Zachary James prepares for Met debut with a little Cabaret

Zachary James (Photos courtesy of the artist)

Barihunk Zachary James made quite a splash with his super sexy, scantily clad performance of Sally Bowles' "Maybe this time" from Cabaret at the Bearded Ladies’ Late Night Snacks Cabaret, part of Opera Philadelphia’s O19 festival and FringeArts. The lineup also includes the legendary gender bending performer Justin Vivian Bond, as well as opera legends Stephanie Blythe and Anthony Roth Costanzo. There a couple of remaining shows before the festival closes on September 29 and tickets are available online.

The festival came with the following disclaimer; "Late Night Snacks ingredients may include artistic experimentation, adult content, consensual touch, ear worms, nudity, jubilation, great selfie material, rampant queerness, and many repeat visits."

You can see Zachary James' performance HERE.

He said this of the festival. "Several of the singers from Opera Philadelphia’s O19 festival were invited to participate in Late Night Snacks Cabaret in South Philly produced by The Bearded Ladies, a month long nightly event included in this year’s Opera Philly O19 festival and Philly FringeArts festival. We love what we do as opera singers but also all have cravings to step outside of the box and explore our versatility. Late Night Snacks hosted Stephanie Blythe screlting rock and busting out Carmen with ukulele, Anthony Roth Costanzo singing jazz in a smooth baritone, Alissa Anderson belting You Don’t Own Me, Will Liverman singing gospel accompanying himself on piano like a beast, and many more stunning turns. This was a time and space to let our hearts out and explore our hidden desires as artists."

Zachary James in Akhnaten (Photo: Jane Hobson)

James will also be making his Met debut alongside his Late Night Snacks co-stars Anthony Roth Costanzo and Will Liverman, when he reprises his performance as Amenhotep III in Philip Glass' Akhnaten, which runs from Noevember 8-December 7. Tickets are available online.

Watch Christopher Dylan Herbert in all-star "Saul"

Christopher Dylan Herbert (far left & right) and Anthony Roth Costanzo

As part of the Twelfth Night Festival in early January, Julian Wachner and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra presented a fully-staged production of Handel’s Saul. The title role was sung by barihunk Christopher Dylan Herbert, who possesses one of the most eloquent and richly beautiful baritone voices in the business. David is sung by the stunningly gifted countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and bass-barihunk Dashon Burton sings the role of the Ghost of Samuel. Rounding out the cast is Ryland Angel as Jonathan, Jessica Muirhead as Merab, Marie-Eve Munger,  as Michal and Molly Quinn.

Click HERE to watch the entire performance.

Christopher Dylan Herbert sining "With rage I shall burst his praises to hear!"

Saul is a dramatic oratorio taken from the First Book of Samuel in the Bible's Old Testament. The story of Saul focuses on the first king of Israel's relationship with his eventual successor, David; one which turns from admiration to envy and hatred, ultimately leading to the downfall of the eponymous monarch.

The work, which Handel composed in 1738, includes the famous "Dead March," a funeral anthem for Saul and his son Jonathan. The "Dead March" was played at the funerals of Winston Churchill and George Washington, as well as being played many times during the journey from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois of the body of Abraham Lincoln after his assassination.

You can next hear Christopher Dylan Herbert on January 22nd, when he performs a recital with accompanist Christopher Reynolds at Julliard's Morse Hall. The will perform music by Liszt, Shostakovich and Rautavaara. Herbert is also part of the Grammy-nominated ensemble New York Polyphony and you can check out their schedule online.

Duncan Rock to make U.S. stage debut with Boston Lyric Opera

The highly-anticipated U.S. stage debut of British Barihunk sensation Duncan Rock will occur not far from another rock, Plymouth Rock. The Boston Lyric Opera has snagged the charismatic fan favorite to portray the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni next season.

Fans will have to wait a year, as the opera runs from May 1-10, 2015, but we assure you it will be worth the wait. To order a tickets, call 617-542-6772 or email boxoffice@blo.org. The remainder of their upcoming season includes Verdi’s La Traviata, Frank Martin’s The Love Potion and Janáček’s Kátya Kabanová.

