Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Méphistophélès and in The King and I
Australia's popular show "From Broadway to La Scala" is back and hitting the road with Kiwi barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes in the cast. The national tour, which runs from September 14-28, will stop in Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne before culminating at the Sydney Opera House.
Rhodes will be heard in selections from Carousel, The Sound of Music, The Pearl Fishers, Sweeney Todd, Fiddler of the Roof,Carmen and West Side Story. He'll be joined by hunkentenors Alexander Lewis and David Hobson, soprano Emma Matthews, Caroline O'Connor and Genevieve Kingsford.
After the tour, Rhodes can be seen as Lord Sidney in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims and Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust at Opera Australia.
Rhodes is the recipient of several major awards. In 2004, he received an ARIA award for Best Classical Recording for his CD The Voice, and in 2006 he was the winner of the Limelight Award for Best Performance by a Soloist with an Orchestra for his Australian tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. In 2008 he won a Helpmann Award for Best Male Performer in an Opera for his role in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking and the Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand.
Michael Honeyman and dancers in King Roger at Opera Australia
Opera Australia isn't exactly known for their sexy performances, so we were thrilled to see their stunning performance of Karol Szymanowski's King Roger starring Michael Honeyman in the title role and tenor Saimir Pirgu as the Shephard. Pirgu has sung the role with the most famous King Roger of all time, Mariusz Kwiecien. This is a co-production with the Royal Opera House directed by Kasper Holten.
The opera is about struggle between conservatism and sensuality, between
Christian orthodoxy and pagan abandon, portrayed onstage by the church
and the sexually tempting shepherd.
Honeyman worked in banking at the Commonwealth Bank before joining the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir and eventually deciding on taking formal training as a singer. He began his vocal training at the Australian National University, graduating with First Class Honours and was immediately accepted on scholarship to 2 years full-time practical performance training at the Australian Opera Studio, Perth. He has performed Amonasro in Verdi's Aida, for which he received a nomination for a Green Room Award for Best Male in a Supporting Role, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Ford in Verdi's Falstaff, Di Luna in Verdi's Il Trovatore and a New Year’s Eve Gala for Opera Australia. He has also worked with West Australian Opera and State Opera of South Australia.
Szymanowski is best known for his wonderful piano music, which includes the famous Étude, Opus 4, No. 3, his four symphonies, two violin concertos, the ballets Harnasie and Mandragora, two string quartets, a sonata for violin and piano, his famous Stabat Mater and a number of orchestral songs.
The production opened tonight at the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the Sydney Opera House where it will run through February 15, when it moves to Melbourne, where it will run from May 19 – 27,.
Our latest reader submission comes from down under, where someone pointed out that we've somehow missed Adrian Tamburini in our posting of Aussie barihunks. He's been singing the roles of Alcindoro and Benoit in Opera Australia's production of Puccini's La bohème, which will be reprised in Melbourne from May 3-28. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
From October 28 to November 5, he'll perform The Maestro in Alan Jones' new opera The Eighth Wonder, a piece written ABOUT the Sydney Opera House. The story revolves around the dramatic story
of the creation of one of the world’s most famous buildings and the coming of age of
Australia. The opera will be performed outside of the opera house, with a giants stage built across the 100 metre (328') steps, with giant screens, huge glowing balls of paper,
projections and spectacular lighting effects.
Adrian Tamburini
Other recent engagements for Opera Australia have included Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen, Antonio in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Sciarrone in Puccini's Tosca and The Speaker in Mozart's The Magic Flute. He sang Colline in La bohème for West Australian Opera and also joined an all-star cast in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 for the Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Melbourne Opera, has appeared on the TV Christmas special Woolworths Carols in the Domain, and has been a musical director and producer.
Tamburini started his singing career as a chorister with the Victorian Boys Choir at age five and was awarded a scholarship to sing with the St Patrick's Cathedral Choir at age 10. He went on to receive many awards, prizes and scholarships including the Robert Salzer Vocal Scholarship, the Lygon Street Festa Aria Competition, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Aria Competition, the Lythgo Trust Operatic Aria Award, the Melbourne Welsh Male Voice Choir Singer of the Year Competition, the Acclaim Awards Scholarship and was twice a finalist in the German Australian Opera Grant
On September 3rd, he will join the Penrith Symphony Orchestra as a soloist Verdi’s Requiem. Tickets are available online.
New Zealand's most famous barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes is adding a fifth musical show to his repertoire after successful runs in The King and I, Show Boat and South Pacific, as well as an upcoming appearance singing the title role in Sweeney Todd in Melbourne.
