Jesse Enderle digs in his fangs as Don Giovanni

Jesse Enderle

Barihunk Jesse  Enderle will be singing the title role in Undercroft Opera's Don Giovanni where artistic director Mary Beth Sederburg explores the similarities between the Mozart classic and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Her team created an all-new libretto,  English language libretto where the nobleman preys on brides-to-be.

Performances are on May 28 at 8 p.m. and May 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Undercroft Opera is a Pittsburgh-based company that creates a community for singers and orchestral musicians by offering performance experience to emerging and seasoned local artists. Since their founding in 2006, they have performed Cosi fan tutte, La boheme, Le Nozze di Figaro, La traviata, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, The Medium,  L’elisir d’amore, Les Contes d’Hoffmann and a concert version of Don Carlo.

Jesse Enderle is a two-time regional winner in the Metropolitan Opera Regional Council Auditions in Wisconsin. He has performed with the Fort Worth Opera, Central City Opera, Opera Theater Summerfest, Florentine Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Tulsa Opera and the Arbor Opera Theatre.

Eugene Brancoveanu: "Velcome to my house..."

A week ago, we ran a post about barihunk Eugene Brancoveanu playing Dracula in the straight theater. Here is a video of him discussing the role and even providing us with a preview of the famous line, "Velcome to my house..." Brancoveanu was cast after he was seen in a very "carnal" production of Don Giovanni at the Berkeley Opera.



The production is currently running at the Center Repertory Company through November 20 at the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts in Walnut Creek, California (a short drive from San Francisco).

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Romanian Barihunk to Play Dracula

 What better news as Halloween approaches than to report that Romanian barihunk Eugene Brancoveanu has been cast as Dracula. This role is non-operatic and will introduce the dramatically intense and insightful singer to a whole new audience. Brancoveanu took the San Francisco Bay Area by storm with his edgy and original portrayal of Don Giovanni with the Berkeley Opera and the Livermore Valley Opera.

The performances with the Center Repertory Company will run from October 22 through November 20 at the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts.

Here's a highlight from an article about the production in the Walnut Creek Patch:

At least temporarily. Butler said he has found his ideal Dracula in Brancoveanu, whom he first saw in the title role in Berkeley Opera's production of Don Giovanni.


He's one of the hunky baritones tracked on barihunks.blogspot.com.


"I'd never seen a performance like that, especially in an opera," Butler recalls. "It was like a rock star performance, wildly creative. In the Dracula rehearsals, Eugene has been fantastic. He's a maniac, fearless. He comes up with great ideas, he's very bold, and he's got the physicality to pull them off."


In the Bay Area, Brancoveanu has sung the Pilot in The Little Prince and Belcore in L'elisir d'amore for San Francisco Opera and the Count in Livermore Valley Opera's Marriage of Figaro. He also sang the role of Marcello in Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme on Broadway. And he took many leading roles with the Romanian State Opera.


"Eugene told me that as a Romanian, he just had to play Dracula," Butler recalls. "He said, 'He's our national hero!' "

You can read the entire article HERE.

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