Catch Erwin Schrott in a theater near you

Erwin Schrott as Jean Procida in Les vêpres siciliennes

Last month we chose the performance of Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes at Covent Garden as the production that we'd most like to see during the Verdi bicentenary. The cast was lead by barihunk Erwin Schrott as Jean Procida, along with an amazing cast that includes tenor Bryan Hymel as Henri and soprano Lianna Haroutounian as Helene under the baton of Antonio Pappano.

The opera is now being screened worldwide during the month of December for opera lovers across the globe to enjoy. You can find a performance close to you by clicking HERE. 

Erwin Schrott sings "Et toi, Palerme" from Les vêpres siciliennes:

Les vêpres siciliennes is in five-acts and was originally written in French for the Paris Opéra. It was translated into Italian shortly after its premiere in June 1855.  The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838 and offered to Halevy and Donizetti before Verdi agreed to set it to music in 1854.

The story is loosely based on a historical event, the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, using material drawn from the medieval Sicilian tract Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia. After its June 1855 Paris premiere, an Italian libretto was quickly prepared using a new title because Verdi realized that it would have been impossible to place the story in Sicily. Based on Scribe's suggestions for changing the location, it became Portugal in 1640 while under Spanish control. This version was first performed at the Teatro Regio in Parma on December 26, 1855.

Schrott can next be seen in his signature role of Dr. Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Vienna State Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid and Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Erwin Schrott in all-star Les vêpres siciliennes in London

Erwin Schrott

On October 10th, we celebrate the long-awaited bicentenary of Giuseppe Verdi's birth. Opera companies and music festivals across the globe have been programming a heavy dose of his music and numerous "Verdi Arias" CD's have been released. 

We sifted through the countless productions of Aida, Rigoletto, Traviata and other Verdi operas to find a performance that stood out as a "can't miss" production. A performance of the inexplicably underperformed Les vêpres siciliennes at the Royal Opera House in London jumped off the page at us. Not only is barihunk Erwin Schrott singing Jean Procida, but he's surrounded by an amazing cast that includes tenor Bryan Hymel as Henri and soprano Marina Poplavskaya as Helene under the baton of Antonio Pappano.

Erwin Schrott sings "Palerme! O mon pays!... Et toi, Palerme..." 

Les vêpres siciliennes is in five-acts and was originally written in French for the Paris Opéra. It was translated into Italian shortly after its premiere in June 1855.  The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838 and offered to Halevy and Donizetti before Verdi agreed to set it to music in 1854.

The story is loosely based on a historical event, the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, using material drawn from the medieval Sicilian tract Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia. After its June 1855 Paris premiere, an Italian libretto was quickly prepared using a new title because Verdi realized that it would have been impossible to place the story in Sicily. Based on Scribe's suggestions for changing the location, it became Portugal in 1640 while under Spanish control. This version was first performed at the Teatro Regio in Parma on December 26, 1855.

Performances at the Royal Opera House will run from October 17 through November 11. The November 4th performance will be broadcast to movie theaters worldwide, so check the website for a showing near you. 

Giorgio Caoduro as Riccardo in I Puritani

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.

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