Bass-barihunk calendar model Aaron Sørensen will show off his amazing low F as Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Charlottesville Opera (formerly Ash Lawn Opera). Sørensen recently performed the role to great acclaim with the Mississippi Opera. The Charlottesville cast will include Eglise Gutiérrez as Gilda, Matthew Vickers as the Duke of Mantua and Hyung Yun as the ill-fated father Rigoletto.
The opera opens on July 9th at the Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre at Virginia Tech University and then heads to the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia for performances on July 14, 16 and 19. Tickets are available online.
We got some great photos of barihunks Timothy McDevitt and Corey Crider together, who are performing in Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific at Ash Lawn Opera.
McDevitt is performing the role of the courageous Lt. Cable and Crider takes on the dashing leading man Emile de Becque. They're joined by Sharin Apostolou as Nelli Forbush, Daryl Freedman as Bloody Mary and Clayton Brown as Luther Billis. The production is directed by John de los Santos and conducted by Andy Anderson.
Timothy McDevitt in South Pacific
Tickets for the remaining shows on July 29 and 30 are available at the Paramount Theater website.
Crider will reprise his role with Opera Roanoke on October 7 and 9 at the Shaftman Performance Hall.Upcoming shows for McDevitt include Vasco Mendonca's The House Taken Over at the National Sawdust from October 7-9 and Thou Swell with the New York City Ballet, where he'll sing music by Richard Rodgers.
Andrew Garland sporting his Barihunk shirt and showing off his "bari-guns"
Mozart's Così fan tutte just opened a run at the Ash Lawn Opera featuring barihunk Andrew Garland. After an opening night show at the Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech, it now heads to the Paramount Theater for performances on July 10, 13, and 15.
The cast also includes Kristopher Irmiter as Don Alfonso, Mireille Asselin as Despina, Cassandra Velasco as Dorabella, Melinda Whittington as Fiordiligi and Joshua Dennis as Ferrando. The production is being directed by Andrea Dorf McGray and conducted by Steven Jarvi.
On July 16 and 17, Garland will be back in his native Massachusetts for recitals of music by Schumann, Obradors, Cole Porter and others at the Federated Church in Charlemont. He'll be joined by accompanist Estela Olevsky.
Timothy McDevitt
Barihunks Timothy McDevitt and Corey Crider will be featured in their other production, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, which will run at the Paramount from July 23-30. McDevitt will perform the role of the courageous Lt. Cable and Crider takes on the dashing leading man Emile de Becque.
Matthew Morrison sings "Younger Than Springtime" from South Pacific:
They'll be joined by Sharin Apostolou as Nelli Forbush, Daryl Freedman as Bloody Mary and Clayton Brown as Luther Billis. The production will be directed by John de los Santos and conducted by Andy Anderson.
One of the most common questions we get is, "Do you post bass and bass-baritone singers." The short answer is "YES!!!" We post everything from the highest French lyric baritone to the bass with notes lower than that of a weary fog horn.
One of the basses that we're most excited about is Kevin Thompson, an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program, Juilliard, the Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Dramatic Young Voices, the American Institute of Musical Studies and the Aspen Music Festival.
Apparently, we aren't the only one impressed with this young singer, He's being booked around the world and is also a permanent part of the Smithsonian Institute’s Hirschorn Gallery's audio walk exhibit entitled "Words Drawn in Water" by artist Janet Cardiff, where he's featured singing “Old Man River.”
Kevin Thompson sings "Wie schön ist doch die Musik" from Richard Strauss'
Die Schweigsame Frau:
We're convinced that he'll have a great career singing Wagner and Strauss, but his current agenda seems focused on Verdi and Mozart. He'll be performing Verdi's Requiem tonight with the "Music in the Mountains" series in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Californians and Nevadans make the trip to this beautiful part of the world and it's worth adding to any music lovers travel agenda. The Requiem will be performed tonight, but the festival runs through July 3rd. Check out their website for additional information.
Thompson will keep the Requiem in his repertoire, as he performs it in both Idaho and North Carolina. Verdi will continue to play a prominent role in his career in 2013, as he takes on Ramfis in Aida in his his debut with Opera Santa Barbara in California on March 1st and 3rd. There are two other exciting young voices in that production that deserve mention, the Aida of Michelle Johnson, a Grand Prize Winner in the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and tenor Ta'u Pupu'a, the former football player turned hunkentenor.
Thompson's next appearance will be as Sarastro in Mozart's "The Magic Flute" with the Ash Lawn Opera from July 13-20.
[Top photo: David Krohn; Bottom photo: Gregory Gerbrandt]
We'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to two of our emerging barihunks, Gregory Gerbrandt and David Krohn.
We've been touting Krohn as Matthew Worth's only real competition as Tarquinius in Britten's "Rape of Lucretia." The 25-year-old just finished a well-received run at the Aspen Music Festival as Tarquinius and is definitely a hunk to watch.
Gregory Gerbrandt just stole the show at the Ash Lawn Opera Festival singing the Count in the "Marriage of Figaro." His bio says that he also serves as a volunteer fireman, which sounds pretty hot.
One thing that we know for sure is that these birthday babes both look good in tee shirts.
