Laurence Meikle in last night's La bohème in Wiemar (right)
Australian barihunk was a last minute replacement last night in Puccini's La bohème at the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar. The singer is no stranger to the opera having performed four roles: Marcello, Schaunard, Benoit and Alcindoro. What's amazing is that he's scheduled to sing Marullo in Verdi's Rigolettotonight at the Theater Nordhausen.
The story is reminiscent of soprano Kristine Opolais, who stepped into the Met's La bohème a night on April 5, 2014 a night after having performed Madama Butterfly. What makes Meikle's back-to-back performances so amazing is that it's not in the same opera house, but 90 minutes down the road.
When he's done with Rigoletto, he heads back to Wiemar to take on Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata beginning on January 24.
American barihunk Christopher Bolduc made his role debut as Marcello in Puccini's La boheme on Friday night at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany. Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, who is the new general director at the opera company, set the piece in a world of nostalgic fairy book charm, complete with a carousel.
Bolduc, who has impressed European audiences with performances at Oper Köln, Glyndebourne and Theater Basel is now on the permanent roster of the the opera in Wiesbaden where he's also wrapping up a run in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten today. He'll reprise his performance in that opera in May 2015. In between, he'll be singing Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and the King's Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin. American audiences will remember Bolduc from his stunning portrayal of Jake in Nico Muhly’s Two Boys in his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2013.
The current cast performs through October 30th with Matias Tosi taking over the role of Marcell beginning on November 14th. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.
The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia keeps churning out some of the greatest singers performing on major stages today, including sopranos Ailyn Pérez and Angela Meade, tenors Michael Fabiano and Stephen Costello, mezzo Joyce DiDonato and barihunks Keith Miller and Daniel Mobbs.
Once again they have another class with its fair share of great singers, including two who we've regularly featured on Barihunks. Wes Mason and Steven LaBrie, will be joining classmate Christian Bowers in AVA's triple-cast performances of Rossini's Barber of Seville.
Performances will run from November 3-17 in Philadelphia, Warrington and Haverford, Pennsylvania. For tickets and additional cast information call 215.735.1685 or visit the AVA website.
We first discovered Wes Mason in 2010 while he was preparing the role of Reinaldo Arenas in Jorge Martín's Before Night Falls at the Fort Worth Opera Festival. His remarkable performance prompted critic Scott Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News to remark: "Onstage and singing much of the time, Wes Mason portrays Arenas with movie-star looks, a handsome baritone and strikingly clear diction."
He is returning to Fort Worth this year to perform Marcello in Puccini's La boheme from April 20-May 11. We always include the Fort Worth Opera Festival on our travel agenda and this year will be no exception. Visit their website and order your tickets now.
Steven LaBrie sings "Non siate ritrosi" from Mozart's Così fan tutte:
We were tipped off about Steven LaBrie by one of his fans in Philadelphia. We've watched his career progress with his Second Prize win at the 2012 Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition and his performance of Xavier Montsalvatge's operatic telling of the children's classic El gato con botas (Puss in Boots) at Gotham Chamber Opera.
Peter Brathwaite(Photos by Gabriel Hennigson & Emilie Lauwers)
We're continuing our series of barihunks suggested by readers with British baritone Peter Brathwaite. Brathwaite recently graduated from the Royal College of Music International Opera School where he appeared in performances as Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte," Nardo in Mozart's "La Finta Giardiniera" and Demetrius in Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
He made his French operatic debut in 2008 at the Opéra National de Lyon singing the role of Nelson in in Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess." He reprised the role a year later at the Opéra de Lyon and at the Edinburgh International Festival.
He is the winner of the Samuel Coleridge Taylor Award at the Black British Classical Foundation, Voice of Black Opera Competition, a Peter Moores Foundation Major Award holder, Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme Alumna, Winston Churchill Fellow and winner of the RCM Ted Moss and Bertha Taylor-Stach Lieder Prize.
His career has now taken him to Belgium where he will perform a concert of operatic scenes at the Vlaamse Opera on May 26th. In June, he heads to the Netherlands to perform Marcello in Puccini's "La Boheme" with the Nationale Reisoper RAP. [Note: Please check schedules. We took this information from Brathwaite's website. The Marcello on the Reisoper website is Thomas Oliemans, who happens to be our next reader submission.]
Lee Poulis who is honing his formidable operatic skills at the Theater Bonn in Germany is back in the United States and performing the title role in the current production of Don Giovanni at the Sarasota Opera. We think Sarasota might have him a bit over-costumed after we saw this picture of him performing in L'elisir d'amore in Germany (although he looks pretty hot in leather).
There is a performance tonight and three more in March. Check out the Sarasota Opera website for additional details.
Christina Pier as Donna Anna & Lee Poulis as "bad boy" Don Giovanni
Check out the video of Poulis and his castmates discussing the opera. We particularly loved soprano Christina Pier's assessment of the title character, which pretty much sums up our fascination with the role, as well.
"There's something about that bad boy
that's so hard to resist."
We also found a couple of other barihunks on the Sarasota Opera website that we're going to have to keep and eye on. Grant Clarke is the Marcello in their current production of La Boheme and Bradley Smoak performs Francis Nurse in Robert Ward's The Crucible, both of which run through March 19. Smoak we actually spotted as Zuniga with the Palm Beach Opera last April, where he was a bit revealing in some tight white pants.
These shots of barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien are from Krakow where he is performing in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin." There are three performances left on December 19 and January 14 & 16. If you're anywhere near Poland make sure to check out his amazing portrayal.
In 2011, he's scheduled to reprise his portrayal of Malatesta in Don Pasquale at The Met, play the Count in "Le Nozze di Figaro" in Japan, repeat his definitive performance of King Roger in Madrid and return to The Met for Marcello in La Boheme. Oddly, his calendar shows no performances in Chicago, Seattle or anywhere in California.
It looks like the physical appearance of baritones is getting appreciated beyond Barihunks. Michael Mayes' own artist management company, ANA Archuleta, starts his bio with this tantalizing tidbit:
Michael Mayes is making waves in the opera world for his command of the stage and attractive masculine presence.
Mayes has been singing smaller roles around the country, but has recently graduated to playing lead roles including Marcello at Skylight Opera in Milwaukee.
