Christian Van Horn only ninth bass to get devilish at The Met

Christian van Horn as Mefistofele (courtesy of the Metroploitan Opera)

On November 8, 2018, Christian Van Horn will become just the ninth bass to sing the title role in Boito's Mefistofele at the Metropolitan Opera. He was preceded by some of the great singers of the last two centuries,  including Giovanni Mirabella who sang the role in 1883,  followed by Eduard de Reszke, Pol Plançcn, Fyodor Chaliapin, Adamo Didur, José Mardones, Dean Peterson and most famously Samuel Ramey.

Samuel Ramey sings "Ecco il monde" from Mefistofele:

The Robert Carsen production will feature an all-star cast that also includes tenor Michael Fabiano as Faust and soprano Angela Meade as Margherita. Mefistofele is the only completed opera by Arrigo Boito, who is best remembered for writing Verdi's librettos for Otello and Falstaff.  The composer was working on his opera Nerone when he died in 1918. The great conductor Arturo Toscanini led a three person team in completing the opera, which finally premiered posthumously in 1924.

Performances of Mefistofele will run through December 1st and tickets are available online.

This will be the opera's first performance at The Met since 2000. Of the 67 performances of Mefistofele, all but 13 came before 1927. Much of the recent interest in the opera is because of Samuel Ramey's devilishly sexy performances at the San Francisco Opera, which were captured on video.

Christian Van Horn wins 2018 Richard Tucker Award

Christian van Horn

The Richard Tucker Foundation as announced that bass-barihunk Christian Van Horn is the winner of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award. He is the first bass-baritone to be win the award since John Relyea in 2003 and only the third in the award's 40-year history. He receives $50,000 for winning the award.

Past winners include Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, and Matthew Polenzani. 

Van Horn, who just finished a run as Mephistopheles in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Faust, can next he heard as Enrico in Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Canadian Opera Company from April 28th-May 26th. In September, he will perform Raimondo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera Philadelphia, followed by Mefistofele and Colline at the Metropolitan Opera.

San Francisco Opera's exciting summer season kicks off this weekend

Philippe Sly and Luca Pisaroni

The San Francisco Opera kicks off one of its most exciting summer season's this weekend in decade. First up is Hector Berlioz's epic 5 1/2 hour masterpiece Les Troyens with Anna Caterina Antonacci as Cassandra. She is perhaps the most exciting singing actress in opera since Leonie Rysanek.

The opera has not been performed in San Francisco in 47 years, where the U.S. stage premiere took place two years earlier in 1956 with Regine Crespin and Jon Vickers. The five-act opera is set to Virgil’s classical poem The Aeneid and is performed in two parts: “The Capture of Troy,” the Greek siege of ancient Troy including the famed Trojan Horse, and “The Trojans at Carthage,” the escape of the Trojans to the North African Mediterranean city of Carthage.

Christian Van Horn as Narbal (left)

Bass-Barihunk Christian Van Horn takes on the role of the queen's adviser Narbal, in an all-star cast that also includes Susan Graham as Dido, Bryan Hymel as Aeneas and Sasha Cooke as Anna.  The production is the largest physical production ever to be presented as the War Memorial Opera House, requiring 134 artists on stage and 95 musicians in the orchestra pit and backstage. The production first opened in 2012 at London’s the Royal Opera and later at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. Following the San Francisco Opera performances, the production will be seen at the Vienna State Opera. Performances run from June 7–July 1 and tickets are available online.

Two of the most beloved and gifted barihunks in the world head the cast of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, with Philippe Sly as Figaro and Luca Pisaroni as the lecherous Count. They'll be joined by Nadine Sierra as his Countess, Lisette Oropesa as Susanna, Kate Lindsey/Angela Brower as Cherubino, John Del Carlo as Bartolo and Catherine Cook as Marcellina. Performances run from June 14-July 5.

Christian Van Horn with fellow barihunk Andrè Schuen and hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann

Van Horn also appears as the Field Marshall in the world premiere of Italian composer Marco Tutino’s Two Women (La Ciociara), with a libretto by the composer and Fabio Ceresa. Anna Caterina Antonacci is also back as the mother Cesira. Her daughter will be played by Sarah Shafer. It is the first time in the history of San Francisco Opera that an Italian composer has been commissioned to write a new opera for the company.