He'll be heading the cast of Frank Wildhorn
and Leslie Bricusse's Jekyll and Hyde on the upcoming tour of the show with Opera Australia. This is the first professional Australian production since a short-lived run in 1997.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes will be joined by musical theater stars
Jemma Rix as Lucy and Lucy Maunder as Emma, his two
romantic interests.
Rhodes sings This is the Moment:
Jekyll and Hyde will open in Melbourne in December before moving to Sydney in March 2016. Before the show opens, he'll perform Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust in Adelaide from August 22-29 and in Perth from October 29-November 7. The latter show also includes fellow barihunk Sam Dundas as Valentin.
Sam Dundas as Papageno and Taryn Fiebig as Pamina (right)
One of our favorite singers from Down Under, Sam Dundas, will be rotating the role of Papageno with Luke Gabbedy through January 30th at Opera Australia. The company is bringing back the whimsical, Kabuki-inspired Julie Taymor production of Mozart's The Magic Flute for their 2015 Summer Season.
With English text by J D McClatchy, this production was originally created for the Metropolitan Opera of New York and can be seen on DVD with barihunk Nathan Gunn. During the spoken text, Dundas delivers his lines with an Australian accent to give it a true local feel.
Dundas is in all of the performances except for January 3, 10, 23. Tickets are available online.
Last year he appeared with the company as Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Ceprano in Verdi's Rigoletto and Prosdocimo in Rossini's Il Turco in Italia.
Opera Australia is taking a Mozart's The Magic Flute and transporting it to a modern day archaeological dig in Egypt, even including a mummy in the cast.
But the real transporting is of the sets and cast, as they take the production across the vast Australian outback to parts unknown. The opera will be performed in 26 cities, including Morundah with a population of ten. The town had no place to perform, so a farmer built a pig shed, which has been dubbed the Paradise Palladium.
Starring as Tamino, and on alternating nights the Armed Man 1, is barihunk turned hunkentenor turned barihunk Sam Roberts-Smith. If you're confused, check out our recent post about Sam Roberts-Smith's fach change. Christopher Hillier, is singing Papageno and on alternating nights the role of Armed Man 2.
This is Opera Australia's third production to hit the road and it
already appears to have been a hit with audiences in Ballarat, Bendigo,
Dandenong, Marysville and Nunawading. There are alternating casts, so
check out the Opera Australia website for cast information and tour dates.
It's been a rough couple of weeks for Opera Australia with the entire music world focused on the Tamar Iveri scandal. Hopefully, that episode is in the dustbin of history. So we figured it's time for some good news out of the company and that would be the role debut of Rigoletto with barihunk Giorgio Caoduro at the Joan Sutherland Theatre.
It's not his first time performing the opera, as he appeared in the movie version of the opera, but as Marullo opposite Placido Domingo's Rigoletto. Performances kick off tonight and Caoduro will perform the role nine times between today and July 19th, when he turns the role over to fellow barihunk José Carbó, who performs the role from July 23-August 24 (Warwick Fyfe performs one night, as well).
The cast also includes two other barihunks, Sam Dundas as Ceprano and Luke Gabbedy as Marullo. Gilda will be taken on by house favorite Emma Matthews, who recently updated her Facebook page to show artist support for the LGBT community after the Tamar Iveri episode. A classy act if there ever was one.
Tickets for all performances are available online.
Sam Dundas
After his run as Rigoletto, Caoduro returns to his native Italy to portray Sulpice in Donizetti's La fille du régiment at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo in the famed Franco Zeffirelli production. Performances run from September 17-24.
Director Neil Armfield's Der Ring des Nibelungen at Opera Australia was quite the buzz even before it opened. Now that the first cycle is wrapped up the buzz has only escalated about this dreamlike Ring Cycle that pushes the imagination. All is all, it seems to be a critical success.
Of course, our readers are buzzing about barihunk Jud Arthur's surprising entry from his cave as the mortally wounded
Fafner, splattered with blood and completely naked. Rather than feeling like German regietheater, our contacts in Australia said that it gave the moment a heartfelt
humanity as Fafner, stripped bare, warns Siegfried of the Ring's power.
One reviewer called Arthur's Fafner a "Pagliacci vesti-la-giubba
moment," as he's seen applying make-up in front of a dressing-room mirro. Fafner grimaces into a
camera built into the mirror which projects his magnified image to the audience until he eventually appears before the naive Siegfried as a naked
vulnerable man.
