Barihunks star in NY premiere of Britten's Owen Wingrave

Michael Weyandt and Robert Balonek

Barihunks Robert Balonek and Michael Weyandt will alternate the title role in Benjamin Britten's Owen Wingrave at The Little Opera Theatre of New York from May 9-May 12. The performance is being billed as the New York premiere of the opera. Performances will be at the GK Arts Center in Brooklyn and tickets are available online.

Owen Wingrave, which premiered in 1970, tells the story of a committed pacifist born into a renowned military family.  Despite strong disapproval over his beliefs and desperate to maintain the love of his would-be bride, Owen Wingrave is determined to prove his inner strength – even if it leads to his own demise.

Britten was a deeply committed pacifist, which traces back to his early life, particularly during his years at Gresham’s, his public school in Holt, Norfolk. He was know as a sensitive young boy who abhorred violence and bullying. World War I had cast a huge shadow over Britten’s generation and it was felt nowhere more keenly than at Gresham’s.  Britten was born a year before the onset of WWI  where the U.K. and its colonies saw 887,711 killed in action between 1914 and 1918. 100 boys from Gresham’s alone lost their lives.  His school formed one of the first branches of the League of Nations Union, which was designed to foster peace and prevent future conflict. The school also banned corporal punishment.

Britten's most famous pacifist composition is his War Requiem.

Barihunk trio in NY premiere of operatic Angels in America

Wayne Tigges, Aaron Blake, Andrew Garland and Michael Weyandt (l-r)

The new New York City Opera closes its season with the New York Premiere of Péter Eötvös's Angels in America, distilling the two-night, seven-hour play into a single, powerful evening of opera. The cast includes the barihunk trio of Andrew Garland as Prior Walter, Michael Weyandt as Joe, Wayne Tigges as Roy Cohn and hunkentenor Aaron Blake as Louis. The opera comes with a warning of "strong sexual content, nudity, mature themes and language."

The opera was originally written for the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris where it premiered in 2004. The cast included barihunks Daniel Belcher and Omar Ebrahim, as well as Barbara Hendricks, Roberta Alexander, Derek Lee Ragin and and Topi Lehtipuu.  

Angels in America received its West Coast premiere in 2013 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with barihunk David Adam Moore and Nikolas Nackley as Joe. Moore has also sung the role at the Fort Worth Opera Festival and the Opera Wrocławsa in Poland.

The opera is based on Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name and will be sung in English with supertitles. There will be four performances running from June 10-16 and additional cast information and tickets are available online.

Michael Weyandt in New York premiere of Péter Eötvös’ "Angels in America"

Michael Weyandt

Barihunk Michael Weyandt is joinging the cast of Péter Eötvös’ opera adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic Angels in America with the New York City Opera. Weyandt will be singing the role of the closeted gay Mormon Joe Pitt in what will be the New York premiere of the opera. He joins fellow barihunk Andrew Garland, who is singing the crucial role of Prior Walter.

Angels in America received its West Coast premiere in 2013 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with barihunk David Adam Moore and Nikolas Nackley as Joe.

Andrew Garland

The opera was originally written for the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris where it premiered in 2004. The cast included barihunks Daniel Belcher and Omar Ebrahim, as well as Barbara Hendricks, Roberta Alexander, Derek Lee Ragin and and Topi Lehtipuu.

The opera is based on Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name and will be sung in English with supertitles. There will be four performances running from June 10-16.

Oddly, and distressingly, the New York City Opera did not post cast lists!

Clint Borzoni's erotic "When Adonis Calls" to get NY workshop premiere

Grant Youngblood and Michael Weyandt

If you live in New York and missed the new opera workshop at Frontiers at the Fort Worth Opera, you're in luck. There will be a workshop reading of the sensational new work by composer Clint Borzoni and librettist John De Los Santos presented by operamission on Thursday, May 21 at 8 PM in the rehearsal hall at OPERA America's National Opera Center (330 Seventh Avenue at 29th Street) in New York.

The Poet will be sung by Grant Youngblood and The Muse by Michael Weyandt. The performance will feature string quartet and percussion and be conducted by Jennifer Peterson. The opera is based on the homoerotic poetry of Gavin Geoffrey Dillard.

You can watch the clips from Frontiers, which feature Tyson Deaton conducting with piano accompaniment by Stephen Carey. Wes Mason sang The Poet and Matt Moeller sang The Muse.

