Bass-Barihunk Cody Quattlebaum was one of 12 singers who advanced at this week's Metropolitan Opera National Council Eastern Region District competition. In June, he took home $5,000 for winning the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition in Oakland, California. He finished his summer as a participant in the prestigious Merola Opera Program across the Bay in San Francisco.
Cody Quattlebaum sings Wolfram's Aria:
He'll be joined by two other baritones, as both Lawson Anderson and Michael Gracco advanced. Others who made the cut includes sopranos Heather Bobeck, Mary Claire Curran, Betsy Diaz, Anna Dugan, Emily Misch and Julia Wolcott, mezzo soprano Samantha Hankey, tenor Jonathan Tetelman and countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen. (BTW, don't miss any chance to hear Cohen, who possesses one of the most beautiful and thrilling countertenor voices to emerge in a decade).
Encouragement awards went to bass-baritone Derrell Acon, soprano Alaysha Fox, mezzo-soprano Kirsten Scott and soprano Yesul Yeon. We'll be keeping our eye on Acon!
The dozen winners will move on to the Region Finals on January 18th at Merkin Hall in New York City.
The 2017 Barihunks in Bed Calendar is on sale and is available HERE.
New York's operamission is continuing its ongoing series of presenting all 39 of Handel's complete operas with Rinaldo on June 14 and 16 at Merkin Concert Hall. Conductor Jennifer Peterson will lead a full baroque orchestra from the harpsichord in a concert performance of the opera, which is based on Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata.
Barihunk Franco Pomponi will sing Argante and hunken-countertenor Randall Scotting will sing the title role of Rinaldo. They'll be joined by soprano Christine Arand as the Queen Armida, soprano Malia Bendi Merad as Almirena and countertenors Nicholas Tamagna as Goffredo and Andrew Rader as Eustazio.
Franco Pomponi sings Hamlet's drinking song (at the 2:00 mark):
Pomponi will be singing Prospero in Thomas Adès' The Tempest at the Hungarian State Opera from May 19-June 1. After he's done performing Rinaldo, Scotting will continue to work out at the gym in preparation for his first bodybuilding competition (and providing further proof that we need a Hunken-Countertenor site).
Tickets for Rinaldo are $55 and $75 ($45 for students and seniors) and are available online.
If you missed Steven Blier's insightful and entertaining "Manning the Canon: Songs of Gay Life" last year, you're in luck because they are reprising the show in Maryland and New York City. The first performance will be at the Joseph & Alma Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland in College Park on November 15th. On November 17, the show returns to Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. The show includes two barihunks who have appeared regularly on this site, Tim McDevitt and fan favorite Jesse Blumberg (whose posts often shows up in our top ten site visits). Not only are these guys eye candy, but they are amazing singers and worth hearing. They will be joined by Scott Murphree and Matt Boehler.
Jesse Blumberg
The program includes a number of songs that might be familiar to you, as well as some that you'll want to experience. They include Marc Blitzstein’s “Purest Kind of a Guy," Christopher Berg’s "Is It Dirty?," Lutvak and Campbell's "Exit Right," Schubert's quartet for four male voices “Auflösung," Tchaikovsky’s “At the Ball," Poulenc’s “Montparnasse," Griffes’s “Evening Song,” John Wallowich’s “Bruce.” Bolcom’s “Piano Walk” and “I’ll Be By,” Camille Saint Saëns’s “Si vous n’avez rien à me dire,” Benjamin Britten’s “Night covers up the rigid land,” Manuel de Falla’s “Polo," Cy Coleman's "Tennis Duet," Chris DeBlasio’s “Walt Whitman in 1989,”Bernstein's “To What You Said,” and Cole Porter's "You're the Top."
Don't be fooled by the title, as this show isn't just for gay audiences. Like all of Steven Blier's shows they are an entertaining and thoughtful exploration of a canon of work. Anthony Tommasini wrote in The New York Times: "Such programs can easily fall into the trap of social politics and turn maudin, agenda driven and campy. This one was insightful and imaginative, touching and funny."
For tickets to either show, please visit the New York Festival of Song website.
Jesse Blumberg and Martin Katz working on Schubert last year:
We also want to remind fans of Jesse Blumberg on the West Coast that he will be performing Handel's "Messiah" with the American Bach Soloists on December 15, 16 and 18.
Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com
Don't forget to order your 2012 Barihunks calendar. Click HERE to order. All proceeds go to support young artists and young artist programs. It's a great gift and an easy way to support our next generation of baritones. You can read more about our calendar at this previous post.
In December of last year barihunk Michael Kelly performed a recital with accompanist Jessica Chow at the Trinity Wall Street Church in New York. One of our readers alerted us that the entire recital is available on the church's website (and now on Barihunks). Don't miss a chance to watch this captivating and talented young singer!
Kelly has performed with Opernhaus Zurich, Chicago Opera Theatre, Gotham Chamber Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Tanglewood Music Center, and has performed in recital in New York, Houston, Chicago, Switzerland, Germany, France, and Corsica. He holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School.
This evening, Kelly wrapped singing the role of Eric Satie's "Socrates" for the Mark Morris Dance Company at the Rose Theater as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival. You can read the New York Times review HERE. For those of you who missed this recital, he will be performing again at Merkin Hall in New York City on October 24. The 2011 winner of the "Joy In Singing Award," will perform works by Schubert, Poulenc, Vaughan Williams, and Bolcom, and introduce a new cycle written for him by Ben Moore. Jonathan Ware will accompany him at the piano. Click HERE for tickets.
