Vittorio Prato will make both his role debut and house debut when he steps on the stage this week at the Hamburg State Opera.
He'll be singing the role of Lescaut in Puccini's opera Manon Lescaut, led by the stunning soprano Kristine Opolais in the title role and tenor Jorge de León as Des Grieux. Performance are on March 21 and 29 and tickets are available online.
Puccini's libretto is an amalgam of text by five different librettists whom Puccini employed, including the composer Ruggero Leoncavallo, as well as Marco Praga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Domenico Oliva and Luigi Illica. The opera was composed between 1890 and 1893 and is based on the 1731 novel L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost. It was the composer's third opera and his first big success.
Barihunk Brandon Cedel, who appeared in our 2011 Barihunks calendar with his husband Jonathan Beyer, is featured in Opera News this month in their Sound Bites feature:
Brandon Cedel, who is
in his third and final season as a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, is the Sergeant in the
company’s new production of Manon Lescaut this month. Cedel
started at the Met in 2013, fresh from seven years at the Curtis
Institute and a win in the company’s National Council Auditions. “The
Met is like Disneyland for a young opera singer—literally everything you
could possibly want is there. You see how to act onstage, how to act
offstage. And you are surrounded by the best of the best every minute.”
We're huge fans of early Verdi operas at Barihunks, but we don't get nearly enough opportunities to post about them. Recently there have been a number of companies performing Attila, which often features multiple barihunks in the cast. Fortunately, the trend seems to be continuing in 2012.
In May, barihunk Ildar Abdrazakov will take on the title role in Rome in a production by Pier Luigi Pizzi and conducted by Riccardo Muti. Barihunk Luca Dall’Amico will perform the role of Leone. The San Francisco Opera performs it this summer with one of the greatest Attila's ever, Samuel Ramey, in the smaller role of Leone. The great baritone duet will be sung by Ferruccio Furlanetto and Quinn Kelsey, who portray Attila and Ezio respectively. In September, the opera opens in Santiago with barihunk Stefan Kocan in the title role.
One of the operas that rarely gets performed is La battaglia di Legnano, which has amazing moments of inspiration, Verdian patriotic fervor, a love triangle and some great baritone music (even though the best known piece is the tenor aria "La pia materna mano"). Verdi, in fact, was a baritone and loved writing great roles in that range.
We were thrilled when a reader sent us a video of barihunk Giorgio Caoduro singing the great baritone aria and cabaletta "Se al nuovo di pugnando...Ah scellerate alme d'inferno"" from a recent performance of La battaglia di Legnano at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste.
Caoduro can next be seen at the Opéra de Lyon where he is donning his matadors outfit for Escamillo. He can next be seen in the United States in March 2013 at the Washington National Opera singing Lescaut opposite the Manon Lescaut of Patricia Racette.
Barihunk Troy Cook's career continues to take off. The Opera Company of Philadelphia has announced that the fan favorite will perform the role of Lescaut in next season's production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut opposite the thrilling tenor of Thiago Arancam. To see the entire season with cast and production information, visit the Opera Company of Philadelphia website.
Fans of Cook can now visit the artist's new website, which includes audio/video, performance schedules and photos.
Below you can watch Troy Cook in another Puccini opera as he joins tenor James Valenti in singing the glorious tenor/baritone duet from La Boheme "O, Mimi tu piu non torni" from the Florida Grand Opera.