The opera is based on 20th-century Italian author Alberto Moravia’s novel of the same name. Moravia’s critically-acclaimed 1958 work was adapted in 1960 by noted Italian film producer Carlo Ponti into a film directed by Vittorio De Sica starring Sophia Loren. Loren won the 1962 Academy Award for Best Actress for the performance—the first artist to win an Oscar for a foreign language film. Performances run from June 13-30.

Van Horn next appears as Zaccaria in Verdi's Nabucco at the Seattle Opera from August 8-22.

Seattle Opera keeps barihunk tradition alive in new era

German bass-barihunk Andreas Bauer

The Speight Jenkins era at the Seattle Opera is officially over, as incoming General Director Aidan Lang has announced his first full season, which will be presented in 2015-16. The good news is that the company's long-standing commitment to barihunks is in tact with some of the world's sexiest baritones and basses in all of their casts!

The six season opera will include a new production, a world premiere, and two of the repertory's greatest operas that have never been seen before in Seattle, Verdi's Nabucco and Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. Lang is also maintaining Seattle Opera's great Wagnerian tradition by presenting The Flying Dutchman with barihunk Greer Grimsley. He'll be alternating the role with Alfred Walker.

Nabucco will feature the Seattle debuts of barihunks Andreas Bauer and Christian Van Horn alternating the role of the High Priest Zaccaria, in a cast that also includes Gordon Hawkins in the title role and Mary Elizabeth Williams in the fiendishly difficult role of his daughter Abigaille.

Morgan Smith (left) and John Moore (right)

The company is also presenting the world premiere of Jack Perla's An American Dream, which resulted from the company's story telling initiative, the Belonging(s) Project. The World War II based libretto tells the story of strangers bound together after a Japanese American family is forcibly removed from where they live on an island in Puget Sound, and the new residents slowly piece together the history of their home. Barihunk Morgan Smith will sing the role of Jim, an American soldier married to Eva, a German Jew who has fled the Nazis and moved to the Pacific Northwest.

Morgan Smith will also alternate the role of Count Almaviva in a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with fellow barihunk John Moore. The cast also includes barihunk Aubrey Allicock as Figaro, a role he will rotate with Shenyang.

Sarah Larsen with  Michael Todd Simpson, Steven LaBrie, Joseph Lattanzi, and Colin Ramsey in the Seattle Opera's The Consul modeling Barihunk tee shirts (Photo by Elise Bakketun)

Other barihunks appearing with the company are Michael Todd Simpson as Cecil in Maria Stuarda and Keith Phares and  Brett Polegato rotating the role of Zurga in Bizet's The Pearl Fishers. The production will also include the Seattle Opera debut of Jonathan Lemalu as Nourabad. The female leads in the Donizetti will be Christine Rice and Joyce El-Khoury as the doomed queen, while Mary Elizabeth Williams and Keri Alkema sing Queen Elizabeth I, her hated rival.

Tickets and additional cast information are available online. 

Huffington Post: "Christian Van Horn -- A Busy Season at San Francisco Opera"

Christian Van Horn (as Oroveso - left)

Christian Van Horn  is part of a cast that is delivering old-fashioned vocal fireworks at the San Francisco Opera.  Joined by Sondra Radvonovsky as Norma, Jamie Barton and Russell Thomas as Pollione, the vocal quartet has already been dubbed The Fantastic Four by the opera staff. It's rare that an Oroveso receives this much attention, but Van Horn delivered a performance that defined the role for this generation. Sean Martinfield ran the following feature in the Huffington Post:

Christian Van Horn is Oroveso in San Francisco Opera's new production of Bellini's Norma. The bel canto gem opened the 2014/15 Season on September 5, making Christian's resounding bass-baritone the first voice to be heard in the company's 92nd season. As Chief of the Druids and father of Norma, the community's High Priestess, Oroveso enters and instructs the soldiers and priests to watch for the light of the silvery new moon. At that moment, the sacred gong will be struck, whereupon Norma will enter and deliver a mandate from their god. In no uncertain volume, Oroveso rouses the mens spirits predicting that the message will be a clear declaration of war against the occupying Roman forces. The clamor of defeat will reverberate even to the streets of Rome. Oroveso is persuasive in his vision of victory and Christian Van Horn is precisely the brand of baritone Bellini had in mind. For die-hard fans of Norma, a season opening is a dream come true. It has been nine years since San Francisco Opera last presented the work - and another seven before that.

