Malte Roesner to premiere new Clint Borzoni song cycle

Clint Borzoni (left) and Malte Roesner (right)

German bass Malte Roesner, who was born in the United States, will be premiering a quintessentially American song cycle by Clint Borzoni, based on the poetry of Wendell Berry. The cycle, which is entitled "The Hidden Singer" revolves around seven poems all associated with birds, which are normally correlated with high soprano voices. The low, male voice works well with Berry's settings, who has been dubbed the "conservationist poet," and Borzoni's music grounds these works solidly in nature and the Earth around us. The song cycle is scored for string quartet, but opens with an a cappella setting.

Randal Turner sings Borzoni's "That shadow, my likeness":

The concert will be held at Ansel Adams' former home in San Francisco and tickets include a generous supply of wine and food, in keeping with Musica Marin's tradition to present chamber music in the original intimate, salon setting of a home. The song cycle will be paired with Mendelssohn's String Quartet in A minor. Tickets for the June 3rd concert are available online. 

The song cycle was commissioned specifically for Roesner, and Borzoni said that he learned a lot from working directly with the singer, who is also a musicologist and recently transitioned to a lower voice range.

We asked Malte Roesner to tell us about this song cycle and here's what he had to say:

"Artistic expression can speak to us on many different levels. It can be emotionally beguiling or intellectually stimulating or aesthetically pleasing. Only exceptional art has the ability to reach us on all of them simultaneously. The same way that multi-sensory learning is the most effective way of understanding or memorizing something, I think that this multi-level impact is what makes art captivating. 

The poems by Wendell Berry do have this quality. They are modern poems, but they are also timeless through their imagery of nature and metaphor and in their deeply spiritual sense of connectedness. 

We are very lucky that in this song cycle Clint was not only able to capture these qualities and feelings, but augment them by adding his own artistic depth.  Either this is just a very lucky pairing or Clint has shown an exceptional sensibility when writing this music (probably both), because I feel that his composition possesses the same timelessness and captivating visceral quality as the poems.  

There is an earthy and "woody" feeling to the music, yet it washes over you like water. At other times there are almost folkish elements that dance with an aerial lightness. And I am sure I could also describe a fiery quality in order to cover ALL the alchemistic elements...There is not a lot of art song literature written specifically for the bass voice, maybe because this voice type functions a little bit differently than high voices or because it feels as if it only lends itself for very specific topics. I feel that this song cycle is a truly special and important addition to the bass song repertory, because it just... works... and then gets you in the feels."

Borzoni, who is the Composer-in-Residence at Musica Marin, has become associated for writing for low male voice. He has written a song cycle for bass-baritone Tim Hill, several songs for bass-baritone Randal Turner (based on Walt Whitman's poetry) and penned two pieces for String Quartet and baritone for Marco Vassalli based on German settings. His opera "When Adonis Calls," which is scored for baritone and bass-baritone, is receiving performances in both Asheville and Chicago this year. He also wrote the two-act opera “Antinous and Hadrian,” which features a baritone lead. His opera The Copper Queen,  won Arizona Opera's Sparks Competition for new works, and is based on a true story about the alleged ghost of a prostitute haunting a historic hotel in Bisbee, Arizona.

Marco Vassalli sings Borzoni's "Stufen":

Roesner made his highly-acclaimed U.S. stage debut last year with West Edge Opera in Soler's The Chastity Tree, as well as his recital debut performing music by Soler and Süßmayr. He recently performed the Devil in Weinberger's Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer (Schwanda, the Bagpiper) at the Stadttheater Gießen in Germany.

Malte Roesner co-creates and performs in sold out Opera Parallèle concert

 

Malte Roesner from the 2018 Barihunk Photo Book

Malte Roesner, who earlier this year made his U.S. stage debut with West Edge Opera in Vicente Martín y Soler's The Chastity Tree (see our post), as well as his U.S. concert debut, is returning on December 10th for a recital at San Francisco's historic Palace of the Legion of Honor. The concert is a collaboration with Opera Parallèle and the museum. 

A musicologist, as well as a singer, Roesner helped put together the program, which centers around composers who had some connection to the painters Gustav Klimt and Auguste Rodin. The two artists are being featured at an exhibit at the Legion of Honor. The program also features the rising young star, lyric soprano Amina Edris, as well as accompanist Keisuke Nakagoshi. The innovative show quickly sold out and resulted in online bartering for tickets and a demand for a second concert! (None has been announced). 

Roesner will be performing Hugo Wolf's Michelangelo Songs, as well as pieces by Alexander von Zemlinsky and Hans Pfitzner. Amina Edris will be performing works by Reynaldo Hahn, Alma Mahler, Claude Debussy and Henri Duparc.

