Watch barihunk Marko Mimica in Lucrezia Borgia

Marko Mimica in Valencia's Lucrezia Borgia

You can watch barihunk Marko Mimica with soprano Mariella Devia in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia from the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Spain online until September 30 2017. Live performances run through April 8th.

Premiered in 1833 at La Scala, Lucrezia Borgia appealed powerfully to Romantic sensibilities for its dark subject matter and somber tone. The masterpiece was fully recognized as one of Donizetti’s finest scores only after the Paris premiere in 1840, which itself sparked some controversy as writer Victor Hugo successfully sued for plagiarism against the French translation of Romani’s libretto that was based on his tragedy.
 

Marko Mimica in Valencia's Lucrezia Borgia

Lucrezia Borgia is a true example of an ensemble opera: it has ten significant roles. The cast also includes William Davenport as Gennaro, Silvia Tro Santafé as Maffio Orsini, Fabián Lara as Liverotto, Andrés Sulbarán as Vitellozzo, Alejandro López as Gazella, Moisés Marín as Rustighello, Andrea Pellegrini as Gubetta Michael Borth as Astolfo and Simone Alberti as Petrucci.

Mimica can next be seen as Oroveso in Bellini's Norma in Verona from April 23-30.

Barihunks hit the road with English Touring Opera

Nicholas Lester (left) & Peter Brathwaite (photos from English Touring Opera)

The English Touring Opera is kicking off their new Spring season with some barihunks in key roles.

Peter Brathwaite, who has been a regular on this site and appeared in two of our charity calendars, will take on roles in two Donizetti rarities, Kaidamà in The Wild Man of the West Indies (Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo) and Incognito in The Siege of Calais. This will be the first staging of The Wild Man of the West Indies in Britain in the modern era.

The Siege of Calais tells the story of the sacrifices under siege of the citizens of Calais – and of the sacrifices of citizens everywhere, forced in extreme situations to decide what to give up for their country and their families.

Jan Capiński

Jan Capiński, who is new to this site will appear as Armando in The Siege of Calais. He recently completed his M.A. in Opera Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, graduating with distinction. He is currently training on English National Opera's Opera Works professional development program. Capiński was spotted by Scottish Opera while still a student and asked to cover the role of Pluto in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, before going on to perform the role twice with the main cast, marking his professional debut.

Click HERE to hear Jan Capiński sing Smirnov's aria from Walton's The Bear. You can also follow him on his blog or on Twitter @JanCapinski.

Nicholas Lester, who is also new to this site, will alternate the role of Marcello in Puccini's La bohème with Grant Doyle, who has appeared on this site numerous times.  He studied at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music and at the National Opera Studio, London where his studies were sponsored by Glyndebourne Festival Opera as the recipient of the Anne Woods/Johanna Peters Award. He has also appeared with the Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Nationale Reisopera and Opera Holland Park.

The tour opens in London at the Hackney Empire in March and travels through May to Truro, Norwich, Cheltenham, Suffolk, Leicester, Coventry, Exeter and Buxton. Visit their website for additional cast information and performance dates.

Vittorio Prato's busy year of Donizetti

Vittorio Prato working out and in Rameau's Les Indes Galantes

Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato just made his debut in Bad Kissingen, Germany as Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (Der Liebestrank for our German readers).  Prato was a replacement for Fabio Capitanucci, who had a scheduling conflict with the Montpellier Festival. From all accounts Prato was a huge success and we have some rehearsal footage of him singing the village sergeant's aria "Come Paride vezzoso."

Post by Vittorio Prato.

Prato will be singing some obscure Donizetti this Fall at the Bergamo Music Festival when he sings Max in Betly, ossia La capanna svizzera. It's been a busy year for him singing Donizetti, having performed Doctor Malatesta in Munich and Verona.

Betly is a one act opera giacosa that was composed during the summer of 1836. It is a love story full of pastoral naïveté, whose humor is both gentle and pointed. There are a number of comic scenes for Max and his regiment, as they try to intimidate Betly, and turn the quaking Danielle into a hero for her. The text for Betly was adapted from a libretto by Eugene Scribe for an opera called La Chalet. 

Betly premiered on August 24, 1836 at the Teatro Nuovo of Naples. It was very well received, and remained popular until the middle of the century when its popularity died out. It has begun to regain favor in recent years and Donizetti intended it to be performed with another of his one-act operas, Il Campanello.