Vittorio Prato just teamed up with one of our favorite sopranos, Anna Caterina Antonacci, in performances of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Il Segreto de Susanna at the Grand Theatre de Luxembourg and the Opéra Comique in Paris. From all accounts it was a critical and artistic success.
When we first started following Prato, he was singing a lot of early music, including the title role in Monteverdi's Orfeo at the Opéra de Lyon, Handel's Giulio Cesare in Genua, Rameau's Les Indes Galantes in Toulouse and numerous performances as Massimo in Handel's Ezio.
Vittorio Prato sings "Va dal furor portata" from Ezio (Begins at 1:20):
We were thrilled to learn that Prato is returning to early music in his debut with the Academy of Early Music under Christopher Hogwood. Prato will be singing the title role in Handel's Imeneo in an all-star cast that includes Lucy Crowe as Clomiri, David Daniels as Tirinto and Stephan Loges as Argenio. The opera will be performed at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris on May 22, at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid on May 26 and at London's Barbican Hall on May 29.
Barihunk Morgan Pearse showed a little crack in his performance in the title role of Handel's Imeneo with the London Handel Festival. After receiving a tip form a reader, we introduced the Aussie hunk to readers in November 2011. We recently featured him again when he continued the barihunk winning streak by taking the top prize at the Royal Over-Seas League competition.
The production opens tonight at the Britten Theatre at the Royal College of Music in London with three additional performances. Pearse will perform tonight and on March 13th, with Luke D. Williams alternating on March 12th and 14th. The role of Argenio is being alternated between Timothy Nelson and Bradley Travis, two attractive singers who we need to start keeping an eye on. Tickets and additional information are available online.
Australian Barihunk Morgan Pearse in Imeneo
The Italian-language libretto of Imeneo was adapted from poet Silvio Stampiglia's text. Handel had begun composition in September 1738, but did not complete the score until 1740. The opera received its first performance at the Lincoln's Inn Fields in London on November 22, 1740, and received another performance on December 13th. Handel then revised the score, and this revised version received concert performances in Dublin, on 24 and 31 March 1742. The first modern production was at the Halle Opera House on 13 March 1960, conducted by Horst-Tanu Margraf.
Listen to Imeneo in its entirety with John Ostendorf, bass-baritone. Rosmene, Julianne Baird, soprano.
Tirinto, D'Anna Fortunati, mezzo-soprano. Clomiri, Beverly Hoch,
soprano. Argenio, Jan Opalach, bass. Brewer Chamber Orchestra &
Chorus, Rudolph Palmer.:
When we first saw these pictures, the naked body on the right was identified as baritone Nathan Berg. We've seen him perform and were confident that it wasn't him. A little further research revealed that he's a dancer in one of many nude scenes in Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The scene pictured above is supposed to represent the Garden of Eden, which featured jocks and rap stars as symbols of our decaying society.
A shirtless Vittorio Prato
The opera goes on to deal with a number of topics that Rameau clearly never had to grapple with musically in his day, including consumerism, cocaine, illegal immigration and Islamic attitudes towards women (sexy women in lingerie are covered in burkas). We don't review operas and we weren't there, so we'll let you decide how you feel about the updated production concept by director Laura Scozzi.
Of course, what really caught our eye was one of our favorite barihunks, Vittorio Prato, prancing around shirtless on the "beach." Prato plays the role of Osman in the first act, but doesn't appear elsewhere in the opera. Prato can next be seen in Wolf-Ferrari's "Il segreto di Susanna" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and then in the title role of Handel's "Imeneo" at the Théathe des Champs Elysées in Paris under Christopher Hogwood.
Nudity abounds in Théâtre du Capitole's latest production
Performances run through May 15 and additional information can be found at the Théâtre du Capitole website.
