Two American barihunks took away three of the top four prizes at the 40th Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition yesterday.
Emmett O'Hanlon took the top prize, as well as the Audience favorite prize. He performed the Tower Scene from Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande and "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's The Barber of Seville for the semi-finals, and Korngold's Tanzlied and the "Largo al factotum" for the final round.
Bass-barihunk Brent Michael Smith took 3rd Prize, singing Purcell's "Arise, Ye Subterranean Winds" and "Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni" from Bellini's La sonnambula. Mezzo-soprano Lindsay Metzger taking 2nd Prize. The winner also gets a chance to star in an Opera Birmingham production. The company's upcoming season includes Puccini's Tosca and Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied.
The winners were chosen from a group of twenty singers from around the country, which was whittled down to five for the semi-finals.
Emmett O'Hanlon is currently a member of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago. where his roles include Wagner in Gounod's Faust (and covering Valentin), Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Marullo in Verdi'ds Rigoletto.
Brent will become an Apprentice Artist at the Santa Fe Opera this season, where he will also make his mainstage debut as Lakai in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. He recently completed a stint as a Resident Artist at the Michigan Opera Theatre.
New York's Collegiate Chorale announced that it has joined forces with the American Symphony Orchestra to perform Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 6pm at Carnegie Hall.
Barihunk Nicholas Pallesen will sing Filippo, who has one of the great baritone bel canto arias, "O divina Agnese!...Forse gi? disposti i modi." In fact, like many Bellini operas, it's rich with beautiful baritone melodies, including a stunning duet with the soprano. Pallesen will be joined by soprano sensation Angela Meade as Beatrice di Tenda, mezzo Jamie Barton as Agnese and tenor Michael Spyres as Orombello. The chorus plays a key role in this opera, and in the true tradition of classical Greek dramas, they not only comment on the action, but advise and comfort the protagonists.
Joan Sutherland & Enzo Sordello sing the Act I duet "Tu qui, Filippo?":
The opera was was rarely performed after its premiere in 1833, but was revived in 1961 by the American Opera Society with Joan Sutherland, Enzo Sordello, Marilyn Horne and Richard Cassilly under the baton of Nicola Rescigno. Later that year it was performed at La Scala with Sutherland and Raina Kabaivanska under the baton of Antonino Votto. Since then the title role has been assumed by a number of other prominent sopranos: Leyla Gencer, Mirella Freni, June Anderson, Cecilia Gasdia, Edita Gruberová and Mariella Devia.
Set in 15th century Milan and based on a historical figure, the opera tells of the tormented but saintly wife of the Duke of Milan, falsely accused of adultery by the scorned lover of one of her admirers and sentenced to death by her husband. Beatrice di Tenda is characterized by ravishing melodies and exciting finales.
Roberto Frontali sings "O divina Agnese!...Forse gi? disposti i modi" from Beatrice di Tenda:
A native of Riverside, California, Nicholas Pallesen is establishing himself as one of the most promising talents of his generation. He is a 2012 recipient of a Richard Tucker Career Grant, was a Grand Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and can be seen in the documentary, "The Audition." Pallesen’s performance in Beatrice di Tenda will mark his Carnegie Hall debut. He will also make two title-role debuts: as Lord Ruthven in Marschner's Der Vampyr with the American Symphony Orchestra and in Rigoletto with Shreveport Opera. He will return to the Metropolitan Opera’s roster for Ades’ The Tempest. Future engagements include debuts with the Metropolitan, Fort Worth and Cincinnati Operas, all in leading roles. Mr. Pallesen is a winner of the Giulio Gari, Sullivan Foundation, Opera Index and the Bel Canto Foundation competitions. He has also won awards from the George London Foundation, the Loren L. Zachary Society, the Liederkranz Foundation, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation and the Santa Fe Opera, among others.
Singers like Nicholas Pallesen and Angela Meade have succeeded because of their successful training in young artist programs. You can help support these programs and enjoy a year of hunky baritones on your wall by purchasing our 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Buy now before the holiday rush:
Let's face it, an opera titled The Puritans is unlikely to provide much barihunk fodder. I doubt that even Calixto Bieito could sex up this opera (http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=armide). However, we've learned that Giorgio Caoduro has a way of making any role look pretty hot. Check out his booty shaking performance that we posted from the usually unsexy Il signor Bruschino by Rossini at: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=caoduro.
InstantEncore had this description of his performance of Puritani from Athens in April of this year: Italian Barihunk Giorgio Caoduro, sang an impressive Riccardo, with his round, sonorous baritone, looked totally at ease on stage and received a storm of applause after his high A sostenuta-like-there's-no-tomorrow at "Suoni la tromba". You can watch a clip of "Suoni la tromba" below, which unfortunately isn't the best quality.
We're glad that they dubbed him a barihunk in their review, so that he can join some of our other favorites whose reviews seldom fail mention our favorite moniker. Singers like Nathan Gunn, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Erwin Schrott. Welcome to the barihunks club Giorgio!
Caoduro's upcoming performance include Count Almaviva in Nozze and Rodrigo in Don Carlo at Bologna, and Figaro in Barber at Toulouse.
For all of you tenor fans, you can hear Bryan Hymel sing the fiendishly difficult aria "A te, o cara" from this production with a full chest Db at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is0UUg3oH4k. Eglise Gutiérrez was the Elvira in this production.
