Barihunk Jesse Enderle will be singing the title role in Undercroft Opera's Don Giovanni where artistic director Mary Beth Sederburg explores the similarities between the Mozart classic and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Her team created an all-new libretto, English language libretto where the nobleman preys on brides-to-be.
Performances are on May 28 at 8 p.m. and May 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
Undercroft Opera is a Pittsburgh-based company that creates a community for singers and orchestral musicians by offering performance experience to emerging and seasoned local artists. Since their founding in 2006, they have performed Cosi fan tutte, La boheme, Le Nozze di Figaro,La traviata, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, The Medium, L’elisir d’amore, Les Contes d’Hoffmann and a concert version of Don Carlo.
Jesse Enderle is a two-time regional winner in the Metropolitan Opera Regional Council Auditions in Wisconsin. He has performed with the Fort Worth Opera, Central City Opera, Opera Theater Summerfest, Florentine Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Tulsa Opera and the Arbor Opera Theatre.
Jesse Enderle opens tomorrow in Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Misérables at the San Antonio Playhouse's Russell Theater as Javert. Performances will run from October 3-November 3 and tickets are available online.
At 28 years, Les Misérables is now the longest running musical in the world. It has been translated into 22 different languages and performed in 42 countries and 319 cities. The San Antonio production adds one more professional performance to the 48,000 that have occurred worldwide, giving it a total audience of more than 60 million people. There have been over 47 cast recordings of Les Misérables including albums, singles and symphonic. Both the original Broadway cast album and the symphonic recordings won Grammy awards.
Philip Quast sings Javert's suicide aria:
We first learned about Fargo native Jesse Enderle when he was two-time
regional winner in the Metropolitan Opera Regional Council Auditions in
Wisconsin. We then saw him in a hysterical turn as Pooh-Bah in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado at the Fort Worth Opera Festival.
In addition to Fort Worth, he has appeared with the Central City Opera,
Tulsa Opera and the Arbor Opera Theatre. Other roles he has performed include Baron Douphol in La Traviata, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Carmen, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and Sid in Albert Herring.
Also, make sure to order your 2014 Barihunks charity calendar with 16 of the hottest baritones in all of opera. Click HERE to order today. All proceeds are going to benefit young artists and young artist programs.
Malcolm MacKenzie in Trovatore; Dan Kempson & Justin Hopkins in Hydrogen Jukebox
The Ft. Worth Opera Festival continues to establish itself as a major force among summer opera festivals internationally. The company continues to showcase some of the best emerging talent in the business today, as well as mixing standard repertory with operas that both challenge audiences and appeal to a new generation of opera goer.
Among the "second tier" of opera companies, Ft. Worth practically stands alone in terms of both innovation and quality of performance. Next season is no exception, when they will feature two standard repertory operas, Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" and Puccini's "Tosca," with two contemporary operas, Mark Adamo's "Lysistrata" and Jake Heggie's "Three Decembers."
This year's surprise hit is Philip Glass "Hydrogen Jukebox," which has been completely sold out for weeks. It also happens to feature two emerging barihunks, Dan Kempson and Justin Hopkins. The show also features them baring a bit of skin, so warn your grandma. It's no secret that we're huge Glass fans on this site where you can watch his opera "Kepler" in its entirety, so we're thrilled that Glass is being performed deep in the heart of Texas.
Emerging Barihunk Jesse Enderle and Director John de los Santos
This year's Fort Worth Opera Festival is also featuring a critically acclaimed production of Verdi's "Il Trovatore" with baritone Malcolm MacKenzie. Also on the program is an updated version of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado" directed by our favorite young director/choreographer John de los Santos, who choreographed last year's hit "Before Night Falls." Fans of countertenors will be delighted with the production of Handel's "Giulio Cesare," which features two countertenors and a male soprano. Despite the high male voices, barihunk fans will be delighted to know that Achillas will sung by the stunning and gifted young singer Donovan Singletary, who was a standout in the Lindeman Young Artists program.
Donovan Singletary
Here is Singletary performing some Rachmaninov songs:
The festival runs through June 5. Check out the Ft. Worth Opera website for performance times and additional cast information.
