Barihunk Christopher Burchett, who showed off that he look pretty hot in a pair of skivvies in David T. Little's Soldier Songs, is about to make history in Fargo, North Dakota. On March 28th and 30th at the Fargo Moorhead Opera, he'll be part of the Poe Project Double Bill, which is comprised of two one-act operas, Buried Alive and Embedded, which were commissioned by American Lyric Theater as part of Edgar Alan Poe centennial back in 2009. These will be the first opera premiere ever presented in the state.
Composer Jeff Myers and librettist Quincy Long's Buried Alive draws on themes of anxiety and mortality from Poe’s story “The Premature Burial,” as a painter’s nightmares of death start to become real. It will be directed by Larry Edelson.
Composer Patrick Soluri and librettist Deborah Brevoort's Embedded was inspired by Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” The libretto revolves around a TV news anchor who finds herself on the other side of the headlines. It will be directed by Sam Helfrich.
Aaron Sorensen & Jonathan Blalock
Burchett will be joined in both operas by soprano Caroline Worra, soprano Sara Gartland, mezzo soprano Jennifer Feinstein, bass Nathan Stark and tenor Jonathan Blalock, who was recently awarded a Barihunks Calendar Grant along with bass Aaron Sorensen to make a joint West Coast recital debut in 2014.
Tickets for the world premiere production of the Poe Project may be purchased online.
Fargo-Moorhead Opera was founded in 1968 and and is the only full-season opera company from Omaha to Winnipeg and Minneapolis to Billings. The company tours regularly throughout North Dakota and rural Minnesota as a part of its commitment to bring opera to communities that have never before experienced live opera.
Benjamin Covey, Gregory Dahl and Jonathan Estabrooks (PHOTO: Sam Garcia)
We don't usually think of La Traviata as an opera where we would find three barihunks that have appeared on our site. In fact, it's rare to find it in Verdi, although his Attila has surely given us plenty of barihunk duos, who also happen to have some pretty exciting music. But Opera Lyra in Ottawa assembled three Canadian barihunks in their production of the Verdi masterpiece: Benjamin Covey as the Marquis, Jonathan Estabrooks as the Baron Douphol and Gregory Dahl as Germont.
Gregory Dahl as Jokanaan in Salome w
As much as we love seeing three barihunks on stage together, the big news from this production is actually the return of Opera Lyra. Like many opera companies during the Great Recession, the Ottawa-based company struggled and cancelled performances, never quite sure if they could fully recover. This concert version of Traviata was a sure-fire way to get opera audiences back in the door. They will follow up with completely staged performances of Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini's Madama Butterfly, as well as a family performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.
Traviata has one more performance tonight at 8 PM at Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.
We love seeing Jonathan Estabrooks back at Opera Lyra since we began covering him when he was first appearing with the company. He has kept busy since moving to New York City, where he just completed his first performance at Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the Oratorio Society of New York in Paul Moravec's The Blizzard Voices.
Check out Jonathan Estabrook's "A Singer's Life":
Estabrooks will also team up with fellow Ottawan Larry Edelson at the American Lyric Theater in New York City. Edelson has cast Estabrooks as Alan Turing, the World Warr II computer genius who was persecuted for being gay.
Commissioned in honor of the Turing Centennial, The Turing Project
is a historical fantasia based on the life of the English scientist
Alan Turing. The opera explores Turing's extraordinary contributions to
mankind, his county's disavowal of him because he was gay, and the
mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. The opera imagines the
man inside the legend, the unique perspective he had on the universe,
the public and unashamed view he had of his own homosexuality, and the
impact he had upon the future of civilization.
Gregory Dahl will head to the Mannitoba Opera on April 13 for three performances as Amonasaro in Aida.
Canadian barihunk Daniel Okulitch will reprise his huge success as Willy Wonka in The Golden Ticket opening tonight with the Atlanta Opera. The opera is based on author Roald Dahl's classic story "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which became the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." The opera was written by American composer Peter Ash and British librettist Donald Sturrock and was co-commissioned by the American Lyric Theater and Felicity Dahl. The Opera Theater of St. Louis, Wexford Opera Festival and the the American Lyric Theater co-produced the world-premiere.
Here is some rehearsal footage from the current production:
Okulitch created the role for the world-premiere of The Golden Ticket in 2010
with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. This will be his debut with the Atlanta Opera debut. From all accounts, his performance is a "must see" masterpiece of acting and singing.
Fair warning to Wonka purists, four of the roles played by children in the movie will logically be performed by adult opera singers.
The opera will run from March 3-11 and you can find additional information on the Atlanta Opera website. The cast also includes barihunk Jason Hardy as Grandpa George/Mr. Beauregard.
You can order Daniel Okulitch's CD at a special 10% for Barihunks
readers by clicking on the logo at the bottom of the GPR Records page
that looks like this:
