Curtis Sullivan opens as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast

Curtis Sullivan flexes his beastly side

Canadian barihunk Curtis Sullivan, who we've featured numerous times on this site for his sexy and beautifully sung appearances with Opera Atelier, will be crossing over to Broadway when he opens tonight as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. The musical is being presented by Tutta Musica at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton, New Brunswick from February 23 through March 3rd. Tickets are available online.

At Opera Atelier he's performed Selim in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Die Zauberflöte, as well as Samiel in Weber's Der Freischütz.

Sullivan is not new to crossover music, as he's part of the Canadian trio Bravura, which performs classic Broadway, Pop standards, Italian folk songs and classical music. The other members include George Masswohl and James Levesque.

Sullivan is not the only operatic barihunk to sing Gaston on stage. In 2015, Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek joined the national touring company of the show on their U.S. tour.

Mike Nyby to sing first Scarpia with Opera Ithaca

Mike Nyby

Canadian Mike Nyby will be making his role debut as the evil police chief Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca with Opera Ithaca. Nyby will be replacing fellow barihunk Zachary James, who had to withdraw for personal reasons. Nyby has previously performed with the company as Demetrio in Kristin Hevner Wyatt's Il Sogno and as Falke in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

Jake Stamatis (Photo: Joshua Bernard)

The cast also includes barihunk Jake Stamatis as Angelotti, Megan Nielsen as Floria Tosca and Paola Buffagni as Mario Cavaradossi. The semi-staged production will be performed at the Community School of Music & Arts in Ithaca on February 16th and at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn on February 18th. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

This is Nyby's fourth Puccini role, have previously performed Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi and both Schaunard and Marcello in La bohème. This is a homecoming of sorts for Nyby, who graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Music.

Barihunk duo alternating Guglielmo at Palais Garnier

Edwin Crossley-Mercer

Barihunks Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Philippe Sly will be alternating the role of Guglielmo at the beautiful Palais Garnier in Paris from September 12 to October 21. As an added bonus, Sly's performance dates also feature barihunk Paulo Szot as Don Alfonso!

Philippe Sly

The innovative production is being directed by the Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, who is using a double cast of singers and dancers to marry song and dance. The stage design is fairly minimal with plexiglass screens suspended on either side, providing plenty of space for the singers and dancers to navigate individually or as a group.

Paulo Szot and his dancer double

De Keersmaeker explained her concept of the opera to Wannes Gyselinck, the senior editor of rekto:verso, "The function of dance is to underline the tension between text and music, and even at times to emphasize it...This duplication creates a third visible voice alongside the music and the text. It was above all because of the music that, despite my doubts about opera as a medium, I accepted the Paris Opera's invitation: it is so full of movement, both bodily and emotional. Taking music as a starting point, I hope to attain a higher degree of abstraction, and through it discover the essence of the work. In most productions, the beauty and depth of the music is drowned under draperies, costumes, doors that open and close."

Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Barihunks have good night at Lotte Lenya competition

Bradley Smoak, Michael Hewitt, Tony Potts & Philip Kalmanovitch

Bass-barihunk Bradley Smoak walked away with the $20,000 Grand Prize at this year's Lotte Lenya Competition. Smoak's winning set included Kurt Weill's  “This is the Life” from Love Life, “Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni” from Bellini's La sonnambula, “Higher Than a Hawk” from Calamity Jane, and “Me” from Beauty and the Beast.

It was a good year all around for barihunks, as Tony Potts and former barihunks calendar models Philip Kalmanovitch and Michael Hewitt also were awarded $3000 Special Prizes.

Bradley Smoak's winning set:

Contestants were required to prepare four selections: an aria from the opera or operetta repertoire; two songs from the American musical theater repertoire (one from the pre-1968 "Golden Age" and one from 1968 or later); and a theatrical selection by Kurt Weill.

Philip Kalmanovitch at the Lotte Lenya competition:

Michael Hewitt at the Lotte Lenya competition:

Tony Potts  at the Lotte Lenya competition:

Held annually by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, the Lotte Lenya Competition is an international theater singing contest that recognizes talented young singer-actors, ages 19-32, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire, and emphasizes the acting of songs and arias within a dramatic context.

Previous winners of the Lotte Lenya competition will be familiar to our readers, including barihunks Lucas Meachem, Liam Bonner and Jonathan Michie, Doug Carpenter, as well as tenor Noah Stewart.

Mike Nyby in world premiere of Isis and Osiris

Mike Nyby

Canadian barihunk Mike Nyby will be singing Seth in the world premiere of award-winning composer Peter-Anthony Togni's "Isis and Osiris." The new Canadian opera, concludes the 2016 season of Toronto's Opera in Concert program with performances on April 1st and 3rd. 

Isis and Osiris, Gods of Egypt is based on the major myth of ancient Egypt, telling their love story in a larger-than-life tale of sibling jealousy, lust for power, fratricide and the quest for immortality. Togni collaborated with Toronto poet Sharon Singer on the piece.

The remainder of the cast includes Lucia Cesaroni as Isis, Michael Barrett as Osiris, Julie Nesrallah as Nepthys, Stuart Graham as Grand Vizier Khamet, Leigh-Ann Allen as Sennefer and Christopher Wattam as Imhotep.