"This is not La Bohème, you know," observed Christian. "I think it says a lot about the audience - that the company feels comfortable putting this on. This is a big opening and I think San Francisco is ready for it. Even Wagner has opinions about Norma, being one of his favorites - you have to cast heavy, top-to-bottom. You get vocal theatrics and there's no opportunity for passive performing. You have to be aggressively on top of it to make the opera what it needs to be. It is a privilege to sing this music. My role is a good size role. Bellini left us a document to go by and we have to follow what's in there. But within that - with Maestro Nicola Luisotti at the helm - there are these slight moments to be artistic."

[Read the entire interview HERE]

There are four performances of Norma remaining at the San Francisco Opera between September 19-30 and tickets are available online. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: GIUSEPPE VERDI'S BICENTENARY (October 10, 1813 - January 27, 1901)

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born in Roncole in the former duchy of Parma, he first studied music in the neighboring town of Busseto. Then, upon being rejected in 1832, because of his age, by the Milan Conservatory, he became a pupil of the Milanese composer Vincenzo Lavigna. He returned to Busseto in 1833 as conductor of the Philharmonic Society.

Thomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey sings "Provero che degno" from Un giorno di regno:

At the age of 25 Verdi again went to Milan. His first opera, Oberto, was produced at La Scala with some success in 1839. His next work, the comic opera Un giorno di regno (King for a Day, 1840), was a failure, and Verdi, lamenting also the recent deaths of his wife and two children, decided to give up composing. After more than a year, however, the director of La Scala succeeded in inducing him to write Nabucco (1842). The opera created a sensation; its subject matter dealt with the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, and the Italian public regarded it as a symbol of the struggle against Austrian rule in northern Italy. I Lombardi (1843) and Ernani (1844), both great successes, followed, but of the next ten productions only Macbeth (1847) and Luisa Miller (1849) have survived in the permanent operatic repertory. Verdi's three following works, Rigoletto (1851), Il Trovatore (1853), and La Traviata (1853), brought him international fame and remain among the most popular of all operas.

 Christian Van Horn Banco's sings "Come dal ciel precipita" from Macbeth:

Operas written in the middle of Verdi's career, including Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball, 1859), La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny, 1862), and Don Carlo (1867), exhibit a greater mastery of musical characterization and a greater emphasis on the role of the orchestra than his earlier works. Aïda (1871), also of this period and probably Verdi's most popular opera, was commissioned by the khedive of Egypt to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal; it was first performed in Cairo. Three years later, Verdi composed his most important non-operatic work, the Requiem Mass in memory of the Italian novelist Alessandro Manzoni. Verdi's other non-operatic compositions include the dramatic cantata Inno delle nazioni (Hymn of the Nations, 1862) and the String Quartet in E minor (1873).

Jonas Kaufmann & Dmitri Hvorostovsky sing "Solenne in quest'ora" from La forza del destino:

In his 70s, Verdi produced the supreme expression of his genius, Otello (1887), composed to a libretto skillfully adapted by the Italian composer and librettist Arrigo Boito from the Shakespearean tragedy Othello. This was followed by Verdi's last opera, Falstaff (1893), also adapted by Boito from Shakespeare, and generally considered one of the greatest of all comic operas.

In general, Verdi's works are most noted for their emotional intensity, tuneful melodies, and dramatic characterizations. He transformed the Italian opera, with its traditional set pieces, old-fashioned librettos, and emphasis on vocal displays, into a unified musical and dramatic entity. His operas are among those most frequently produced in the world today.

Christian Van Horn's breakout performance as Four Villains

Christian Van Horn in SF Opera's Tales of Hoffmann

Bass-Barihunk Christian Van Horn is about to have a major breakout performance in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann opening on June 5th at the San Francisco Opera. People who have sat through the dress rehearsals tell us that the American singer may steal the show in a star-studded cast that includes Natalie Dessay and Matthew Polenzani.

Van Horn who previously has only sung the minor role of Crespel in Tales of Hoffmann, has been assigned the task of singing the four villains: Lindorf, Coppélius, Miracle, and Dapertutto. Offenbach intended all four roles to be performed by one singers, as they are all various manifestations of evil.