John De Los Santos and Clint Borzoni discuss "When Adonis Calls"

The performance will also include the world premiere of Clint Borzoni's song cycle "Earth, my likeness" featuring countertenor Daniel Bubeck. The piece is based on the poems of Constantine Cavafy, May Swenson and Walt Whitman.

Tickets are $20 in advance and are available online.

Michael Weyandt to sing world premiere of "Barihunk Song"

Composer Clint Borzoni (left) and Barihunk Michael Weyandt (right)

The inevitable has occurred with the barihunk craze in opera, as a song dedicated to the phenomenon will receive its world premiere at the National Opera Center in New York City on March 28th.

The song will be part of concert called "Love Affairs," which explores love of self, love of money, lust, and dealing with lost loves. Also featured on the program is soprano Caroline Worra and pianists Jennifer Peterson and Lloyd Arriola.

In addition to the Barihunk Song, the program features the world premiere of Philip Wharton's song cycle "Blooms Remembered," composed to words by Carl Sandburg.

Love Affairs will be performed one night only at 7:30 PM on Saturday, March 28the in the Recital Hall at The National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, NYC. Tickets are available online at PurplePass. The $20 tickets also includes a reception following the concert.

You can hear Michael Weyandt sing Bolcom's Song of Black Max by clicking HERE.

Clint Borzoni is an award winning composer, and alumnus of programs from American Opera Projects, the American Lyric Theater, and was recently chosen as one of the composers for Fort Worth Opera's Frontiers 2015 Showcase.

Philip Wharton has worked with Santa Fe Opera's apprentice program. Grammy-nominated Borealis Wind Quintet frequently performs his quintet. Recently Albany Records released a recording of his flute sonata.

There is another version of the Barihunk Song set to music by Glen Roven that is expected to be premiered later this year on the West Coast.

Michael Weyandt to perform with Summer of Song Series

Michael Weyandt

Our most recent post about German barihunk Martin Häßler ended with a notice about his upcoming debut recital at Wigmore Hall in London. The concert features works by Schubert, Wolf and Finzi. So imagine our surprise when the next day our inbox included a notice for American barihunk Michael Weyandt's upcoming recital with the "Summer of Song Series" in New York featuring works by Schubert, Wolf and Finzi.

The recitals do feature mostly different works by the two singers, except for Wolf's Begegnung
and An eine Aeolsharfe. Häßler will be performing Mussorgsky and Weyandt will have music by Bolcom, Poulenc, Fujimoto and Lehrer.

Heinrich Schlusnus sings Hugo Wolf's "Begegnung":

Weyandt's recital will be on on Thursday, June 20 at 7pm at Opera America (330 7th Avenue) and will feature accompanist Thomas Muraco. Single tickets for the concert are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Contact Blair Boone at ASPSNY@gmail.com regarding tickets. For all other tickets, visit, artsongpreservationsociety.org, call (646) 369-5247 or purchase directly at the door.

Barihunk Michael Weyandt: "What a Pig!"

Michael Weyandt and Mrs. Pig

We recently featured barihunk Michael Weyandt in operamission's heralded production of Handel's Almira. He's jumping ahead three centuries to perform a pig (yes, a pig) in Dmitri Shostakovich's  The Tale of the Silly Baby Mouse with On Site Opera at the Bronx Zoo on June 23 and 24. Of course, it's not completely unheard of for singers to play animals, with the best example being Leo Janacek's "Cunning Little Vixen."

Based on Samuil Marshak’s famous Russian fairytale, Shostakovich composed The Tale of the Silly Baby Mouse in 1939 as a film score for an animated cartoon.  The opera tells the story of the night that Baby Mouse refuses to go to sleep.  Mrs. Mouse, along with Auntie Duck, Mrs. Pig, and Mr. Toad, try in vain to sing Baby Mouse to sleep.  It is finally Mrs. Cat who is successful...but she has other plans for the sleeping mouse.

Michael Weyandt will perform the role of Mrs. Pig and bass Marc Webster will perform the roles of Mr. Frog and Polkan the Dog.

Marc Webster and Michael Weyandt

On Site Opera's production of the opera is  part of Animal Tales Extravaganza at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo.  The fifteen-minute long opera features large-scale puppets, professional singers, and a chamber orchestra together with Shostakovich’s whimsical score.  The production is staged by On Site Opera Artistic Director, Eric Einhorn, conducted by Jennifer Peterson, with original puppets designed by The Puppet Kitchen. 