Jud Arthur as Fafner with Daniel Sumegi as Fasolt
Jud Arthur was born in New Zealand, worked as a farmer in Mosgiel, and then began a career as a professional rugby player. He's been one of the most popular regulars at Opera Australia for a decade now and also moonlights as a professional model.
The rest of the all-star cast includes Terje Stensvold, Susan Bullock, Richard Berkeley-Steele, Stefan Vinke, Stuart Skelton, Daniel Sumegi, Miriam Gordon-Stewart, Jacqueline Dark, Graeme Macfarlane and Warwick Fyfe.
Cycle Two begins on November 27 and Cycle Three begins on December 6. Call (03) 9685 3700 or visit the Opera Australia website.
You can enjoy beautiful barihunks all year with our 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. It's the perfect gift for the holidays. Click below to order now. Every penny of profit goes to benefit young artists.
We're unapologetically huge fans of Aussie barihunk Sam Dundas. Not only is he one of the biggest talents "down under," but he's one of the greatest guys in the business. Dundas is the kind of singer that one pulls for to succeed in the mad world of opera. His personality is as infectious onstage as offstage and we predict a great future for the 30-year-old singer.
We were about to post about his upcoming performance as Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale when we learned that he had won the coveted $42,000 Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship. The prize allows Dundas to come to the United States for six weeks of work on the opera skills of his choice.
Dundas has indicated that he's going to use the prize to work on his Russian language skills. We're sure that there are some coaches in Брайтон-Бич (Brighton Beach) who would be happy to assist him in honing his Russian language skills. We can't wait to see him in two Tchaikovsky roles: the title role in Eugene Onegin and Prince Yeletsky in Pique Dame.
For those of you fortunate enough to be in Australia, you can catch his Dr. Malatesta from August 1-15 at Opera Australia with Conal Coad in the title role. Tickets are available online. From August 16-30 you can catch him as Sid in Britten's Albert Herring.
We just learned that barihunk José Carbó has won a prestigious Helpmann Award as "Best Male Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera" for his performance in Korngold's Die Tote Stadt at Opera Australia. The award is the Australian equivalent of Broadway's Tony Awards and
London's Laurence Olivier Awards. They recognize distinguished artistic
achievement
and excellence in live
performances in Australia, including musical theatre, contemporary
music,
comedy, cabaret, opera, classical music, theatre, dance and physical
theatre.
Also winning in the category of "Best Male Performer in Opera" was baritone John Wegman for his performance in Salome at Opera Australia.
Also nominated were Italian barihunk Giorgio Caoduro for his performance in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera Australia and Dmytro Popov for his performance in Carmen on Sydney Harbour with Opera Australia.
A little over a week ago, we posted about barihunks Bryan Watson and Giorgio Caoduro being nominated for Helpmann Awards for their performances in a leading role in opera. Also nominated in the category of "Best Male Performer in a Supporting
Role in an Opera" were barihunks Sam Dundas for his portrayal of
Marcello in La bohème at Opera Australia and José Carbó as Fritz in Die Tote Stadt at Opera Australia. Also nominated were, Wolf Matthias Friedrich for L'Orfeo at the Brisbane Festival and Douglas McNicol for Fidelio at the State Opera of South Australia.
The Helpmann Awards are the Australian equivalent of Broadway's Tony Awards and
London's Laurence Olivier Awards. They recognize distinguished artistic
achievement
and excellence in live
performances in Australia, including musical theatre, contemporary
music,
comedy, cabaret, opera, classical music, theatre, dance and physical
theatre.
José Carbó discusses and sings his aria 'Tanzlied des Pierrots' from Die tote Stadt:
Dundas was a member of the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist program at Opera Australia. In 2009, he made his role debut as Don Giovanni in Victorian Opera’s production of the Mozart classic. He is currently performing as the Jailer in Puccini's Tosca at Opera Australia. which runs through August 31st. He then is featured in a number of consecutive performances at Opera Australia. He opens next week as Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, which will run from July 18-August 15. The day after that run wraps up, he opens as Sid in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring.
Dundas is also featured on a new recording of Brahms' German Requiem with the ChorusOz® Choir & the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra. Click HERE to order your copy.
José Carbó can be seen as Giorgio Germont in Verdi's La traviata at Opera Australia, which runs from July 30-August 31.
Since its release in April 2011, we've been deluged with questions about Kasper Holten's movie "Juan" starring barihunk Christopher Maltman. It had an extremely limited release in U.S. theaters and had been slow to appear on DVD. We've mentioned sites like www.iwannawatch.net and others where you can watch the movie online. However, most require that you sign up, download certain software and many don't work on Macs.
