Brooklyn Art Song Society sings with barihunks

(Clockwise from top L) Jesse Blumberg, Jorell Williams, John Moore and Jarrett Ott

The Brooklyn Art Song Society not only has our favorite acronym (BASS), but they also seem to book the hottest and most vocally gifted basses and baritones for their concerts. This year's roster includes many of our favorite singers, most of whom have appeared on this site.

The season kicks off on September 18th with Britannica at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn. It will feature barihunk Jesse Blumberg along with soprano Sarah Brailey, mezzo Kate Maroney and tenor Nils Neubert in music by Dowland and Purcell.

On October 22, Jorell Williams will join soprano Justine Aronson and tenor Joseph Gaines for Ned Rorem's birthday celebration, which will include his King Midas and selected songs. Performances are at Bargemusic at Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn.

On November 6, barihunks Jarrett Ott and John Moore join tenor  Dominic Armstrong at The Old Stone House in Brooklyn for In Memoriam: Songs of the Great War, which includes music by William Dennis Browne, George Butterworth, Gerald Finzi, Ivor Gurney and Ralph Vaughan Williams. On November 11th, Ott and Armstrong will travel to the National WW I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City to reprise their portion of the program.

Jarrett Ott sings Glen Roven's "After Great Pain"

On December 3rd, Sidney Outlaw will be part of a program with tenor Dominic Armstrong that includes Finzi's A Young Man’s Exhortation and Ralph Vaughn Williams' Songs of Travel.

The February 14th concert will bring back Jorell Williams along with soprano Kristina Bachrach and tenor Dominic Armstrong for songs based on Shakespeare. The program includes music by Hector Berlioz, Ernest Chausson, Gerald Finzi, Francis Poulenc, Roger Quilter, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, and Peter Warlock.

Additional concerts include Jarrett Ott performing Britten on March 17th, Steven Eddy in a program of love songs on April 2, Kyle Oliver singing Hugo Wolf on April 19th, Steven Eddy and Michael Kelly singing more Wolf on April 29th, and Tyler Duncan and soprano Martha Guth performing the Canadian Songbook on May 22 at The Old Stone House.

Visit the BASS website for a complete list of concerts and performers. Tickets are available online.

Introducing Croatian Barihunk Matija Meić

Matija Meić

28-year-old Croatian barihunk Matija Meić began his studies at the Music Academy in Zagreb before continuing on to the University of Performing Arts Vienna. He performed Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen while at the Music Academy.

At today's Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition he performed Pylkkänen's Pastorale, a set of Finzi songs (Come away, come away, death; Who is Silvia?; Fear no more the heat o' the sun; O mistress mine; It was a lover and his lass), and Donizetti's Cruda, funesta smania from Lucia di Lammermoor. You can listen to his entire performance HERE.

In the 2010/2011 season, Matija Meić made his debut at the Zagreb National Theatre as Levi in Zajc's Nikola Šubić Zrinjski, subsequently performing Schaunard in Puccini's La Boheme. The following season he performed Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with the company.

Matija Meić sings Largo al factotum from the Barber of Seville:

In June 2013, Meić sang the role of Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. The following season he sang Belcore and Figaro at the Zagreb Opera House. This season, he was enlisted to sing the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Vienna Performing Arts University production at the Schlosstheater Scönbrunn.

Meić has take top prizes at a number of vocal competitions, including at the 2010 International Singing Competition in Montenegro in 2010, the Iuventus Canti Competition in Slovakia in 2013, as well as being named the “Young Singer of the Year ” at the Molto Cantabile Competition in Zagreb in 2013.