The Deutsche Oper Berlin continues its foray into the operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer, who at his death in 1864 was one of the most performed composers in Europe. The company featured a new production of his Les Huguenots in 2016, which was followed by Le prophète the next year. On March 4 and 7 they will perform two concert performances of his rarely seen opera Dinorah, ou Le
Pardon de Ploërmel. more commonly referred to as just Dinorah.
French barihunk Régis Mengus sings Hoël and American barihunk Seth Carico takes on the huntsman. They will be joined by Rocío Pérez in the title role, Philippe Talbot as Corentin, Gideon Poppe as the Harvester, and Nicole Haslett and Karis Tucker as the shepherds. Principal Guest Conductor Enrique Mazzola will lead both
performances.
Jerry Hadley and Thomas Hampson in the Act 2 duet from Dinorah:
The story takes place near the rural town of Ploërmel and is based on two Breton tales by Émile Souvestre, "La Chasse aux trésors" and "Le Kacouss de l'Armor," both published separately in 1850.
Dinorah is betrothed to Hoël. Her cottage has been destroyed in a storm. Hoël, in order to rebuild it, goes into a region haunted by evil spirits searching for a hidden treasure. Dinorah thinking that she's been abandoned loses her reason and wanders through the mountains in search of Hoël accompanied by the sound of her goat's bell.
You can watch barihunk Edwin Crossley-Mercer as Eurymaque in Fauré;s Pénélope from the Opéra national du Rhin until April 21st by clicking HERE. The performance includes honorary barihunk Anna Caterina Antonacci in the title role. The opera was featured along with Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring at the opening of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in March
1913. The opera is based on Homer's Odyssey and tells the story of Pénélope who has been waiting twenty years for the return of her husband Odysseus, the King of Ithaca. Meanwhile, many suitors emerged who she promised to marry when
she has finished weaving a shroud for her father Laertes.
Mark Van Arsdale and Edwin Crossley-Mercer
A silent, but sexy figure in Olivier Py's Pénélope
The role of Pénélope was originally written for the soprano Lucienne Bréval, who triumphed in the roles of Brünnhilde, Kundry and Griselda. Fauré's score is often reminiscent of both Wagner and Debussy and is filled with exotic, poetic motifs of desire. This production is directed by Olivier Py with sets by Pierre-André Weitz in a
realistic yet dreamlike interpretation.
Philippe-Nicolas Martin (left) and Jacques Jansen (right)
On October 2, French barihunk Philippe-Nicolas Martin returns to the role of Octave in Henri Sauguet's comedy Les Caprices de Marianne(The Moods of Marianne) at Opéra de Vichy. He's quite familiar with the role, as he's performed it in Rouen, Bordeaux, Limoges, Reims, Metz, Marseilles, Tour and Avignon. The opera has been rarely performed otherwise, with productions in Compiègne in 2006 and Dijon in 2007.
Ten days after the opera debut in 1954, it was broadcast on French radio with the great French barihunk Jacques Jansen as Octave. Jansen was the reigning Pelleas of his day. Sauget originally wrote the leading female role for the French coloratura soprano Lily Pons, but it was Graziella Sciutti who premiered the opera at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Philippe-Nicolas Martin sings the Commisarie in Poulenc's Les Dialogues des Carmélites:
The opera is based on an 1833 play by the French dramatist Alfred de Musset. It served as the basis for Jean Renoir's 1939 film, The Rules of the Game. Despite being a comedy, the story revolves around a married woman who considers taking a lover, drives her husband to jealousy and no-one ending up happy in the end.
There are additional performances of the opera scheduled in Rouen in December 2015, Toulouse in January 2016, Bordeaux in February 2016 and Saint-Etienne in April 2016. The role of Octave will be sung by either Marc Scoffoni or Philippe-Nicolas Martin in those productions.
September 8th is also Philippe-Nicolas Martin's birthday!
The Bavarian State Opera's free live streams atSTAATSOPER.TV continue from Munich on July 4th at 7 PM CET/2 PM EST/11 AM PST with Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande.
The cast includes barihunks Elliot Madore as Pelleas and Markus Eiche as Goulaud, as well as soprano Elena
Tsallagova as Melisande. Later this year the duo appear together again in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, with Madore as Harlekin and Eiche as the Music Instructor.
Markus Eiche studied at the Music Academy of Stuttgart and went on to win the 1998 the International Singing Competition ”Francesco Viñas” in Barcelona. He has become a regular at both the Vienna State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera. Upcoming roles in Munich include Lescaut in Manon Lescaut, Gunther in Gotterdammerung, Marcello in La boheme and the Count in Le nozze di Figaro.
Elliot Madore, a native of Canada, has been singing primarily in Europe since becoming part of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera. However, he'll be appearing on both US coasts this year, starting on September 12 when he sings Antony Hope in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at the San Francisco Opera with Gerald Finley and Stephanie Blythe. In December, he'll head east to appear at the Metropolitan Opera opposite Isabel Leonard and David Portillo in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia .
Barihunk lovers should be alerted that from May 8-29, 2016 at the Opernhaus Zürich, Pelléas et Mélisande will be performed with the barihunk trio of Jacques Imbrailo as Pelléas, Kyle Ketelsen as Goulaud and Eric Anttine as the Doctor.
Ben Connor (far left & right) with Gan-ya Ben-gur Akselrod and Julian Henao Gonzalez
The Theater an der Wien is presenting a double-bill of Ravel's L'heure espagnole with American barihunk Tobias Greenhalgh as Ramiro and Poulenc's Les mamelles de Tiresias with Australian barihunk as Ben Connor as Marì. Performances run through June 23.
Maurice
Ravel and Francis Poulenc wrote their respective works with the hope that they would revive the genre of
Italian opera buffa in the French language again. Although both operas failed initially at the Opéra Comique in Paris, both became staples of the standard repertory in the 20th century.
Tobias Greenhalgh in L'heure espagnole
Later this year at Theater an der Wien, Greenhalgh performs two roles in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea and Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes. On June 25 and 27, Ben Connor performs the baritone solo in Orff's Carmina Burana at the Wiener Volksoper.
Today we celebrate Charles Gounod's Faust, which premiered on March 19, 1859. We love the opera because it is one of a select group of operas that can feature three barihunks in a single evening. The roles of Méphistophélès, Valentin and Wagner are all cast with baritones. Méphistophélès is often cast with devilishly sexy baritones like John Relyea, Rene Pape or James Morris.
The opera got off to a rough start, initially being rejected by the Paris Opera and then not quite catching on with the public. It was revived in 1862 with a ballet added for the Parisians and became an instant hit. It has gone on to become one of the most popular operas in the standard repertory, opened the original Metropolitan Opera in 1883 and has been translated into 25 languages. It is currently the 35th most performed opera in the world.
Rene Pape sings Méphistophélès' aria "Le Veau d'Or":
The opera is loosely inspired by Goethe’s legendary story and timeless tale of the devil (Méphistophélès) who appears to the old scholar Faust, promising him the elixir of youth in exchange for his soul. Faust is transformed into a young, handsome man and sets out with his devious companion to experience the pleasures of the world. Faust seduces the beautiful and innocent Marguerite, only to abandon her before she gives birth to his child. Her reputation destroyed, but not beyond redemption, Marguerite calls upon the angels for salvation. Faust receives no such escape and is condemned to his devilish fate in this spiritual conflict between heaven and hell.
Gino Quilico sings Valentin's aria "Avant de quiter ces lieux":
Some of the greatest singers ever have taken on the role of Méphistophélès, including George London, Rene Pape, Sam Ramey, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Jerome Hines, John Relyea, Bryn Terfel, Boris Christoff, Jose Van Dam and Feodor Chaliapin.
Other famous operas based on the same story include Boito's "Mefistofele," Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust," and Busoni's "Doktor Faust." Boito's opera is probably closest to Goethe's original story.
There was some concern when the opera first premiered, as French censors were worried that church officials would be highly offended by the appearance of the devil in a church. Gounod invited a concerned clergyman to attend a rehearsal of the scene. The clergyman declared that he found the scene not at all offensive and, in fact, was quite complimentary of it. The censors were mollified and the scene was allowed. Gounod never told them that the clergyman was blind and could not tell that the scene took place inside a church. The "Church scene" from Gounod's opera, in which Méphistophélès torments the already distraught and guilty Marguerite by telling her that she is eternally damned for giving herself to Faust, is the dramatic crux of Gounod's opera.
The final trio from Faust with Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann and Erwin Schrott:
Although this site is dedicated to baritones, we'd be remiss to not show you this clip of tenor Alfredo Kraus singing Faust, which is one of the great moments in recorded operatic history.
Opera de Montreal will perform the increasingly popular baritone version of Massenet's opera "Werther."
They have cast Phillip Addis as Werther, who actually looks the part of the young, forlorn poet. Although the title role has generally been played by tenors, two recordings came out in 2004 featuring baritones in the lead. Both Luca Grassi and Thomas Hampson recorded the role with great success.
Performance begin on Saturday and run through February 3rd. You can visit the Place des Arts website or the Opera de Montreal website for additional cast and performance information. The opera company's website also included highlight footage of the performance and other multimedia features.
Here is Thomas Hampson singing the famous aria "Pourquoi me reveiller.":
[Photo of Jerome Varnier by L'Oiseleur des Longchamps]
Here are three video clips of the sexy French barihunk Jérôme Varnier showing off his beautiful voice in a concert performance of Pelléas et Mélisande. Check out his previous post on this site: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=varnier
