Doug Williams in US premiere of Scarlatti serenata

Doug Williams

Bass-barihunk Doug Williams will join baroque specialist Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra this week for the American premiere of Alessandro Scarlatti's The Glory of Spring . The serenata has not been heard in the western hemisphere for nearly 300 years, which the composer wrote to celebrate the birth of the heir to the Holy Roman Emperor.

The prince was John Leopold, son of Charles VI and his father’s only male heir. Since Charles had recently acquired the kingdom of Naples in a treaty, the Neapolitans commissioned Scarlatti, their court composer, to write a grand serenata to celebrate the prince’s birth and gain favor with their new sovereign. Scarlatti wrote the piece within a few weeks and it was performed to adoring audiences in Naples immediately following the birth. Unfortunately, just months after the The Glory of Spring premiered, the celebrated infant died and the incredible work was forgotten.

Performances run from October 4-10 in Berkeley, San Francisco and Palo Alto. He'll be joined by tenor Nicholas Phan, soprano Suzana Ograjenšek, mezzo Diana Moore, countertenor Clint van der Lindeand the Philharmonia Chorale.

Tickets are available online. You can listen to Doug Williams HERE.

Williams will remain on the West Coast, where he will join Stephen Stubbs and the Pacific Masterworks for Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers in British Columbia.  Performances are from October 23-25 and tickets are available online.

Renamed Dutch National Opera features sexy ads, sexy singers

Dutch National Opera

We'd be lying if we didn't admit that the bare butt in the ad for the Dutch National Opera (formerly De Nederlandse Opera) caught our attention. Curiosity got the best of us and we checked to see if anyone equally sexy was in their upcoming 2014-15 season. 

We also noticed pretty quickly that if sex sells, they'll have very few empty seats in the house, as that every opera features fairly provocative photography. 

Doug Williams

We didn't have to dig too deep into their calendar, as their first complete opera of the season, Monteverdi's Orfeo, features barihunk Doug Williams as Caronte. Readers may recall that we just featured baroque music's sexiest performer in a production of Handel's Agrippina in Omaha. 

Jérôme Varnier

Next up is Jérôme Varnier as Siroco in Emmanuel Chabrier's L’étoile, which runs from October 4-16. The company then switches to Wagner's Lohengrin with Günther Groissböck as Heinrich der Vogler. They wrap up the 2014 portion of their season with native barihunk Thomas Oliemans as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème.  

Thomas Oliemans

You can click HERE to view their entire season.

Pictures from Agrippina featuring "the hottest cast in opera"

Hadleigh Adams

Our recent post about entitles "Hottest Cast in Opera Assembled in Omaha for Handel's Agrippina" drew a disproportionate amount of traffic to our site. It proves once again that with great programming and singers who interest the public, opera can flourish anywhere.  After all, Omaha is better known for Warren Buffet than Leonard Warren.

They also hired the 29-year-old director James Darrah, who didn't shy away from the more sexual aspects of the story, keeping it current and fresh. Fidelity to the music was preserved under the direction of early opera specialist Stephen Stubbs. [By the way Darrah is some pretty serious eye candy, as well].

Hadleigh Adams

The performance received a rave review from the Omaha Tribune Herald.  They said of Hadleigh Adams, who played Claudio, "...Hadleigh Adams had a delivery that was impressively full-bodied and bold. He has a gorgeous voice and performed with a confidence befitting an emperor. Moreover, he had a physical presence that was commanding and powerful and conveyed that, like Agrippina, Claudius is used to getting what he wants."

Doug Williams

Of Doug Williams they wrote, "Bass-baritone Doug Williams and tenor Zachary Wilder perfectly complemented each other as Pallante and Narciso, and their standout scene featured each being pseudo-seduced by Agrippina in her bedchamber. While the action produced many laughs, it was the delivery that demonstrated their abilities to smoothly control their voices, even amid semi-steamy action."

Of course, even the music critic Kim Carpenter couldn't help but notice the attractiveness of this talented cast, giving us our favorite lines of the review: "As a side note, I feel compelled to mention that the entire ensemble is impossibly pretty. While it's the voices and acting that matter, of course, having a gorgeous line-up of performers makes the over three hour production all the more enjoyable."

Doug Williams

Opera Omaha, which began in 1958 as the Omaha Civic Opera Society, is the only professional opera company in Nebraska, It became a fully professional opera company by 1970 and is known for highlighting gifted young singers from the area as well as nationwide. The company is known for both its innovation and educational outreach programs. They had produced eight world premieres and four American premieres.

Although Agrippina ends today, they have performances of Rossini's La Cenerentola coming up in April with two singers familiar to readers of this site, Daniel Belcher and Levi Hernandez. Belcher will be singing Dandini and Hernandez is taking on Don Magnifico. The talented young tenor Andrew Bidlack will be Ramiro, joining soprano Lauren McNeese who is singing Angelina. Performances are April 25 and 27. Tickets are available online.