Barihunks Lunch in Fort Worth

Wes Mason, Michael Mayes and Jonathan Boehr

It's no secret that we're huge fans of the Fort Worth Opera Festival, which has become one of the best summer opera festivals in America, if not the world. Under the inspired leadership of general director Darren Woods, the once fledgling company has become a required stop for serious opera lovers. The company is known for its combination of old standards and works by new composers. The new works often become the hit of the festival, as is the case this year with Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied starring Michael Mayes. Woods is also notorious for finding gifted young opera singers before other companies "discover" them, so it's a wonderful opportunity to catch the next wave of great singers.

Wes Mason, Michael Mayes and Jonathan Boehr goof off; Anthony Reed flexes his guns

 

Aaron Sorensen, Michael Adams, Steven Eddy, Wes Mason, Michael Mayes, Jonathan Boehr & Anthony Reed

As is often the case when one of the Barihunks bloggers flies into town, a lunch with the hottest low voices tends to break out. Singers are all given a Barihunk tee-shirt and other gifts, which have ranged from coffee mugs to iPods. This year singers were given gift cards of varying value depending on their ability to answer Barihunks trivia questions. Jonathan Boehr was the winner of the $100 gift card and three CDs featuring baritones. Wes Mason was too busy having fun and missed answering a question where he was part of the answer. Wes also entertained the group with some of his amazing impersonations, which included Christopher Walken, Marlon Brando, Thomas Hampson and tenor Jonathan Blalock [see photo at bottom of the feed].

Jonathan Boehr, winner of 1st prize in the Barihunk Trivia Contest

Michael Adams sporting Michael Mayes' glasses and look

All of the singers shown above are appearing with the Fort Worth Opera Festival this year. Wes Mason is Marcello in La bohème, Michael Mayes is Capt. Jim Thompson in Glory Denied, Steven Eddy is Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Michael Adams is the Custom House Sergeant in La bohème and the Corporal in Daughter of the Regiment, Aaron Sorensen is Benoit/Alcindoro in La bohème, Jonathan Boehr is Schaunard in La bohème, and Anthony Reed is Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos. Tickets and additional information are available online.

Wes Mason channeling tenor Jonathan Blalock's famous Southern smile

Announcing our Second Beneficiary for our 2012 Barihunks Charity Calendar: Seagle Music Colony

Seagle Barihunks: Christopher Temporelli, Seth Mease Carico and Wes Mason.

 

We’re pleased to announce our second recipient of a donation from the 2012 Barihunks calendar, the Seagle Music Colony at Schroon Lake in beautiful upstate New York. There are many reasons to support this great training program, but the fact that it was founded in 1915 by baritone Oscar Seagle, an early 20^th century singer, certainly helped us in our decision. It’s also run by Darren Woods, who runs one of the best opera festivals in the world, the Ft. Worth Opera Festival. If your summer festival schedule includes Ravinia, Tanglewood and/or Spoleto and you haven’t checked out Ft. Worth, then you haven’t experienced the best of American opera.

A number of barihunks have trained at Seagle, including Ned Hanlon, John Cabrali,  Joe Hagar, Anthony Reed, Nicholas Wardcan and FOUR of our calendar models, Wes Mason, Seth Carico, Christopher Temporelli and Dan Kempson.  Since it’s founding in 1915, numerous singers have gone on to have amazing careers in opera and on Broadway. Their mission statement is “To identify, train and develop gifted singers and to present quality opera and musical theatre performances to the public.” They’ve obviously been successful, as Seagle alumni have performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera and, of course, the Ft. Worth Opera.

Oscar Seagle made several concert tours in the United States and Europe, and recorded albums for Columbia, including the popular World War I hit "Dear Old Pal of Mine." He served from 1903-1914 as teaching associate in Europe with his teacher, the great Polish tenor Jean de Reszke. De Reszke was a star of the Metropolitan Opera as well as Queen Victoria's favorite singer.

Darren Woods has served as General Director at the Seagle Music Colony since 1996. In 2000, it was named "Best Summer Vocal Training Program in the United States" by Classical Singer Magazine. Seagle receives over 500 applicants each year and it has expanded from two productions and eight performances per summer to six full productions and over thirty-five performances. Our favorite young director, John de los Santos (whose video you can see at the right) is also a regular at Seagle. 

We’re delighted to have them join the Portland Opera studio as one of our beneficiaries this year. We encourage you to purchase a calendar and help support his amazing organization. If you’re feeling extra generous this holiday season, please visit them online to make a donation HERE or mail a check to Seagle Music Colony, 999 Charley Hill Road, PO Box 366 – Schroon Lake, NY 12870.

Randal Turner (top), Seagle participant Dan Kempson (bottom left) & David Adam Moore (bottom right)

  BUY YOUR 2012 BARIHUNKS CHARITY CALENDAR TODAY BY CLICKING HERE!

Wes Mason: Overnight Sensation

We've been eagerly following the build up to the world premiere of "Before Night Falls" at the Ft. Worth Opera summer festival. Clearly, all eyes were on barihunk Wes Mason, the charismatic and talented young singer cast in the lead role. It's rare that a young singer with few major roles under his belt is tasked with such a demanding role at such an early stage of his career.

But credit General Director Darren Woods for having faith in Mason. In the videos we posted early one could see the enormous talent and growth of this young artist. From all accounts, Mason was a huge success. If conversations and emails that we've had with people in the opera world are any indication, we're going to be seeing a lot more of Wes Mason.

Here are some snippets from the first wave of reviews:

Onstage and singing much of the time, Wes Mason portrays Arenas with movie-star looks, a handsome baritone and strikingly clear diction. Scott Cantrell - Dallas Morning News

Wes Mason totally mastered an extraordinarily demanding role. Reinaldo Arenas, the central character, is on stage throughout the opera and sings in virtually every scene. This is a marathon for him, and he nailed it totally tonight. Blogger Leonard Link


Wes Mason as Arenas – who was rarely not onstage for two-and-half-hours — and Seth Mease Carico as a Fidel Castro type scored points, especially dramatically. Blogger Olin Chism

Wes Mason rises to the challenge of portraying Arenas, although you cannot help but wonder at the wisdom of entrusting such a punishing role to a young singer. He has a remarkable fresh lyric baritone voice, which one hopes he will be able to keep. Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, Theater Jones

Read the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram review HERE.
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