At rehearsals of La bohème at English National Opera

We first discovered Duncan Rock when he was in Britten's Billy Budd at Glyndebourne and then as Moralès in a sexy production of Bizet's Carmen directed by Calixto Bieto at the English National Opera. In his young career, Rock has developed a reputation as both a gifted singer and riveting stage presence. His gender bending performance in Don Giovanni: The Opera at London's famous nightclub Heaven was a sensation. He followed that with an portrayal as an often shirtless Tarquinius in Benjmain Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at Glyndebourne, where Irish actress and theatre and opera director Fiona Shaw pushed him to new dramatic limits. His performance prompted Tim Ashley, of the Guardian to comment, "Rock undercuts Tarquinius's raffish allure with unnerving intimations of psychotic violence."
 
Duncan Rock recently finished a successful run as Marcello in Puccini's La bohème with the English National Opera in a production that was updated to 1950s Paris. European fans can catch him as the waiter in Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice at the Teatro Real in Madrid from December 4-23. The cast also includes the amazing countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as the voice of Apollo. Tickets are available online.

Justin Hopkins and Doug Carpenter to sing in Stephen Schwartz gala

Justin Hopkins

Two barihunks are slated to appear at a New York City gala honoring composer Stephen Schwartz. 

Bass-barihunk Justin Hopkins, who just finished a critically-acclaimed run as Nourabad in the Pearl Fishers at the Fort Worth Opera and Doug Carpenter.

Schwartz, is the composer and lyricist of such Broadway hits as Wicked, Pippin, and Godspell, as well as Séance on a Wet Afternoon, developed by the American Opera Projects. Hopkins will perform "Children of the Wind" from Rags, composed by Charles Strouse with lyrics by Schwartz. Carpenter, who just finished a run as Lt. Joe Cable in South Pacific at the Paper Mill Theater,  will sing "Proud Lady" from Bakers Wife.

Doug Carpenter rehearsing South Pacific

Schwartz also contributed lyrics for a number of successful films, including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Prince of Egypt and Enchanted. Schwartz has won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, three Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards and has been nominated for six Tony Awards.

The gala entitled "Opera Sings Broadway Sings Opera," features some of the biggest names in opera and Broadway, including Lauren Flanigan, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Betsy Wolf, Michael Marcotte, Michael McCorry Rose, Simone Osborne, Jessica Phillips, Bailey Grey and Tony Ponella.

The gala is on Monday, May 12th at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South with a 6:30 pm VIP cocktails and hors d'oeuvres reception,  7:30 pm cocktail hour and 8:00 pm performance. For tickets call 718-398-4024  or visit their online site.   

Doug Carpenter will be performing in Ed Dixon's new musical comedy Cloak and Dagger at the Signature Theatre in Washington DC from June 12-July 6.

Domingo's "Operalia" to be broadcast live

Baritone Aldo Heo

We're still listening to the Concours vocal competition from Montreal because we can't seem to get enough of the amazing singing that took place. We've listened not just to the three thrilling barihunks - winner Philippe Sly, 3rd place winner John Brancy and Sidney Outlaw - but to many of the other contestants who wowed us with their vocalism. We were particularly impressed with 2nd place winner Olga Kindler and countertenor Eric Jurenas, who remarkably didn't advance to the finals. 

Yunpeng Wang sings "Ah! per sempre" from I Puritani:

We're hoping that we have time to recover in time for the live broadcast of Placido Domingo's Operalia competition being broadcast live from Beijing, China on Sunday, June 10th. A number of well-known singers were exposed to the opera world at the Operalia competition including barihunks Stéphane Degout and Ludovic Tezier, as well as Joyce DiDonato, Rolando Villazon, Inva Mula, Nina Stemme, José Cura, John Osborn and Susanna Phillips.

Yungpeng Wang

This year's competitors include four baritones, Amaruvshin from Mongolia, Roman Burdenko from Russia, Aldo Heo from South Korea and Yunpeng Wang from China, as well as soprano Janai Brugger form the United States, tenor Like Shing from China, mezzo Nadezhda Karyazina from Russia,    tenor Antonio Poli from Italy,  tenor Hyojong Kim from South Korea, soprano Guanqun Yu from China.  mezzo Olesya Petrova from Russia, countertenor Anthony Roth Constanzo from the United States and  tenor Brian Jadge from the United States. 

You will probably need to be a subscriber to Medici.tv to watch the competition, but we be keeping our eyes and ears open for audio feeds. [We've been informed that Medici will have the Operalia competition online for FREE for 90 days. Enjoy it!].

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com