Bevy of barihunk in AVA's Don Giovanni

André Courville, Anthony Whitson-Martini and Jared Bybee

Not to be outdone by the barihunk sextet rotating in casts in Don Giovanni at the Hampstead Garden Opera in the U.K, we were notified that the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia is also showcasing a bevy of barihunks in their production of the same opera.

André Courville will be singing Leporello (and rotating it with Nathan Milholin), Anthony Whitson-Martini will be singing Masetto (and rotating it with Jorge Espino) and Jared Bybee will be singing the title role (and sharing it with Daniel  Noyola and Ethan Simpson). To top things off Anthony Schneider will be singing the Commendatore. November 7, 10 and 12 in Philadelphia, November 14 in Bethlehem (PA), November 17 & 19 in Haverford and November 21 in Doylestown.

Nathan Milholin, Ethan Simpson and Anthony Schneider

AVA first presented Don Giovanni in 1986-87 with additional performances in 2000, 2005 and 2011, which featured many alumni who went on to international careers, including Nicholas Masters, Burak Bilgili, Latonia Moore, Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel, Ellie Dehn, Taylor Stayton and Othalie Graham.

Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Enjoy 18 more barihunks in our new Charity Calendar, which is on sale now. 

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André Courville wins Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition

André Courville (left) and Jared Bybee (right)

Barihunk André Courville won the Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition for Young Opera Singers in Los Angeles today. Five of the ten finalists were baritones this year, including fellow barihunks Jared Bybee and Michael Adams, who have both been featured on this site. Other finalists included baritone Anthony Clark Evans, soprano Chelsea Chaves, bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee, mezzo Sarah Mesko, soprano Julie Davies, soprano Elizabeth Baldwin and tenor Dominick Chenes, who won the Encouragement Award.

Dominick Chenes, Micahel Adams, André Courville and Jared Bybee

Courville's winning performance included "Vieni la mia vendetta" from Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia and Air du Tambour-Major from Thomas' rarely performed Le Caïd. Adams performed "Come Paride" from Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Thomas' "O vin dissipe la tristesse" from Hamlet, while Bybee sang "Per me giunto" and "io morro" from Verdi's Don Carlo.

Courville even managed to pay tribute to the great Ezio Pinza while in Hollywood, whose birthday we're celebrating today in a separate post.

Seven baritones/basses in Met Semi-Finals

Zach Owen, Jared Bybee and Michael Adams

Seven of the seventeen winners of the Metropolitan Opera regional competitions were baritones or basses, many of whom are familiar to our readers. Those who advanced will perform in the semi-finals on March 15th in a closed competition before judges. The winners will then advance to the Grand Finals Concert on March 22nd and perform two arias with conductor Fabio Luisi and the Met Orchestra.

The seven low male voices in the semi-finals are Michael Adams, baritone (Gulf Coast Region: Fort Worth, Texas); Nicholas Brownlee, bass-baritone (Western Region: Mobile, Alabama); David Leigh, bass (Eastern Region: New York, New York); Zachary Owen, bass-baritone (Midwest Region: Stillman Valley, Illinois); Reginald Smith, Jr., baritone (Southeast Region: Atlanta, Georgia); Matthew Turner, bass (Mid-South Region: Jackson, Kentucky) and Jared Bybee, baritone (Middle Atlantic Region: Modesto, California)

The Grand Finals Concert, which is held in the Met auditorium and open to the public, will be hosted by soprano Angela Meade, who herself first came to prominence in 2007 as a winner of the National Council Auditions. Meade will also sing an aria with the orchestra while the judges are deliberating. At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will receive an individual cash prize of $15,000.

Other semi-finalists include mezzo-soprano Jenni Bank, soprano Sarah Cambidge, soprano Marina Costa-Jackson, tenor William Davenport, mezzo-soprano  Allegra De Vita, tenor Joseph Dennis, soprano Kathryn Henry, mezzo-soprano Anne Maguire, mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun,  and mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez.

Tickets for the Grand Finals Concert begin at $25 and may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.

AVA's Bohemian Barihunks shine at Met Auditions

Nathan Milholin, Anthony Schneider, Jared Bybee and Michael Adams (L-R)

The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia is kicking off a twelve day run of Puccini's La bohème featuring four barihunks who all recently shined in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.

On February 2nd, we ran a feature on Michael Adams winning the New Orleans District regionals. He'll be singing Schaunard on opening night, Thursday, February 7th.

His Colline will be Nathan Milholin, who was regional finalist at the Philadelphia District auditions. He's sharing the role with Anthony Schneider, who also was a finalist at the Philadelphia District auditions.

We certainly can't forget about Marcello, who will be sung on opening night by Jared Bybee, another winner at the Philadelphia District auditions.

Adams and Bybee have both been featured on this site before, but Milholin and Schneider are new to our readers. Milholin, who hails from Greensboro, North Carolina, is a first-year resident artist at AVA. Bass Anthony Schneider, grew up in Auckland, New Zealand and Vienna, Austria, and is a second-year artist at AVA.

Tickets for all performances are available online.

Barihunk André Courville wins Giargiari Bel Canto Competition

Anush Avetisyan (far left) and André Courville

We're still mystified when we post about a singer and someone comments, "But can he sing?" Baritones (including a large percentage of barihunks) have been winning major singing competitions at a rate so high that this era has been dubbed the "Golden Age of Baritones." Composers like Ricky Ian Gordon have publicly marveled at the rich supply of amazing baritones and mezzos, while composer Jake Heggie is now writing most of his male leads for lower voices.

The latest barihunk to walk away with top honors is André Courville, who won the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia last night. He sang Sorge infausta una procelia from Handel's Orlando. Other barihunks in the competition were Jared Bybee, who performed O Carlo, ascolta from Verdi's Don Carlo, and Michael Adams, who performed Ô vin, dissipe la tristesse from Thomas' Hamlet.

The Oreste A. and Arturo Giargiari Bel Canto Competition was founded by Raymond F. Giargiari in memory of his father and brother, both opera fans and AVA devotees. Originally, vocal selections from the "bel canto" repertoire were performed exclusively, but over the years the competition has grown to include Italian, French, German, and English language arias from a variety of periods. Past winners include tenors James Valenti and Stephen Costello, and soprano October Opera News cover girl Angela Meade.  AVA Master Vocal Coach Danielle Orlando prepares and accompanies the singers.

The competition concert will be broadcast online today at 4pm EST/1pm PST You can listen and vote for your favorite singer online.

Reader Submission: Jared Bybee

Jared Bybee

Our latest readers submission is Jared Bybee, who was suggested by two of our readers. Bybee is a first-year Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. This season he has performed Germont in AVA's La traviata and Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, both with fellow barihunks André Courville and Michael Adams, as well as Prince Yeletsky in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame also with Michael Adams.

Bybee, who hails from Modesto, California was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions District Winner in Salt Lake City in 2013. He was also an Apprentice Artist at the Santa Fe Opera last summer.

Don't forget to join our campaign to send barihunk Xavier Edgardo to the Opera on the Avalon young artist program. Even a $5 or $20 contribution will go a long way in supporting this talented young artist. Click HERE to give today.