Watch the 1939 cartoon version of "The Tale of the Silly Mouse":

On Site Opera is a new company created around the idea that exciting performances can happen outside the walls of a traditional theater. Through site-specific, immersive productions, performers and audiences will experience great music and drama as never before in some of New York's most intriguing spaces.

Admission is free to the opera with zoo admission and will be performed at 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM on both Saturday and Sunday. Other cast members include soprano Rebekah Camm, mezzo Blythe Gaissert, soprano Christy Lombardozzi, and soprano Melissa Wimbish.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Voice Faculty at Ithaca College and is a Doctoral Candidate at Eastman School of Music.

Watch Michael Weyandt in Almira with operamission

Michael Weyandt in Almira

Every so often we regret having missed telling our readers about a barihunk appearance. Michael Weyandt's appearance as Fernando in Handel's Almira with operamission at the Gershwin Hotel was a prime example. New York Times classical music critic Anthony Tommaini wrote glowingly about the performance and wrote that the role of Fernando was "...movingly performed here by the virile, ardent baritone Michael Weyandt." You can read the entire review on the NY Times website. 


We wanted to share a bit of the performance for those of you who missed this wonderful talent. 

Händel's ALMIRA - Act III, "Edele Sinnen," "Was ist des Hofes Gunst?" from operamission on Vimeo.


In the first part of the video you'll hear Weyandt sing "Edele Sinnen schaffen von hinnen" followed by the arioso "Was ist des Hofes Gunst? ein Dunst." The rough translations are:

"Noble thoughts soothe away whatever causes annoyance and harm. And on the contrary strive by all means to become on earth delighted in sweetest repose."

--and--

"What is the favor of the court? A mist, that swiftly disperses; a labyrinth of the times, that invariably takes us from crown and throne to prison."


We've featured numerous operamission concerts on our website and they are a must for anyone in the New York area. You can follow them on Facebook or Twitter at @operamission.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Breaking News: Michael Weyandt wins Trueman Art Song Competition

Michael Weyandt

Barihunks continue to leave the competition in the dust at vocal competitions around the world. The two top winners at the Mary Trueman Art Song Vocal Competition in New York City were both barihunks.

Michael Weyandt won top honors and Malcolm Merriweather won an encouragement award (along with mezzo Rosalie Sullivan).  As winner, Weyandt will be featured in his own recital with accompanist Thomas Muraco in 2013. The talented singer can next be seen performing Handel's "Almira" with operamission from May 26-31.

Weyandt performs Peter Maxwell Davis' Eight Songs for a Mad King, with the 

Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble:

Weyandt performed Bellini's "Ma rendi pur contento," Schubert's "Das Zugenglocklein," Brahms' "Unbewegte laue Luft," Debussy's "Trois Ballades de Francois Villon, no. 2.," Poulenc's "Sanglots," and Ives' "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven." His accompanist was Jennifer Peterson.

Malcolm Merriweather

Merriweather performed Richard Strauss' "Lob des Leidens," Rossini's "L'ultimo ricordo," Hahn's "A Chloris," Mahler's "Wer hat dies Leidsein erdacht?," Ives' "He is there!" and Ralph Vaughan Williams' "I got me flowers" (from Five Mystical Songs). His accompanist was Alden Gatt.

Malcolm Merriweather singing "Easter" from Five Mystical Songsin 2010:

All finalists who participated will receive free admission into future ASPS workshops and master classes for the next year where each will have the opportunity to work closely with master class guest artist on the ASPS Advisory Board.

The competition is sponsored by the Art Song Preservation Society of New York.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Get French with Barihunks Michael Weyandt, Ross Benoliel and Randal Turner

Randal Turner, Francis Poulenc & Michael Weyandt (Clockwise from top left)

We want to remind readers about the Poulenc Cabaret at 8:00 pm on Thursday, February 2 at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27th Street in New York City. The concert by operamission will include Banalités, Chansons gaillardes, la Courte paille, Les Mamelles de Tirésias (from the opera), plus more settings of Guillaume Apollinaire, Louis Aragon, two cabaret-friendly songs written for Yvonne Printemps, clarinet sonata from 1962, solo piano Improvisation n° 15 and Hommage à Edith Piaf.