According to Roesner the paths of Klimt and Rodin intersected in the 1898 Secession in Vienna and both of their most famous pieces are titled "The Kiss." 

According to his program notes, other connections include:   

• Michelangelo Buonarroti was one of Rodin's main role models. He traveled to Rome to study him. Rodin said, "It is Michelangelo who has freed me from academic sculpture." 
• Alma Mahler was a close friend of Gustav Klimt and the 5 Lieder contain one song with lyrics by Rainer Maria Rilke, who was Rodin's private secretary.      
• Alexander von Zemlinsky was a Viennese contemporary of Klimt's and together with Gustav Mahler a competitor for Alma Schindler's (later Mahler-werfel) affection. According to her diary and her autobiography Klimt was her first kiss and Zemlinsky both her composition teacher and the man she experienced her sexual awakening with, but ultimately she decided to marry Mahler, who was 20 years her senior.       
• In a scandal over an artistic dispute, Debussy came out publicly as a supporter of Rodin. Debussy and Klimt were both born and died the same year.   

If you're missing this concert, you may have a chance to see Roesner with Opera Parallèle during their 2018-19 season. We recommend that you buy early. Check out their current season online, which includes the world premiere of Marcus Shelby's Harriet's Spirit, as well as a double-bill of Jake Heggie's At the Statue of Venus and Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti.

Malte Roesner from the 2018 Barihunks Calendar

ONLY 24 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.

Introducing bass-barihunk Philipp Alexander Mehr in Mannheim's Mahaggony

Philipp Alexander Mehr in Mannheim's Mahagonny

30-year-old bass-barihunk Philipp Alexander Mehr, who is new to this site, is currently appearing in Kurt Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Performances are running through July 19th.

Philipp Alexander Mehr made his debut as a twelve-year-old at the Frankfurt Opera in Peter Maxwell Davies' children's opera Cinderella and dabbled with rock music as a teenager. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt and the Mannheim School of Music, continuing his studies on a Richard Wagner scholarship. He also studied cognitive neurosciences before dedicating himself to music. 

He is the co-founder of "Mehr & Milde," which performs songs and cabaret.  

Upcoming roles in Mannheim include Alidoro in Rossini's La Cenerentola, the King in Verdi's Aida, the Priest of Jupiter in Handel's Hercules, Tom in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera and Titurel in Wagner's Parsifal. 

Introducing Bastian Thomas Kohl & Étude Arts

Soloman Howard, Bastian Thomas Kohl and Sean Michael Plumb (L-R)

We'd like to introduce readers to the German bass-barihunk Bastian Thomas Kohl, as well as his management agency, Étude Arts.

The latter might seem unusual, but it's not often that we see a new agency, especially one that has two barihunks who we've featured, Soloman Howard and Sean Michael Plumb, and one that we somehow missed, Bastian Thomas Kohl. The agency was founded by IMG Artists Senior Vice President Bill Palant. He seems well-suited for the job, having worked in the business for 19 years after a career with the Metropolitan Opera’s Rehearsal Department and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.  Most importantly, he has a degree in psychology from Oberlin College which will serve his well in this endeavor!

Bastian Thomas Kohl, began his musical career at the age of four and received his formal training at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig and in Vienna at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst.

His international career commenced at the age of nineteen as a member of the Opernchor Leipzig appearing frequently with Gewandhausorchester under the direction of Riccardo Chailly.  He joined the Opernhaus Zürich in the 2014-15 season as a member of the International Opera Studio and has been heard in productions of Lohengrin, Robin Hood, Fidelio and Fälle,  Upcoming performances in Zürich include roles in Iris Ter Schiphorst's children's opera Die Gänsemagd, Richard Strauss' Elektra, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame.

Upcoming performances for Soloman Howard include Banco in Verdi's Macbeth at Kentucky Opera, Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. in Philip Glass' Appomattox at Washington National Opera, Prince Gremin in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at North Carolina Opera and Fafner in Wagner's Das Rheingold at Washington National Opera.

Upcoming performances for Sean Michael Plumb include Marcello in Puccini's La bohème at Curtis Opera Theater, Olav Bjaaland in Miroslav Srnka's South Pole with fellow barihunk Thomas Hampson at the Bavarian State Opera and Der Graf in Richard Strauss' Capriccio at Opera Philadelphia.

Pape to sing for Pope

We had to run this item just for the headline and the fact that we can't think of any other reason to post Pope Benedict XVI.  It's also probably the only time that a Pope will be featured in two consecutive posts, as our last post about Attila featured Sam Ramey playing Pope Leo I. 