The San Francisco Opera is presenting nine performances of the opera from June 5-July 6. There is still seating available for most performances and tickets can be purchased online. As a bonus, barihunk Hadleigh Adams can be seen in the roles of Luther and Schlemil.

Christian Van Horn sings Non piu andrai from Le Nozze di Figaro

Keep an eye out for Van Horn's new recording of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro recorded under the baton of Theodor Currentzis on Sony Classical.

He can next be seen at the Canadian Opera Company this Fall as Colline in Puccini's La boheme.

Canadian Opera's sexy Collines open new season

Hot Collines: Tom Corbeil and Christian Van Horn

The Canadian Opera Company in Toronto has announced their 2013-14 season, which is leading the way with a barihunk filled production of Puccini's La boheme. We often get asked if we post basses and bass-baritones, as well. We post all of the low male voices and actually love when we see roles like Colline filled with sexy bass-baritones. After all, the guys in La boheme are bunch of young, Parisian artists, so we expect them to look the part.

Phillip Addis

The Canadian Opera Company hasn't disappointed us in this regard, rotating Christian Van Horn and Tom Corbeil as Colline. Both singers have been regulars on this site. They've also cast Phillip Addis and Joshua Hopkins as the Marcellos, so barihunk fans should get their tickets now. Performances will run from October 3-30, 2012. Tickets are available online.

Tom Corbeil, who recently wrapped up a tour of the Addams Family: The Broadway Musical, returns to his operatic roots in a big way, as he'll also be singing Swallow in Benjamin Britten's masterpiece Peter Grimes. Tenor Ben Heppner will sing the title role and soprano Ileana Montalbetti will take on Ellen Orford. Peformances run from October 5-26, 2013.

Robert Gleadow

Other operas this season include Robert Gleadow as Guglielmo in Mozarts Cosi fan tutte (Jan 18-Feb 21), Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (Feb 2-22), Handel's Hercules (April 5-30), Donizetti's Roberto Deveraux (April 25- May 21) and Massenet's Don Quichotte (May 9-24).

Benjamin Britten's Centenary Will Keep Barihunks Busy

Duncan Rock: Hugely popular with our readers

When we flip over the December 2012 Barihunks calendar in twelve days, we will enter the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth. It will prove to be a busy year, as along with Mozart, his operas have provided the most eye candy to our readers.

Britain's The Independent takes a look at the upcoming year and lists their Top 10 performances of 2013 (listed at the end of this post). We have our own list of performances that we're looking forward to since certain operas like Billy Budd and The Rape of Lucretia have provided us with some of our favorite posts.

On August 10th, the Glyndebourne Festival will present Billy Budd with three barihunks who have appeared on this site: Jacques Imbrailo as Billy Budd, Christian Van Horn as Lieutenant Ratcliffe and the mega-popular Duncan Rock as The Novice’s Friend. We should also mention that the sublimely gifted tenor Mark Padmore will be Captain Vere. Visit the Glyndebourne website for additional information.

Dae-Hee Shin als Tarquinius und Carolina Krogius als Lucretia in Eisenach

Although many schedules and much casting has not been announced yet, here are some of the notable performances that we're watching. The Rape of Lucretia will be performed in Eisenach, Florence, Oslo and Trieste. Jacques Imbrailo will take his Britten on the road as Tarquinius in Florence in May. Peter Grimes is scheduled in Berlin, Karlsruhe and Stockholm. Albert Herring will be performed in Milwaukee, Sydney, Toulouse and Victoria with barihunk Sam Dundas taking on the role of Sid in Sydney,  Barihunks Calendar cover model Craig Verm taking on the same role in Toulouse and Phillip Addis as Sid in Victoria. The Pacific Opera in Victoria is also having a mini-Britten festival that will also include his rarely performed opera Noye's Fludde and Let's Make an Opera/The Little Sweep. There will be plenty more of these being announced and we'll make sure to keep you apprised.

The Turn of the Screw may end up being the most performed of Britten's operas in 2013, with performances already announced for Bologna, Istanbul, Kassel, Cologne, Mannheim, New York City Opera, Saarbrucken, Tel Aviv and West Palm Beach. 

