Ryan Kinny debuts Kurnewal in Houston Tonight

Ryan McKinny

Ryan McKinny is making his much anticipated debut in the role of Kurnewal tonight with the Houston Grand Opera. The all-star cast in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde is headed by Nina Stemme and Ben Heppner in the title roles. Performance will run through May 5 and tickets are available online. 

The former Houston Grand Opera Studio artist and Metropolitan Opera Auditions finalist, has become a regular with the company. He has appeared as Collatinus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia (2012), the Royal Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin (2009), Theseus in Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2009), Don Pedro in Mozart's Beatrice and Benedict (2008), The Refuge by Christopher Theofanidis (2008, 2007), Mr. Flint in Britten's Billy Budd (2008), Samuel in Verdi's A Masked Ball (2007), Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni (2006), and Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

Ryan McKinny as Jochanaan

Last season, Ryan McKinny made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Lieutenant Ratcliffe in Britten's Billy Budd, sang his first Jochanaan in Salome at New Orleans Opera (remember that sexy picture?), and sang Hercules in Alceste with Leipzig Opera.

In 2010, he was named the first recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize for singing Wagner at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition. He also represented the United States in the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, where he was a finalist in the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize.

Nmon Ford about to get his head served on a platter

Nmon Ford

It looks like Nmon Ford will be able to show off his amazing body next month when he debuts the role of Jochanaan (John the Baptist) in Richard Strauss’ Salome at the Opéra National de Bordeaux.

The new production by Dominic Pitoiset will be the first fully opera staged in the Palais des Sports (Auditorium de Bordeaux). The opera was impossible to present in the Grand Théâtre because of the size of the orchestra pit. 

This production reunites Nmon with the celebrated French soprano Mireille Delunsch, who is singing Salome for the first time, and with whom he performed in Hamburg Opera’s new production of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride. This will also be Ford's debut with the company.  

“Jochanaan is one of those roles that can surely be counted among the ‘Dream List’ of characters for a baritone,” explained Nmon during a recent interview.  “First of all, it’s beautifully written.  So many dramatic baritone roles don’t offer solid opportunities to show the beauty and colors of a voice, but Jochanaan isn’t like that.  The vocal writing is powerful yet lovely, and it allows the voice to demonstrate fully those two qualities as well.  Second, Strauss’ sense of dramatic timing is as well developed as Puccini’s, or Verdi’s, or Mozart’s.  Not a single note is wasted, and Jochanaan gets one of the best stage entrances in opera, on par with Scarpia’s or Dutchman’s.  Seriously, what more could one want?”

Performances are March 21, 24, 27 and 29 and tickets are available online.

Ryan McKinny

If France is too far to travel, barihunk Ryan McKinny will be reprising his sexy Jochanaan at West Palm Beach Opera on March 15, 16 and 17 with Erika Sunnegardh as Salome and the riveting Denyce Graves-Montgomery as Herodias. Tickets are available online.

Greer Grimsley Featured In Opera News

[Photo courtesy of SF Opera]


It's February, and a light snow is beating against the windows in the offices of OPERA NEWS. Greer Grimsley settles back in his chair, his extra-long legs stretched out in front of him, preparing to talk about himself and his career, a prospect that he says makes him feel "hugely grateful and surprised and honored, but intensely self-conscious." Onstage, Grimsley seems to be the least self-conscious man imaginable: his half-naked, totally crazed Jochanaan, a prophet of truly Biblical dimensions, recently ate up the stage at San Francisco Opera; his beautifully sung Wotan, a characterization of enormous humanity and surprising tenderness, has been the musical and dramatic power center of Seattle Opera's Ring cycle in its last two outings, in 2005 and 2009. Offstage, Grimsley is a tall, striking man, with little in his appearance that marks him as a performer, aside from a stage-worthy mane of long, gray-brown hair: his manner in private is perfectly affable yet scrupulously reserved. At first meeting, he seems more comfortable listening and watching than talking. "My first voice teacher was a big proponent of watching other performers. It didn't have to be a great performer, but by watching people perform, you learn something — no matter if they are talented in their craft. You learn from watching, and in this business, of course, by listening. To this day, I still learn from watching people."

[Read the rest of the article at OPERA NEWS]

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Happy Halloween

No pretty boys today, it's Halloween!

The top photo is John Marcus Bindel performing Jochanaan at the Nashville Opera.

The bottom photo is the usually adorable barihunk Martin Achrainer in Sweeney Todd.

I think both of these guys could scare some trick-or-treaters.


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