and received his Bachelors Degree in Vocal Performance at Susquehanna
University and his Masters Degree in Opera at Binghamton University. He is currently an artist-in-residence at Tri-Cities Opera where he's also sining the Marquese d’Obingy in Verdi's La traviata and Don Iñigo Gomez in Ravel's L’Heure Espagnol. He recently appeared with Opera Ithaca as Abdul in Kamala Sankaram's Thumbprint.
Other roles in his repertory include Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Frosch in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Taddeo in Rossini's L’Italiana in Algeri, Sam in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and and Anthony in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
Performances of Hydrogen Jukebox are on April 21, 23, 28 and 30 with performances at Savoca Hibbitt Hall in Binghamton. Tickets and additional information is available online.
This is also our first post highlighting Tri-Cities Opera, with our only mention of the company being Brandon Coleman singing Mephistopheles in their production of Gounod's Faust.
Samuel Ramey, who many have dubbed the "original barihunk" of the modern opera era, will receive The President's
Medal from Wichita State University. The honor is presented annually to a person for exemplary leadership, service
to humanity and expertise in their field. Honorary degrees must be
approved by the Kansas Board of Regents.
Ramey serves as the distinguished professor of opera at Wichita
State University and recently joined the Wichita Grand Opera as their Ambassador and Artistic
Adviser. The company has established "The Samuel
Ramey program," which includes three new initiatives: One to take opera across Kansas, one to create the Opera Academy of the Midwest and the formation of the Wichita Opera
Business Alliance.
A native of Colby, Kansas, Samuel Ramey was active in music
throughout high school and college. In 1995 he was named “Kansan of the
Year,” and in 1998 the French Ministry of Culture awarded him the rank
of Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters.
Samuel Ramey sings Ella giammai m'amò! from Verdi's Don Carlo:
His video of Boito'sMefistofele
from the San Francisco Opera has become a cult classic with opera
aficionados. He continued his sexy shirtless portrayals as Attila
that were not only sexy, but set the vocal standard to this day. He remains an idol and role model to a generation of younger low voices.
His amazing vocal
flexibility and range has allowed him to sing roles ranging from Argante
in Handel’s Rinaldo to the title role in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle. His
repertoire includes the florid passages of Handel, the bel canto roles
of Bellini and Donizetti, the great baritone roles of Verdi and Puccini,
great American operas and even many of the great Russian and French
bass roles.
He is still actively performing, although in less demanding roles. In recent years, he's performed Count Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto in Wichita, Bartok's Bluebeard's Castlein Omaha, Dansker in Britten's Billy Budd with the Los Angeles Opera, the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's Don Carlos at the Houston Grand Opera, Leone in Verdi's Attila
at San Francisco Opera, Timur in Puccini's Turandot at the Met and the Old Hebrew in Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila at the Tulsa Opera.
Don't forget that there are only 21 days left to buy your 2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar.
Bass-barihunk Soloman Howard just wrapped up a reprisal of his performance as boxing great Muhammad Ali in DJ Sparr's Approaching Ali with the North Carolina Opera. Howard sang in the world premiere of the opera in the Summer of 2013 at the Kennedy Center.
Sparr's one-hour opera was created under the auspices of the American
Opera Initiative, Washington National Opera’s program for commissioning
contemporary American opera. The libretto is by Mark Campbell and Davis
Miller, based on Miller’s own autobiographical novella.
Soloman Howard in Approaching Ali
Fortunately for our readers, a number of amazing pictures appeared in Raleigh's Indy Week magazine of the singer accompanied by this article.
The opera tells the story of a young boy in North Carolina in the early
1960s who overcomes the loss of his mother and the trauma of being
bullied when he sees Muhammad Ali on television. More than 20 years
later, as a writer on the brink of middle age, he seeks to rekindle that
spirit by visiting his boyhood hero in person at the home of Ali’s
mother in Louisville.
Soloman Howard had a successful debut this season as the King in Verdi's Aida at the Met. This summer he'll sing Banco in Verdi's Macbeth and Sarastro in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Glimmerglass Festival.
We recently posted about barihunk Colin Ramseysinging The Speaker in Mozart's The Magic Flute at Opera NEO. The Sarastro in that production was Andrew Potter who we're featuring for the first time on our site.
Potter received his BA in Vocal Performance from Liberty University where he performed the PirateKing in Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, PooBah in The Mikado, and BaronMirkoZeta in Lehar's The Merry Widow.
Since 2012, he's appeared with Opera on the James in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, The Magic Flute,Betto in Gianni Schicchi, Mr. Dashwood in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, and the Big Bad Bully in Stop Bully - an outreach opera performed in schools and community centers.
Since 2013, Potter has been a member of Opera Roanoke’s Young Apprentice Artist Program, where he sang the Sergeant the Pirates of Penzance and Curio in Handel's Julius Caesar. This year he'll sing the Second Armored Man inDie Zauberflöte and covering the role of Sarastro. He performed Ariodate, in Handel’s Serse andLe fauteuil/L’abre in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges with Bel Cantanti Opera in Washington, D.C.
Upcoming roles in the 2014-15 season for Andrew include Simone in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi with Tidewater Opera Initiative, the Frog King in the World Premiere of Lori Laitman'sThe Three Feathers,Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Opera Roanoke, Ramfis with Undercroft Opera in Verdi's Aida, Mephistopheles in Concert Opera Philadelphia’s production of Gounod's Faust, Zoroastro in Handel's Orlando with Boulder Opera Company, Colline in La Bohéme with Connecticut Lyric Opera, and IlCommendatore in Don Giovanni with Bel Cantanti Opera.
Barihunk Andre' Courville was featured on his local TV station KATC in Lafayette, Louisiana. The segment bids him farewell as he leaves his role as music director and organist at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Lafayette to be a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
Earlier this year Courville took
second-place in the Metropolitan Opera National Council’s Gulf Coast regional auditions. He sang “Sorge infausta,” the magician Zoroastro’s
aria from Handel’s “Orlando” and Mephistopheles' aria from
Gounod’s “Faust.” This summer he was a member of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for
Singers where he sang Marquis d’Obigny in Verdi's La Traviata and music from Don Giovanni and The Bartered Bride at the Apprentice Scenes Programs.
You can catch Andre' Courville one last time at the Lady of Fatima Catholic Church on Thursday, August 29th at 6:30, when he will be presenting a free concert.