Grab a beer with barihunk Benoit Pitre

Benoit Pitre

Canadian barihunk will be part of this month's Opera on Tap Berlin. The April theme is  "Frühlings Gefühle/Spring Fever, " The event will be at the popular cafe and concert venue Prachtwerk Berlin.

Joining Pitre for an evening of arias, duets, art song and operetta will be some of Berlin's best young talent including countertenor Leo Zappitelli, Anne Byrne, Anastasia Nikolova, Sarah Ring, Claudia Roick, Atalya Tirosh and accompanist Manuel Arellano.

The festivities start at 7:30 PM with some good German beer and the singing kicks of at 8:00 PM.  Rumor has it that another popular barihunk based in Berlin will be at the event.

Benoit Pitre buffs up for Don Giovanni debut

Benoit Pitre in the Hauptstadtoper's Don Giovanni

Canadian barihunk Benoit Pitre, who we introduced to readers back in July 2014, is currently singing his dream role of Don Giovanni in his home base of Berlin, Germany. The German adaptation of the piece is being performed at the Hauptstadtoper, with upcoming performances on March 6, April 26, May 28, June 11 and June 20.

Pitre informed us that he's been working out since Christmas to ensure that he did justice to the shirtless direction. Additional information is available online. He made his European debut as Don Giovanni's sidekick Leporello with the Komischen Kammeroper in Munich.

On March 20th, he'll perform Siméon in Debussy's L'enfant prodigue with Sakrale Oper in Berlin.

Philippe Sly in Tolkien inspired video

The following text is by Mathieu Sly, brother of barihunk Philippe Sly:

"Since 2001 when The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in theatres, my brother (Philippe Sly) and I (Mathieu Sly) have been relentless fans of both films and books. After seeing the first film, I pretended to be sick for a week of school just so I could read the volumes in their entirety.

When the extended DVDs came out I mined the special features as though for mithril. I didn't realize then that what I had found was in fact the Arkenstone from which I could not pull my gaze. I worshipped the artists of Weta Workshop.

My brother, for his part, in those young years the host to an enchanting falsetto, could conjure any of the distinctive melodies and themes painted by Howard Shore in those first three films that changed the course of our lives. Still we sing "Into the West" anytime we are reunited in the presence of a piano.

In our high school years Howard Shore brought the music and art of the films to our city of Ottawa to be performed in concert with our local symphony, slides of the film's conceptual art to be projected throughout. We were lucky enough, as young choristers, to take part; to finally, and truly, add our voices to the enduring life of the films - to be a part of the team.

Here we offer our voices again. We want to thank everyone who made those first films and inspired two young boys to imagine.

The poem is concerned with Bilbo's inner turmoil in this final chapter of the film saga."



'Live Or Die Tomorrow'

Through cloud, and rock, and mountains sharp
Now weary are my feet
If now I sleep and disappear
None will hear, none will hear

Though I will walk through fields alone
Winds will blow, rivers run
The sun will fall and stars will shine
And show the way by night

To waters of the Western Seas
Where none can die I'll hide
Over forests and through the dark
Metal, earth, and sorrow

A mountain rich with golden halls
Five armies there will meet
A battle fought, though I will not
The King will loose his seat

Now sun has fell and all is well
But stars they do not shine
I'll sing to warm my heart for now
Find my way tomorrow

What song to fill this night so dark?
Of deeds brave and noble
From dream of steel and death I wake
From loss, shadow, and ash

One star dim through the mist I see
It will fade, it will fade
What lies along this road I tread,
For none to see but me?

By cloud, and rock, and mountains sharp
I'll find my friends and fight
We'll fill the sky with stars so bright
Live or die tomorrow

Live or die tomorrow

poem by Mathieu Sly, music by Philippe Sly

Jonathan Estabrooks' Kickstarter campaign to produce CD

Jonathan Estabrooks

Jonathan Estabrooks has been a regular on this site and has been featured in our calendar, as well. He also happens to be a great guy and a whiz at social media. His YouTube site features "A Singer's Life" is a great look at the opera business from a singer's point of view. His "Most Wonderful Memes of the Year" appeared on our year-end "Best of 2012" list. When he appeared in our calendar he asked that his social media addresses be included with his photo (Twitter @estarp and Facebook).

His latest venture is on Kickstarter, where he's trying to raise $40,000 to produce a classical/crossover album with full orchestra. He chose songs that spoke to his "...personal journey and sense of discovery, but also to the collective path we all follow in life, love, faith and that yearning to find a place to call home." The CD will also include an appearance by Jonathan Antoine, a semi-finalist on "Britain's Got Talent," whose audition video has 35 million hits on YouTube.

Check out highlights of Jonathan Estabrooks singing Big Band music:

The money is needed to pay for the orchestra, studio space, mixing, mastering, layout and design, printing and promotion. We're going to make a pledge and encourage all of our readers to do the same. What a great way to support an emerging young artist. There are benefits starting for as little as US $5.00, so make your pledge today. Go to this LINK now!