Simon Keenlyside sings Poulenc's Hôtel:   

In addition to barihunks Randal Turner, Ross Benoliel and Michael Weyandt, artists include clarinetist Cory Tiffin, pianists Max Midroit and Jennifer Peterson, singers Michelle Jennings, John Carlo Pierce, Marcy Richardson, Kimberly Sogioka and Nicholas Tamagna. Tickets are only $20.

The cast of NYCO's "Prima Donna"

You can also see Randal Turner at New York City Opera where he is appearing in Rufus Wainwright's "Prima Donna." Thanks to a generous gift from The Reed Foundation and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation all remaining tickets for Prima Donna, as well as La traviata are only $25. What are you waiting for? Visit their website for tickets now. You can also buy Randal Turner's CD of "Living American Composers" by clicking the link below:

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Upcoming NY concerts

There are four amazing concerts coming up in New York City that all feature barihunks.

Michael Kelly

On January 28th, Michael Kelly is part of the Cosmopolis concert at Merkin Concert Hall. The chamber concert includes works by four composers from across the globe written for strings, winds, piano and baritone. Kelly will perform Mohammed Fairouz's song cycle "Furia" written for baritone, string quartet and wind quartet. The program also includes works by Ned Rorem, Kaija Saariaho and Toru Takemitsu.

Click HERE for tickets and additional information.

Randal Turner (top) & Michael Weyandt (bottom

)

On February 2, operamission will present and evening of music by Francis Poulenc at the Gershwin Hotel. The concert includes about a dozen performers including barihunks Michael Weyandt, Randal Turner and Ross Benoliel. Randal Turner will be opening in Rufus Wainwright's opera "Prima Donna" at New York City on February 19th. Click HERE for tickets.

Chris Herbert

For all of you lovers out there, New York Polyphony will be performing "A Renaissance Valentine" on February 12 at Columbia University's Miller Theater. The program, which also ventures beyond the Renaissance, includes music by Lassus, Dowland and Purcell. Barihunk Christopher Herbert is part of the ensemble and this group is not be missed. If you haven't seen them yet, grab two tickets and take your favorite valentine.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann and barihunks Rene Pape and Boaz Daniel

Lastly, we want readers to know about a live broadcast this week of Verdi's "Don Carlo." The performance originally included Mariusz Kwiecien as Rodrigo, but he withdrew due to ongoing issues with his back that he injured during a Met rehearsal of Don Giovanni. The "Hot Pole" will be replaced by Boaz Daniel. Even without Kwiecien, this production still had quite a bit of eye candy, including tenor heartthrob Jonas Kaufman and barihunk Rene Pape.

The performance begins at 5 PM German time (11 AM EST/8 AM PST). Click HERE for the broadcast.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

"Castleton West" A Critical Success

Michael Weyandt & Matthew Worth

Loren Maazel took his Castleton Festival west to California from Virginia, where it was met with the same critical acclaim that it received back East. Many of the same singers returned to reprise their roles, but we found a new addition to the barihunk family in Michael Weyandt, who was a sexy Junius. Cal Performance in Berkeley mounted both the "Rape of Lucretia" and "Albert Herring."

Joshua Kosman, the respected and brutally honest reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle, gave "The Rape of Lucretia" a great review, saying this about the trio of barihunks:

Tarquinius was embodied with sonorous menace by baritone Matthew Worth, and bass-baritone Michael Rice brought a gorgeous warmth of tone to the role of Collatinus, Lucretia's ostentatiously virtuous husband. Michael Weyandt did a muscular turn as the ambitious Junius...

We learned during the performance run that Michael Rice plans on making this his final performance on the opera stage. Luckily, we'll still be able to enjoy him on his wonderful OperaNow! podcast, one of the most enjoyable shows about classical music around. We wish him well in his future endeavors. He's one of our favorite people in opera!

Michael Rice Sailing Off Into the Operatic Sunset

"Albert Herring" featured barihunk Adrian Kramer, who stole the show in the critical role of Sid. You can listen to this talented young Canadian at InstantEncore performing songs by Rorem, Barber and Danielpour.

The opera world should be grateful to Loren Maazel, whose Castleton Festival has reintroduced important operas to the repertory as well as talented young singers.

Adrian Kramer

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

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