Sam Dundas

10 INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS from The Independent:
• Brazilian premiere of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', São Paolo (March 2013)
• 'Peter Grimes' performed on the beach during the Aldeburgh Festival (June 2013)
• Royal Opera House: 'Gloriana', new production by Richard Jones (June 2013)
• Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics give joint performance of the 'War Requiem' in Berlin conducted by Sir Simon Rattle (June 2013)
• Choir of London tours the Palestinian Territories (August 2013)
• Israeli premiere of 'Curlew River', Tel Aviv (September 2013)
• Focus on Britten at Tanglewood and Aspen Festivals, USA (August 2013)
• Opera North devotes entire season to Britten operas (from September 2013)
• Moscow Festival of Britten includes Russian premiere of 'Death in Venice' at Moscow Conservatoire and an exhibition at the Pushkin Museum (November 2013)
• 75,000 schoolchildren in the UK sing 'Friday Afternoons' simultaneously on Britten's centenary (22 November 2013)

ONLY 11 DAYS LEFT TO BUY YOUR 2013 BARIHUNKS CHARITY CALENDAR FEATURING DUNCAN ROCK AND 13 OTHER STUNNING MEN!:

Christian Van Horn takes on more Villains, Victims and Bearded, Unhappy Old Men

Christian Van Horn headed off to another role debut

The last time we featured American barihunk Christian Van Horn, he was all the buzz in Opera News. The running joke about Van Horn, is that despite his barihunk looks, he gets cast in roles that don't show off his assets. That's not changing any this summer, as he makes his role debut as Banquo at the Grand Theatre du Geneve opposite the unhappy and ambitious duo of Jennifer Larmore as Lady Macbeth and Davide Damiani as Macbeth. 

Performances of the new Christof Loy production will run from June 13-26. Additional cast and ticket information is available on the company's website. 

James Morris sings Banquo's aria "Come dal ciel precipita" from Macbeth: 

After Geneva, Van Horn will be singing with two of our favorite companies, the San Francisco Opera and the Dallas Opera. In San Francisco, he continues to show off his sinister side as he takes on the four villains in Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann" - Coppélius, Dapertutto, Dr. Miracle and Lindorf. The dream cast also includes Natalie Dessay as the four heroines Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta, Stella; Alice Coote as Nicklausse; and, Matthew Polenazni as Hoffmann. We have a feeling that this is a performance that should be added to any opera lover's travel calendar. Also, don't miss the San Francisco Opera's amazing summer season that includes Adam's Nixon in China, Verdi's Attila and Mozarts Magic Flute with Nathan Gunn.

In Dallas, he continues the trend of playing unattractive old men, as he takes on Timur in Puccini's Turandot. The production opens April 5, 2013 with the amazing Lise Lindstrom as Princess Turandot. The ubiquitous Nathan Gunn will also feature in the Dallas Opera season, as he is cast in Dominick Argento's "The Aspern Papers" in another all-star cast that features Susan Graham, Carol Vaness and the stunning young tenor Joseph Kaiser.

If you want to see and hear Van Horn out of make-up, you'll have to head to Los Angeles, where he's joining the L.A. Philharmonic as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. The performance is on July 10, 2012 at the famed Hollywood Bowl and will be conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

   

Opera News features Christian Van Horn

Christian Van Horn (Photo © Brian Kuhlmann 2012)

Christian Van Horn has a leading man's energetic charm and dashing good looks — virtues that were kept somewhat under wraps this past fall, when he was singing Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Crespel in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Turandot's Timur at San Francisco Opera. "When I show up for a job and go to have a wig fitting, I can always spot mine — it's the gray one, and it usually has a long, gray beard to go with it." Van Horn has a fair amount of practice playing older men: during his two full seasons as a contract artist at Bayerische Staatsoper, his seventeen roles included a run as Edita Gruberova's father in Norma, an experience he says was "kind of like singing with Angelina Jolie, because [Gruberova] is so wildly famous there. The applause after the show would last for an hour sometimes, and the crowds of people waiting for her outside the theater were unbelievable."

[Read the entire feature at the Opera News website]


F. PAUL DRISCOLL

You can subscribe to Opera News at their website. 

