Morgan Smith's many upcoming debuts (mostly in Texas!)

Morgan Smith

Perhaps one of the most anticipated American premieres this year is that of exiled Polish-Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Holocaust opera The Passenger. We covered the opera two years ago when it was at the English National Opera with barihunk Leigh Melrose as Tadeusz. A year earlier the piece was done in Bregenz with Artur Rucinski in the baritone role.

In January 2014, the opera is coming to the Houston Grand Opera with barihunk Morgan Smith as Tadeusz, in a cast that also includes rising tenor sensation Joseph Kaiser, two of our favorite sopranos Kelly Kaduce and Melody Moore, as well as mezzo-soprano Michelle Breedt. David Pountney’s production and Johan Engels’s two-level set, which received critical acclaim at ENO and in Bregenz, will be brought to Houston.

Leigh Melrose in The Passenger

The libretto is based on the eponymous novel by Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz and is set in the late 1950s. It depicts a German couple, Liese and Walter, on board an ocean liner where former SS officer Liese thinks she recognizes an Auschwitz prisoner among their fellow passengers. Although Weinberg completed his score in 1968, the opera was not performed until 2006 and not fully staged until the 2010 Bregenz Festival.

The Houston Grand Opera will present a number of activities related to the opera. A series of three free concerts begins on November 10 with the world premiere of a new work by HGO Studio alumnus and composer David Hanlon, commemorating the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht and based on the story of his grandfather, one of the thousands of Jewish people arrested on that infamous night and sent to Dachau. On December 9, they will host a concert exploring the music, art, poetry, and philosophy that emerged from Terezín, a concentration camp located in the Czech Republic. The third and final performance on February 22 features music of memory and hope with world premieres of works by Lawrence Siegel and Paul English based on text and inspiration from Holocaust survivor Naomi Warren.

Morgan Smith

Morgan has a number of new roles besides Tadeusz that he is adding to his repertoire next season. In Novemeber 2013, he takes on Captain Brandt in Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra at the Florida Grand Opera. In March 2014, he debuts the role of Fritz in Erich Korngold's Die Tode Stadt at the beautiful Winspear Opera House in Dallas. When he wraps up, he heads down Interstate 30 to the Fort Worth Opera where he performs Lt. Audebert in Kevin Puts' Silent Night in a cast full of his fellow barihunks.

If you've not had the chance to see Morgan Smith live, we highly recommend adding one of these performances to your opera travel calendar. He is one of the most compelling young artists to hit the scene in years.

Doug Carpenter's winning set from the Lotte Lenya Competition

Doug Carpenter as he appeared in the 2012 Barihunks Calendar

Last Sunday we posted about Doug Carpenter who had just won the Lotte Lenya Competition. The entire video of his winning set of songs is now available on YouTube, so we'd thought we'd share it with you. The American barihunk sang "C'est Moi" from Lerner and Lowe's Camelot,  Pierrot's Tanzlied ("Mein Sehnen, Mein Wehnen") from Korngold's Die Tote Stadt,  "This is New" from Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark and "Molasses to Rum" from Sherman Edwards' 1776. Shane Schag is accompanying him on piano.

John Chest's Munich Recital and Upcoming Billy Budd Debut in Berlin

John Chest

We haven't posted about American baritone John Chest in awhile. He's another of the long list of barihunks who have been cleaning up at vocal competitions, having won the Arleen Auger Prize in the 2012 Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition. Previously, he also won the prestigious Stella Maris International Vocal Competition.

We first saw Chest when he was with the Merola Opera Program, where he brought down the house with his shirtless Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte . He is a recent graduate of the Opera Studio at the Bayerische Staatsoper, where he sang over eighty performances including Fiorello Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Schaunard La Bohème, Lovec Rusalka, Petrucci Lucrezia Borgia, Carmen with Jonas Kaufmann, La Bohème with Anja Harteros, and Lucrezia Borgia with Edita Gruberova.

If you're in the Munich area, you may want to catch his recital on Friday, November 16 at the Historischer Reitstadel. He'll be performing works by Samuel Barber, Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf with accompanist Marcelo Amaral. Call 09181/255-125 for tickets.

Many of his future engagements are in Europe, including Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Bari, a recital at the Wigmore Hall and revivals of La finta giardiniera in Morocco and in Luxembourg.

Actor Terence Stamp as the blond Billy Budd from the movie

In the 2013/14 season he will take up a Fest contract with Deutsche Oper Berlin, the highlight of which will be his debut in the title role of Britten's  Billy Budd in a new production by David Alden. Many people watching Chest's career have said that this role was practically written for him, as it perfectly suits his voice and appearance. Details have not been posted yet, but you can subscribe to the Deutsche Oper's free newsletter HERE for updates.

You can listen to Chest sing Pierrot's Tanzlied from Korngold's Die tote Stadt by clicking HERE.

Have you bought your 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar, which benefits young singers like John Chest? Click on the button below to help the next generation of singers: