David Pershall and Steven LaBrie win top honors at George London Foundation Competition

David Pershall & Steven LaBrie

David Pershall who recently performed Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème and Lord Cecil in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Metropolitan Opera, has won one of the top prizes at the 2016 George London Foundation Competition. Also taking away top honors was fellow barihunk Steven LaBrie, who just wrapped up a performance of Ginastera's Estancia with the New York City Ballet. He will tour with the Ballet to Paris in July performing the same program.

Other top winners included soprano Antonina Chehovska, tenor A.J. Glueckert, soprano Kirsten MacKinnon and soprano Claudia Rosenthal. Winners receeived $10,000 each Other baritones and basses taking encouragement prizes included Colin Ramsey, Justin Austin, Jared Bybee, Michael Sumuel and John Viscardi. Encouragement Prize winners received $1,000 each.

Pershall performed Starbuck's aria from Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick.

Steven LaBrie sings Largo al factotum from the Barber of Seville:

Pershal has previously won 1st Prize in the Marcello Giordani Foundation International Vocal Competition, 1st Prize in the New Jersey Verismo Competition, 1st Prize in the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Competition, 1st Prize in the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition, 1st Prize in the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, 1st Prize in the Hugo Kauder Competition for Voice, the Presser Music Foundation Award, and the Thomas Stewart Award for Vocal Excellence.

LaBrie won the 2013 Encouragement Award at the George London Foundation Competition, second places in both the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition and the Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition as well as the Judges Award with the Opera Index Competition. In 2010, he was an encouragement award winner in Washington, DC, for the Metropolitan Opera National Council.

David Pershall performs Starbuck's aria in 2012:

Pershall can next be seen in Puccini's Manon Lescaut at the Vienna State Opera. Roucher in Giordano's Andrea Chenier at the San Francisco Opera and Albert in Massenett's Werther at The Met.

LaBrie can next be seen singing the title role in Rossini's The Barber of Seville with Lyric Opera Baltimore on March 11 and 13.

Perhall is a graduate of the Merola Opera program at San Francisco Opera and the Virginia Opera Resident Artist program. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Baylor University, as well as a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma from Yale School of Music.

Steven LaBrie is a recent graduate of The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

David Pershall to make Met debut

David Pershall at The Met

David Pershall, who just wrapped up a successful run in the title role of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Florida Grand Opera, will now make his house debut in the role at the Metropolitan Opera. His Rosina will be Ginger Costa-Jackson and Almaviva will be sung by Taylor Stayton. He'll perform the role on December 29th and January 1st, alternating the role with fellow barihunk Elliot Madore, who will perform with Isabel Leonard and David Portillo.

He'll be staying at the Met for three months, where he will also perform Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème and one performance of Lord Cecil in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda on February llth. In La bohème, Mimi will be sung by Maria Agresta, Musetta by Susanna Phillips, Rodolfo by Bryan Hymel and Marcello by Quinn Kelsey. The cast of Maria Stuarda includes Sondra Radvanvovsky and Elza van den Heever.

Pershall coming to New York from his new home base at the Vienna State Opera, where he has performed Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore, Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Sebastian in Adès' The Tempest. This summer he made his role debut as Rodrigo in Verdi's Don Carlo with Opera Burg Gars.

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Duncan Rock, Iurii Samoilov & Craig Verm

 

Hey, New Yorkers: Win two tickets to Met Donizetti screenings at BAM

We're giving away 10 sets of tickets to our New York City-area readers. The winner will send us either A) A singer that we haven't featured on the site that is worthy of Barihunk status, or B) A top for a story or feature on the site.

The winners will receive 2 tickets to see "Met Duet: Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda" on Sunday, June 22. It is a double encore Met: Live in HD screening that features Anna Netrebko (in Anna Bolena) and Joyce DiDonato (in Maria Stuarda) with in-person introductions to each opera by Deborah Voigt and a CD signing with Voigt.

Send your suggestions to Barihunks@gmail.com

A Plethora of Barihunks in High Definition from The Met

Mariusz Kwiecien

The Met: Live in HD series kicks off on October 13 with Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, starring barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien, Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani in a new production by Bartlett Sher. If you haven't seen Kwiecien in this role, jump on line NOW and buy your tickets. He practically owns this role in the world of opera right now.

 The Met's Live in HD features a plethora of barihunks this season in addition to Kwiecien including, Simon Keenlyside, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Joshua Hopkins, Rene Pape, Peter Mattei and Guido Loconsolo:

• The Met premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest  on November 10, starring Simon Keenlyside, conducted by the composer and directed by Robert Lepage. 
• A new production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera on December 8, starring Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marcelo Álvarez and Stephanie Blythe. The opera will be directed by David Alden and conducted by Fabio Luisi.
• The Met premiere of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda on January 19, starring Joshua Hopkins as Cecil and honorary barihunk diva Joyce DiDonato in the title role.
• A new production of Wagner’s Parsifal on March 2, starring barihunks Peter Mattei, and René Pape, who will be joined by tenor heartthrob Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Katarina Dalayman. The opera will be directed by François Girard and conducted by Daniele Gatti.
• A new production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare on April 27, starring Guido Loconsolo as Achilla, David Daniels Giulio Cesare and Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra. 

Guido Loconsolo sings "Verrà purtroppo il giorno" from Verdi's Un giorno di regno:

 Other offerings include:

• Verdi’s Otello on October 27, starring Johan Botha and Renée Fleming
• Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito on December 1, with Elīna Garanča, Giuseppe Filianoti, and Barbara Frittol
• Verdi’s Aida on December 15, starring Liudmyla Monastyrska, Olga Borodina, and Roberto Alagna
• Berlioz’s majestic Les Troyens on January 5, starring Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, and Marcello Giordani
• Verdi’s Rigoletto on February 16, starring Željko Lučić, Diana Damrau, and Piotr Beczala
• Zandonai’s rarely heard Francesca da Rimini on March 16, with Eva-Maria Westbroek and Giordani.