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Don't forget to buy Randal Turner's CD. He's currently starring in Rufus Wainwright's "Prima Donna" at 

New York City Opera

Nathan Gunn: Son of God

Nathan Gunn (right) to play Yeshua (Jesus Christ)

Fans of Nathan Gunn already think he's godlike, so it only seems logical that he was destined to play the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The San Francisco Opera just announced a delightfully ambitious season that includes Mark Adamo's "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene." The opera draws on the Gnostic Gospels, the Canonical Gospels, and decades of biblical scholarship to reimagine the story of the New Testament through the eyes of its lone substantial female character.

Nathan Gunn practicing his Jesus portrayal as Billy Budd

This opera will undoubtedly stir up some controversy, as it looks at the woman who Jesus loved in a whole new light. Mary Magdalene will be played by the Nicole Kidman-esque Sasha Cooke, so we can surely expect a non-traditional Mary-Jesus narrative. We can also expect to hear from the Catholic Church, so this opera will undoubtedly create some press controversy (and opera in the mainstream press is a good thing!). Kudos to the San Francisco Opera for taking a risk and challenging opera audiences and for bringing us an exciting new work.

Speaking of exciting new works, the San Francisco Opera is also presenting Nolan Gasser's "The Secret Garden" and Jake Heggie's "Moby-Dick." David Gockley and the San Francisco Opera family deserves special praise for bringing three new American works to the public in one season during difficult economic times when most companies are reduced to producing an endless stream of lackluster old war horses.

Marco Vratogna sings "Quei due vedesti?" from Simon Boccanegra:

Of course, no opera could survive without the standard repertory and the San Francisco Opera's 2012-13 season includes some great theater. Operas include Bellini's "I Capuleti e i Montecchi," Verdi's "Rigoletto," Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann," Wagner's "Lohengrin," Puccini's "Tosca," and Mozart's "Così fan tutte."

Christian Van Horn (left) and Philippe Sly (right)

A number of barihunks have also been cast, including the imposing Christian Van Horn as the four villains in "Tales of Hoffman," Marco Vratogna as Rigoletto, Morgan Smith as Starbuck in "Moby-Dick" and the exciting leading role/mainstage debut of Phillipe Sly as Guglielmo in "Così fan tutte." We've been predicting major stardom for the Met Auditions winner Philippe Sly and we're thrilled that he's been cast in a starring role on a major stage.

We're pretty sure that the San Francisco Opera is the opera hot spot for music lovers this year. Visit the San Francisco Opera website for tickets and additional information.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Christian Van Horn's Breakout Performance in Chicago

Christian Van Horn backstage as Raimondo

Andrew Patner of the Chicago Sun-Times has highlighted the performance of barihunk Christian Van Horn in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." It's not often that the character of Raimondo gets singled out, but anyone who has seen the towering Van Horn or heard his incredible voice, knows that he has a way of standing out in a crowd. Here is what Patner wrote:

The breakout performance here was from another Lyric alum, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, as the meddling tutor Raimondo who probably thinks that he’s truly helping Lucia. With both the restored Act 2 aria and especially later with the chilling “Dalle stanze ove Lucia,” announcing to the wedding party Lucia’s murder of the man she was forced to marry, Van Horn made good on the promise he showed during his Ryan years. [Read the entire review HERE].

There are seven performances remaining through November 5th. Visit the Lyric Opera of Chicago website for tickets and performance information.  

Here is Van Horn performing in "Romeo and Juliet" in Salzburg:



After his run of Lucia's, Van Horn heads west to the San Francisco Opera to sing Timur in the company's stunning David Hockney production of Turandot with another breakout performance, the Liu of soprano Leah Crocetto. 

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Barihunks in Boston

David McFerrin (Far Left) and Christian van Horn (R) (Photos by Jeffrey Dunn for Boston Lyric Opera © 2011)

The Boston Lyric Opera's performance of Handel's "Agrippina" is opening on Friday, March 11 with barihunks Christian Van Horn and David McFerrin (and lots of countertenors). For additional cast and performance information visit the BLO website. 

David McFerrin: Rising Star

McFerrin has been featured on this site before as one of the alternating leads in the Seattle Opera's premiere of Daron Hagen's "Amelia" (the other lead was Nathan Gunn). He was also a standout in Steven Blier's "New York Festival of Song" singing some of the more provocative songs on the program. McFerrin was also a Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions finalist and we encourage anyone in the Boston area to check out this rising star.

Here is a clip of Christian Van Horn performing in Lucretia Borgia at the Bavarian State Opera.

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