Pape will sing in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Daniel Barenboim at Milan’s La Scala, in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI on June 1st. The Pope's visit is part of the World Encounter of Families, which deals with issues relating to the family. The first Pope to attend a performance at La Scala was was Pope John Paul II, who enjoyed selections from Verdi operas in 1983 under Riccardo Muti.

Pope Leo I

After entertaining the Pope, Pape will don a crown and perhaps borrow the papal scepter to play King Philip II in in Verdi’s Don Carlos under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst at the Vienna State Opera. Performances run from June 16-29 and the cast also includes fellow barihunk Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo. Visit the Vienna State Opera website for additional details. 

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Remembering Two Great Basses

Two of the greatest basses died on June 21st, the first day of summer, thirty years apart - the Austrian Emanuel List and the German Karl Ridderbusch. Although they might not necessarily be remembered as quintessential barihunks, they were two amazing singers who deserve to be remembered today.

Emanuel List

The noted Austrian-born American bass, Emanuel List (1886-1967) - real name, Flessing - was a boy chorister at the Theater-an-der-Wien. Following voice training with Steger in Vienna, he toured Europe as a member of a comic vocal quartet. He went to the USA and appeared in vaudeville, burlesque, and minstrel shows. After further vocal studies with Zuro in New York, he returned to Vienna in 1920.

In 1922 Emanuel List made his operatic debut as Charles Gounod's Méphistophélès at the Volksoper. He then sang at Berlin's Städtische Oper (1923-1925) and State Opera (1924-1933), London's Covent Garden (1925; 1934-1936), the Salzburg Festivals (1931-1935), and the Bayreuth Festival (1933). List made his Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in December 1933, as Hermann in Tannhäuser. While remaining on its roster until 1948 [16 seasons (1933-1948, 1949-1950), 449 performances, 17 roles, 16 works), he also appeared in San Francisco and Chicago (1935-1937) and gave lieder recitals. He was again on the Metropolitan Opera's roster in 1949-1950. In 1952 he returned to Vienna.

Emanuel List was especially admired for the rich vocal resources he brought to such roles as Osmin, the Commendatore, Sarastro, Rocco, King Marke, Hagen, Pogner, Hunding, and Baron Ochs.




The fine bass singer, Karl Ridderbusch (1932-1997) , first wanted to become a engineer. He was discovered at a singing competition by Rudolf Schock, who partly financed his musical education. From 1955, he studied at the Duisburg Conservatory, then from 1957 to 1961 at the Folkwangschule, Essen, with Clemens Kaiser-Brehme.

Karl Ridderbusch

Karl Ridderbusch had his debut at Münster in 1961 (Philipp II., Commendatore, Mathis der Maler). From 1963 to 1965, he was a member of the Essen ensemble. During this three-year engagement he began to add the great Wagner, Strauss and Verdi roles to his repertoire. In 1965 he joined the prestigious Deutsche Opera am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg (Sparafucile, Boris Godunow, Hunding). In 1967, he debuted at Bayreuth, which was the beginning of an international career. Until 1975, when he departed in anger from Bayreuth, he had sung Heinrich der Vogeler, Fasolt, Fafner, Hagen, Pogner, Hans Sachs, Hunding, Daland, Titurel, Koenig Marke. Other roles included Ochs auf Lerchenau, Monteverdi's Seneca, Donizetti's Henry VIII., Verdi's and Nicolai's Falstaff, Flotow's Plumkett, Cornelius's Barbier von Bagdad, Cardinal Madruscht in Palestrina, and numerous oratorio parts (Bach, Bruckner). He was a regular guest at the great opera houses of the world: La Scala (debut 1966), Metropolitan Opera (1967), Vienna State Opera (1968, Kammersänger 1978), Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1971), Paris (1967), Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Salzburg Osterfestspiele (1968).

Karl Ridderbusch possessed a voice of rich colour, which, allied with his rock solid technique spanning a full 2 octaves, made him a formidable singer. In the opera house, his voice easily sliced through the thickest orchestra, with a diamond like brilliance to the tone, yet he always maintained an almost bel-canto tone, even at extremes of volume. This made his success in parts like Hans Sachs, The Flying Dutchman and Boris almost a foregone conclusion when he finally added them to his repertoire. He was a powerfully built man, and his impact on the stage in the great Wagner roles was almost as impressive as his voice. His other roles included Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, Hunding in Die Walküre, and Hagen in Die Götterdämmerung.

Karl Ridderbusch died of severe heart condition and liver disorder at the age of 65 in June 1997, after his wife had taken him back to his home from an Austrian hospital the day before.



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