Upcoming Broadcasts of Il Trovatore, Cosi fan tutte, Marriage of Figaro and Carmen

Alexey Markov

A couple of notable performances will be available online or in theaters shortly. 

On June 19, the Metropolitan Opera's high-definition production of Bizet’s Carmen returns to movie theaters with barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Escamillo. He'll be joined by the equally striking mezzo Elina Garanca as Carmen and tenor Roberto Alagna Don Jose. Performance begin at 7 PM, and additional information is available at their website.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes sing the Torreador Song from Carmen:

Perhaps for sheer star power and vocal thrills, not much will be able to top Verdi's Il trovatore from the Bavarian State Opera on Friday, July 5th. The cast will featured tenor heartthrob Jonas Kaufmann as Manrico, the thrilling soprano Anja Harteros as Leonora and Alexey Markov as Count di Luna.

The performance starts at 7 PM German time (1 PM EST/10 AM PST) and can be viewed online.

Alexey Markov sings "Eri tu" from Un Ballo in Maschera:

La Monnaie will have their performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte available online for three weeks beginning on June 26th. The cast includes baritones William Shimmell as Don Alfonso and Andreas Wolf as Guglielmo. Visit their online site to watch the performance.  

The 2012 performance of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro from Glyndebourne will be streamed online on July 12th. The cast includes Vito Priante as Figaro and Audun Iversen as the Count. The all-star cast is rounded out by Isabel Leonard as Cherubino, Sally Matthews as the Countess and Ann Murray as Marcellina. Additional information is available online.

For readers who want to enjoy plenty of opera online, we would suggest the Met Opera on Demand, which features video and audio performances from the Met archives; Medici.tv, which has a catalogue of over 50 operas and numerous instrumental performances; and, Sonostream, which streams concerts and opera online from Vienna.

Glyndebourne to stream six operas

Jacques Imbrailo as Billy Budd (Photograph: Tristram Kenton)

This summer Glyndebourne will be streaming six operas worldwide, three live from the festival and three recorded in previous seasons.

The first opera to be streamed will be Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos on June  4th at 7:00pm GST.  It will be followed by Verdi's Falstaff on June 21st at 1:30pm GST.    

Of interest to barihunk lovers is the July 12th broadcast of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro featuring Audun Iversen's Count and Vito Priante's Figaro from a 2012 performance. Also of interest will be Jacques Imbrailo as the title character in Britten's Billy Budd slated for broadcast on August 23rd.

In between those two operas will be Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie on July 25th and Donizetti's Don Pasquale on August 6th.

Visit the Glyndebourne website for more information.

Audun Iversen: Opera Now's "Artist of the Month"

Artist of the Month: Audun Iversen

We've featured Audun Iversen before and were thrilled to see that he was named the "Artist of the Month" by the British magazine "Opera Now," (not the American podcast of the same name). Here is what they wrote:

Norwegian-born Audun Iversen is making himself quit at home in Britain these days. This spring saw the 34-year-old baritone make his Covent Garden debut as Albert in Werther opposite Rolando Villazon, and he'll be appearing as Marchello in La boheme and as Lescaut in Massenet's Manon at the same house this season.

Last season also saw Iversen on the road around the UK as Don Giovanni with Glyndebourne Touring, and he's back at the Glyndebourne Festival next summer as the Count in a new production of The Marriage of Figaro. Meanwhile, this autumn finds him at the English National Opera singing the title role in a new production of Eugene Onegin directed by Deborah Warner. 'I find Onegin an exciting character," he says. 'He's a blank canvas that directors and singers can paint in so many ways. So far, he's my favourite among the roles that I sing."

Audun Iversen and Elina Garanca sing "Là Ci Darem La Mano" from Don Giovanni: 



Iversen has had several outings as Onegin, including a new production at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen in 2009 directed by Peter Konwitschny, and another on tour in Europe with the Bolshoi Opera last summer. His sonorous voice combines a rich lower register with a free top and a shimmering and flexible vibrato throughout. It's just perfect for Mozart, and it appears that he's already stepping into some big shoes: 'I was just dumbstruck when I was singing the Count in a revival of a vintage production of Mozart's Nozze di Figaro at Deutsche Oper in Berlin and finding the name-tag Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sewn into one of the overcoats I was wearing!'

Like his legendary predecessor, Audun treasures the Lieder repertoire. The voice, however, also holds the promise of more dramatic things to come, and the singer says that he is looking forward to tackling Verdi's mighty baritone roles. With his commanding stage presence and strong acting instincts, Verdi's overcoats are bound to fit him every bit as well as Mozarts when the moment comes.

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Audun Iversen can next be seen at the English National Opera performing Eugene Onegin from November 12 through December 3. Visit their website for tickets and additional performance information.

Norwegian Barihunk Audun Iversen

Norwegian baritone Audun Iversen began singing at the age of 22. In July 2007 Audun Iversen was a finalist in the “Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition” in Vienna. He won the “Queen Sonja International Singing Competition” in Oslo in August 2007, in addition to being the first singer to win the newly founded “Ingrid Bjoner Scholarship”.

His next performance will be in Britten's War Requiem with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Later this year he will perform the title role in Eugene Onegin at Opéra de Lille in France and the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

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