Eugene Brancoveanu is Papageno in Re-imagined Magic Flute

Eugene Brancoveanu as Papageno and in The Machine

Some of you may remember West Edge Opera as the Berkeley Opera. They rebranded, but continue to produce some of the most interesting productions in the opera-rich San Francisco Bay Area. They re-imagine  opera classics with the goal of appealing to regular opera goers, as well as newer, younger audiences.

Their latest productions is Mozart's The Magic Flute by Mozart re-imagined as The Manga Flute. They commissioned David Scott Marley to create both a new English translation and new story inspired by the Japanese manga films of Hayao Miazaki, the noted creator of many popular films including Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. They also commissioned artist Megan Willis to create new manga art to be projected as scenery. 

 

Barihunk Eugene Brancoveanu, who we recently featured on this site in Machine at Oakland's Crucible, will be singing Papageno. The former Merola Opera student and Adler Fellow always brings 100% to every performance, whether dressed as a bird catcher or undressed in Machine.

There are performances remaining on Friday, March 9 and Sunday, March 11. You can click HERE for tickets or click HERE to make a donation to support this exciting company.

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Eugene Brancoveanu: "Velcome to my house..."

A week ago, we ran a post about barihunk Eugene Brancoveanu playing Dracula in the straight theater. Here is a video of him discussing the role and even providing us with a preview of the famous line, "Velcome to my house..." Brancoveanu was cast after he was seen in a very "carnal" production of Don Giovanni at the Berkeley Opera.



The production is currently running at the Center Repertory Company through November 20 at the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts in Walnut Creek, California (a short drive from San Francisco).

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"Catalogue Aria" as seen by the iPhone

[Photo of Eugene Brancoveanu]


It is rare that we feature a video that doesn't show a barihunk, but this latest promo video from Berkeley Opera is so ingenious that we couldn't resist. The aria is sung by Igor Vieira, who sings Leporello in the production. The Don Giovanni is being sung by Eugene Brancoveanu, a major talent on the operatic horizon who has previously appeared on this site. The video was created by Jeremy Knight and follows the famous catalogue aria on iPhone apps. This is the type of stuff that opera companies need to do in order to make the art form relevant to younger audiences.



Don Giovanni is running until February 28 and tickets can be purchased at the Berkeley Opera website. If you plan on going, order now, as some performances are almost completely sold out.
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