We have some good news, in that a European release of the DVD and Blu-Ray disc has finally happened, but it's not cheap. We couldn't find a new copy for less the £39.99. Also, the discs won't play on U.S. DVD players, although you can configure most laptops to play them. But if you're in Europe, you're in luck. Hopefully, sales will be brisk enough to encourage a U.S. release.
If you can't wait for "Juan" you might be interested in Opera Australia's "Don Giovanni" with barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes. He shows a lot of skin, although not quite as much as the fully nude Maltman, but it's an extremely sexy portrayal of the rakish title character. You can order it by clicking on our Amazon link to the right (and we'll get a small commission!).
Opera Australia's touring production of South Pacific, starring barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes has been a little distracted by tabloid headlines and photographs of an alleged affair between "Teddy Bare" and his leading lady Lisa McCune.
Fortunately for the two married co-stars, the focus is back on the show, which was filmed yesterday for a subsequent release on DVD. No release date has been announced yet.
This is the first time that the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization and Oscar Hammerstein's grandson have approved filming of South Pacific for release on DVD.
With a cast of 40 and a live orchestra, the production will play Sydney Opera House for four weeks, and then Melbourne’s Princess Theatre for a strictly limited 10-week season. For more about South Pacific's Australian tour, visit www.southpacificmusical.com.au.
In a recent post, we mentioned the paucity of Teddy Tahu Rhodes videos that are available online. We were thrilled when someone pointed us to this new posting of "Teddy Bare" singing Finzi's "It was a lover and his lass" at the 1999 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
While working as an accountant in Christchurch, New Zealand, Rhodes maintained an association with Canterbury Opera, the local repertory opera company. In 1998 he made his international debut in an acclaimed performance of Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola at Opera Australia, and was launched on an international career. Following his Australian debut, Rhodes represented New Zealand at the 1999 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
You're more likely to spot a wombat while wandering around Coopracambra National Park than finding a video of Teddy Tahu Rhodes online. For some reason, the Kiwi Barihunk is one of the most underrepresented singers online, which has frustrated his legions of fans for years. He's one of the few big name baritones who doesn't have his own website or blog. It seems like the man we affectionately call "Teddy Bare" prefers his surfboard on a quiet beach to the clutter of the internet.
Now that he's touring in the popular production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific in Australia, videos are finally making their way onto the internet. Here he is singing "Some Enchanted Evening" at the Sydney Opera House.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes sings "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific"
The Tony Award-winning show, which was directed by Bartlett Sher and starred barihunk Paulo Szot at Lincoln Center will be playing for a month in Sydney begging on Thursday, August 9th. About a third of the shows are already either sold out or near capacity. Click HERE for tickets.
The production is part of Opera Australia's aggressive effort to expand their audience. It seems to be paying off, as the Guardian reports that the company's overall funding, including sponsorships, has risen from $A70m to $A100m.
Hadleigh Adams
On the other side of the globe, another Kiwi barihunk has taken San Francisco by storm. Hadleigh Adams, who is part of the 2012 Merola Opera Program, stole the show with his performance of the final scene of Act 2 of Bizet's "La Jolie Fille de Perth" at Merola's Schwabacher Summer Concert.
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "The evening's standout was Hadleigh Adams, a formidable bass-baritone from New Zealand who in his only appearance on this program deployed a robust, beautiful tone with both flexibility and power."
Adams will return to the stage one more time on August 18 at the Merola Grand Finale where he will perform “Somnus awake! ... Leave me loathsome light … More sweet is that name” from Handel's Semele with Suzanne Rigden and Erin Johnson. A number of other barihunks will be performing in the Finale, including Seth Mease Carico as Don Giovanni and Mustafa, Joseph Lattanzi as Jupiter in Offenbach's Orphée aux Enfers, Gordon Bintner as Leporello and Belcore, and Matthew Scollin in Lully's Alceste. Visit the San Francisco Opera website for ticket information.
One final New Zealand connection will be British conductor Nicholas McGegan, who is conducting the Finale and has led the New Zealand Symphony in the past. His recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 24 with Robert Levin with the New Zealand Symphony is a must for any collector.
Samuel Ramey, Marilyn Horne and Sylvia McNair sing "Leave me loathsome light":
Australian barihunk Grant Doyle has been nominated for a Helpmann Award in the category "Best Male Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera." Doyle's nomination is for his portrayal of Starbuck in Jake Heggie's "Moby-Dick" at the State Opera of South Australia.
