Hadleigh Adams globetrotting with Handel's Messiah

Hadleigh Adams

Bass-barihunk Hadleigh Adams is going to rack up some frequent flyer miles singing Handel's Messiah this holiday season. Fresh off a huge success as Schaunard in Puccini's La boheme at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, he heads across the globe to his native New Zealand.

He will sing his first Messiah with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on December 7th in Wellington. He then hops back on a plane to his home base of San Francisco for three performances of Handel's holiday classic with the American Bach Soloists on December 11, 12 and 13. He then heads south to the Lone Star State for three more Messiah's with the Houston Symphony Orchestra on December 20. 21 and 22.

Composed in just 24 days in 1741, the Messiah received a lukewarm reception at its first London performance. However, over the years it has grown in popularity. Although Messiah is structured like an opera, it features no characters or dialogue.

He'll wrap up the year back in San Francisco for the American Bach Soloists New Years Eve concert. He'll be joined by mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit for arias and duets from Handel, Rameau, Vivaldi and Monteverdi.

Jesse Blumberg in North American Premiere at Boston Early Music Festival

Jesse Blumerg & Amanda Forsythe

While we're on the subject of our favorite singers, we should mention that Jesse Blumberg is appearing as Polifierno in the first fully staged performance of Agostino Steffani’s opera, Niobe, Regina di Tebe  in North America. The opera recounts a story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses about the Queen of Thebes whose pride earns her family the vengeance of the gods.

Blumberg joins an amazing cast that includes the soprano Amanda Forsythe as Niobe and the brilliant countertenors Philippe Jaroussky as Anfione and Matthew White as Creonte.

Jesse Blumberg rehearsing Polifierno

There are still five performances remaining in Boston and Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information. If you're within a 100 miles of Boston, you should make sure to catch this performance.

Our favorite picture of Jesse Blumberg

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Quirijn de Lang sings "Lusinghiera mia speranza" from Handel's Agrippina

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Listen to Philip Cutlip Live

It's not the same as watching him live, but you can listen to barihunk Philip Cutlip on Saturday, November 15th at 8:15 AM EST/5:15 PST at http://www.radio4.nl/page/home

For more information, click here: http://download.omroep.nl/portal/radio4/ZaterdagMatinee/2008-11-15-MusA-3-Bach-web.pdf

If you can't listen to the broadcast, I would recommend buying his recording of Handel's Atalanta with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. You can listen to it for free here:

Handel - Atalanta CD1 by Philharmonia Baroque

Edwin Crossley-Mercer

Born in 1982, Edwin Crossley-Mercer first studied the clarinet and singing at the same time as his German studies. In 2000 he entered the Versailles Centre de Musique Baroque, going on to further study in nineteenth-century repertoire. He has performed both the baroque and classical repertoire in concert appearances and has performed in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.