Nicolas Courjal getting downright devilish in 2019

Nicolas Courjal (left) and Méphistophélès

The role of Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust will be a main feature of French bass-barihunk's 2019 season, as he takes on the devilish role twice in the first part of the year.

From February 10-21, he'll perform the role at Opéra de Marseille with fellow barihunk Étienne Dupuis as Valentin. The cast also includes Nicole Car as Marguerite, Jean-François Borras and Jean-Pierre Furlan rotating the role of Faust, Philippe Ermelier as Wagner and Kévin Amiel as Siebel.

Then from May 22-28, he travels 159 kilometers down the road to Opéra de Nice where he'll be joined by Armando Noguera as Valentin, Stefano Secco as Faust, Nathalie Manfrino as Marguerite, Philippe Ermelier as Wagner and Camille Tresmontant as Siebel.

The final scene from Faust with Nicolai Ghiaurov, Joan Sutherland and Franco Correlli:

Gounod's libretto is based loosely on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part One. It debuted at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris on March 19, 1859. After its successful debut, it traveled to Germany, Belgium, Italy and England.

The opera opened the original Metropolitan Opera on October 22, 1883 and went on to become one of the most popular operas in the house, having received 753 performances to date.

In between performances, of Gounod's Faust, Courjal will sing the role of Bertram in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable at La Monnaie with an all-star cast headed by soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Dimitry Korchak.

Watch Nicolas Courjal as Ramfis in Aida from Orange

Nicolas Courjal (Photo: Chorégies D'Orange Festival)

You can check out the video taped broadcast of Verdi's Aida from the historic Roman theater in Orange on culturebox with French bass-barihunk Nicolas Courjal as Ramfis.

The all-star cast was originally supposed to include Sondra Radvanovsky as Aida, but she withdrew due to fatigue and was replaced by the American soprano Elena O'Connor. The remainder of the cast includes the reigning Amneris of our time, Anita Rachvelishvili. as well as Marcelo Álvarez as Radamès and Quinn Kelsey as Amonasro.

You can click HERE to watch the broadcast.

Watch Nicolas Courjal's role debut live as four villains in Tales of Hoffmann

Nicolas Courjal as the Four Villains (photos by Alain Hanel)

On January 22nd, the internet opera site Mezzo.tv will feature bass-barihunk Nicolas Courjal making his role debut as the four villains- Lindorf, Coppelius, Miracle and Dapertutto - in Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann).

The live broadcast is from the Opera of Monte-Carlo and features and all-star cast led by Juan Diego Flórez in the title role and Olga Peretyatko as the the four women he's enchanted with. Both singers are also making their role debuts. The broadcast begins at 8 PM Monte Carlo time on Mezzo.tv (2 PM EST/11 AM PST. Click HERE to watch the broadcast.

Nicolas Courjal sings "Elle ne m'aime pas" from Don Carlos: 

The production is being staged by Jean-Louis Grinda and conducted by Jacques Lacombe. There will be additional performances on January 25, 28 and 31.

Upcoming performance for the 44-year-old French singer include the role of Rodolfo in Bellini's La Sonnambla in Lausanne on February 9th and 11th and Phanuel in Massenet's Hérodiade in Marseilles in March with Béatrice Uria-Monzon in the title role.

Nicolas Courjal in live cinecast of William Tell

Nicolas Courjal rehearsing William Tell (left)

Opera fans in the U.K. will be able to check out barihunk Nicolas Courjal as the evil Gesler in Rossini's William Tell live from the Royal Opera House in London on July 5th. The all-star cast also features Gerald Finley as Tell, John Osborn as Arnold and Malin Byström as Mathilde. The production is directed by Italian  Damiano Michieletto, who is making his debut with the company.

Guillaume Tell had its premiere in 1829, when Gioachino Rossini was 37. He wouldn't write another opera in the remaining 39 years of his life. Rossini's letters suggest he knew Guillaume Tell would be his farewell to opera – an idea that seems to be confirmed by the magnificent music he was inspired to produce. The score – harmonically daring and fiercely difficult for the singers – has an opulent architectural grandeur, heightened with vivid evocations of the soaring Swiss landscape and an incisive dramatic interpretation of Schiller's heroic play.

