Andrè Schuen making US debut with Schubert concerts

Andrè Schuen

Tyrolian barihunk Andrè Schuen is making what we believe is his American debut with two concerts of Schubert lieder. He joins composer/pianist Thomas Adès for Tanglewood's “Schubert’s Summer Journey,” a six-concert exploration of the music of the composer. The program includes his famous setting of Goethe’s Wanderers Nachtlied II.

Tickets and additional information is available online.

On July 29th, he'll sings Schubert's Schwanengesang at the Aspen Music Festival with pianist Andreas Haefliger. Schuen and Haefliger will perform the songs not in one grouping but as distinct sets, separated by two solo piano works, Beethoven's Piano Sonata op. 101 and Berg's Piano Sonata.  Tickets are available online.

Andrè Schuen sings Hugo Wolf's Goethe Lieder:

In October, he returns to the opera stage at the Opéra national de Lorraine to portray the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni. The cast includes Nahuel di Pierro as Leporello, Levente Páll as Masetto, David Leigh as the Commendatore, Kiandra Howarth as Donna Anna, Yolanda Auyanet as Donna Elvira and Julien Behr as Don Ottavio. Additional information is available online.

David Krohn in Beaumarchais Trilogy

[Rosina (mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Jarrett) and Figaro (baritone David Krohn) plan her escape in the Aspen Opera Theater Center's new production of "The Barber of Seville." - Photo byAlex Irvin]

 We might as well keep the trilogy theme going, as the Aspen Music Festival is presenting the Beaumarchais Trilogy from July 31 through August 21. The trilogy's links are Count Almaviva and Rosina who we encounter in Rossini's "Barber of Seville," Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro," and John Corigliano's modern masterpiece "The Ghosts of Versailles."

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French watchmaker, spy, revolutionary, diplomat, gun smuggler and author. His Figaro plays Le Barbier de Seville, Le Mariage de Figaro and La Mère coupbale have provided inspiration for two classics of the standard repertoire and a modern work that seems destined to stay around. 

Beaumarchais was known to show sympathy to the lower classes. Figaro's character is portrayed as more wily than his aristocratic and better-educated counterparts and his plays are filled with mockery of society's "nobler" class. The character of Figaro is still revered in France and throughout the world as a symbol of the common man standing up to the priveleged class.

It is extremely rare to have the opportunity to see the Beaumarchais Trilogy performed in one place, so the undertaking by the Aspen Music Festival is particularly notable. Barihunks fans will be thrilled to learn that David Krohn will perform Figaro in the Barber of Seville. Unfortunately, we don't know who is cast is in any of the other roles since the Festival doesn't post cast lists, which we find highly insulting to young singers. We rarely criticize anyone on this site, but posting the names of conductors and directors, but not singers is inexcusable.

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Birthday Barihunks

[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.

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Does Matthew Worth Have a Challenger in David Krohn?

[Photos: Project Opera of Manhattan, © 2008 Ken Howard]

David Krohn lives in New York City, where he is pursuing his Master's degree at Juilliard. He has performed a number of small roles with the Baltimore Opera.

Krohn is currently at the Aspen Music Festival singing the sexy role of Tarquinius with Jane Glover conducting. He had previously performed the role with Peabody Opera, but wearing substantially more clothing. Barihunks has a message to directors: Tarquinius should be shirtless and hunky, especially in the rape scene! If ever there was a moment to show some justifiable skin in opera, this is it (and David Krohn proves this point). The picture on the bottom is from Peabody and the others are from Aspen. Which performance would you rather see?

Krohn has performed the role of the Prison Inmate in Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” and we can’t wait for him to graduate to the role of Joseph De Rocher. He’s done some Mozart and other Britten roles, so I suspect that we’ll be seeing more of him on this site.

You can find out about show times at Aspen Music Festival, but good luck finding out about the cast. This is a disturbing trend, as Barihunks was sent a notice about the Banff Summer Arts Festival, which had some operas that might have included some great material for this site. However, there isn’t a cast list in sight and when we emailed them they replied that they couldn’t find one either.

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