Christian Van Horn sings Gesler with the Netherlands Opera:

The opera contains many great musical pieces, including Tell's Act III aria "Sois immobile," Mathilde's Act II aria "Sombre foret" and the Act II trio "Quand l'Helvétie est un champ de supplices."

You can see the opera live from June 29-July 17. Tickets and additional information is available online. Locate a cinema showing a performance HERE.

Nicolas Courjal to appear in French rarity Herculaneum

Nicolas Courjal

French bass-barihunk Nicolas Courjal will appear in Félicien David's operatic rarity Herculaneum on Saturday, March 8th with the Brussels Philharmonic. Courjal will sing the roles of Nicanor and Satan, in a cast that includes Véronique Gens as Lilia, Karine Deshayes as Olympia and Edgaras Montvidas as Hélios. Tickets are available online.

Herculanum premiered at the Paris Opera on March 4, 1859 and is considered one of the last compositions written in the grand style of French opera often associated with Fromental Halévy and Giacomo Meyerbeer. Opera in France would change forever in 1861 when the Paris version of Tannhäuser at the Paris Opéra. France had also experienced a decade of some of Verdi's most popular operas, including Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata.

Nicolas Courjal sings Lothario's aria from Thomas' Mignon:

Located in the Roman antiquity, the opera shows the downfall of a regime and the demise of the city of Herculaneum as God's vengeance for the decadence of this time. Davids Herculanum was a spectacular success, a mixture of music, mass scenes, lavish decorations, revolutionary spirit and ballet. And it had a final scene that left the Parisian audience whooping with delight: The explosive eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, that famously buried Herculaneum.

Nicolas Courjal can next be heard as the King in Lalo's Le roi d'Ys the Opera de Marseilles from May 10-18.

Nicolas Courjal in Cosi & Barber

Nicolas Courjal

Our favorite French barihunk Nicolas Courjal will be appearing at Opéra d’Avignon as Don Alfonso in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte." Unfortunately, you wouldn't know this from visiting Opéra d’Avignon online. Their website would win the award for the world's worst arts related website, since there is no cast list and no bios. Fortunately, one of our readers and a dedicated Courjal fan alerted us to the upcoming performance.

There will be an evening performance of November 12 and a matinee on November 14. He can next be seen in Paris portraying Don Basilio at the Théâtre du Châtelet, which opens on January 22. Fortunately, the Châtelet website has complete cast information.

If you can't make it to France, we recommend that you visit his website and enjoy some beautiful singing in his audio section.

[We try to keep this site positive, but our pet peeve is not listing casts. We took a U.S. company to task for it last year and they instantly put up a cast list. It is insulting to singers who toil long hours to learn their roles to be rendered invisible. It is also bad business practice, as numerous fans scour cast lists and follow their favorite singers around the world. We hope that this shameful practice ceases at Avignon.]

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A Toast to the French: Courjal and Varnier (Happy Bastille Day)

[Nicolas Courjal]

French bass Nicolas Courjal has always been one of our favorites at Barihunks, but he rarely sings roles that show off his hunkiness. Such is the life of a bass. However, he is currently performing in the provocative production of Salome at the Royal Opera House with Angela Denoke in the lead and warning of nudity on the ROH website.

After the final performance of Salome on Friday, Courjal heads of to perform Berlioz's "Damnation of Faust" with the Malaysian Symphony Orchestra with another of our favorite French barihunks, Jérôme Varnier.

[Patricia Fernandez and Jérôme Varnier]

[Nathalie Manfrino & Nicolas Courjal sing Les Pêcheurs de Perle in Seville]

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Emerging Barihunk: Nicolas Courjal

Here's a shot of Nicolas Courjal as Masetto looking at fellow barihunk Franco Pomponi in a production of Don Giovanni in Montpellier, where he is currently singing The Speaker in Die Zauberflote opposite Detlef Roth, the brilliant Sandrine Piau and the Queen of the Night as sung by Uran Urtnasan-Cozzoli.

The French-born bass studied at the Conservatory in Renne and established himself at the famed Opera Comique in Paris. Like many basses, he's not given many barihunk roles, getting stuck singing Zuniga instead of Escamillo, and Basilio rather than the Barber. That's why we decided to feature a picture of him offstage, so that Barihunk fans can see him in his full glory and not dressed up looking like Moses.

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