The Helpmann awards are Australia's equivalent of the Tony Awards, with awards given out for musicals, theater, opera, classical music, cabaret, dance and comedy.
Other nominees in the category include baritone James Clayton for The Tales of Hoffmann at West Australian Opera, bass Conal Coad for The Marriage of Figaro at Opera Australia and baritone Douglas McNicol in La Fanciulla del West at Opera Queensland. We should also mention that Matthias Goerne was nominated for "Best Individual Classical Performance" for his performance of Die Winterreise at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The "Honorable Godmother of Barihunks" Francesca Zambello was also nominated for "Best Direction of an Opera" for her La Traviata at Sydney Harbor with Opera Australia. You can get a complete list of nominees at the Helpmann Awards website.
Doyle sings "O Nadir, tendre ami de mon jeune âge" from Bizet's Les pêcheurs de Perles:
The 2012 Helpmann Awards Ceremony will be held on Monday, September 24th at 8pm at the Opera Theatre in the Sydney Opera House. The Helpmann Awards will be broadcast exclusively the following night
on Australia’s arts and entertainment channel STUDIO – channel 132 on
Foxtel.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, August 7th and can
be purchased from the Sydney Opera House Box Office at 02 9250 7777 or online.
We could probably create a sister site simply dedicated to barihunks performing in Mozart's
"Don Giovanni." No other opera provides us with as much content and sheer joy. Fortunately, there are Don Giovanni's being performed around the globe and the casts are filled with some of our favorite singers. Moreover, some of them will be available for worldwide viewing. Oh, how did we survive before the internet age?
Sam Dundas debuted the role of Don Giovanni with the Victorian Opera in 2009 and has become a fan favorite in the role. On Saturday, he kicked off a ten week, twenty-four city tour, apparently adding more sexual conquests to Leporello's catalogue. (We can hear the catalogue aria now: "In Queensland, a hundred and three! In Melbourne, a thousand and forty! In Wollongong, well we're not coming back to Wollongong!"). Visit the Opera Australia website for additional tour, cast and ticket information.
Shigeo Ishino & André Morsch
Oper Stuttgart is presenting Don Giovanni with Shigeo Ishino as the Don and André Morsch as his sidekick Leporello. The performance on July 25th will be available three different ways to those who can't make the actual performance. The opera will be broadcast throughout Germany on SWR television, streamed on the internet at 3sat and broadcast into the public plaza outside of the opera house.
Erwin Schrott & Christopher Maltman
Barihunks Christopher Maltman and Erwin Schrott have taken their successful Salzburg Festival portrayal of Don Giovanni and Leporello to Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Also, check out our previous post about Erwin Schrott and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo sharing the title role in Verona, as well as the free NY Philharmonic performance of the Act 1 finale that available for free on Medici.tv that features three barihunks. There are also productions in Des Moines, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Savonna and Lacoste.
Watch the trailer of the Claus Guth production with lots of sexy Shrott & Maltman:
A behind the scenes look at the Unter den Linden production featuring Erwin Schrott:
Jose Carbo and Sean Pendry with real Barber of Seville owner Michael Romeo (Photo: Manuela Cifra)
We're all about cross promoting opera, as long it exposes new people to the art form and it maintains a reasonable degree of integrity. One of our favorite cross promotions that we've seen lately is Opera Australia joining forces with the owner of a local hair salon aptly named the "Barber of Seville." We'll let you figure out which opera the company is performing.
Michael Romeo is the owner of the salon in Richmond, Australia and the photo op with the singing barber, Jose Carbo, was great publicity for his new salon in Moonee Ponds, Australia. We also love his slogan, "Come get chopped at the Barber of Seville." If he ever opens a salon called "Sweeney Todd," he can keep his tagline.
Michael Romeo's fun banner for his operatically inspired hair salon
The Opera Australia production of Rossini's opera is moving the action forward to the Roaring 20's with some amazing costumes and fun "Keystone Kops" action scenes. We last saw Carbo as the Barber at the Seattle Opera where he was sharing the role with fellow barihunk David Adam Moore and making his belated U.S. debut. Carbo, who is of Italian and Spanish heritage, was raised in Australia since childhood, so this performance is a return to his "hometown stage."
Jose Carbo and Maria Bayo sing "Dunque io son" from the Barber of Seville in Madrid:
The opera also features barihunk Sam Dundas, who we recently showcased in some sexy, shirtless shots when he was performing Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. He'll be singing three small roles in the Barber: Fiorello, Ambrogio and the notary. [You don't want to miss those photos!].
There are six performances from May 4-17. Visit the Opera Australia website for additional information and production photos.
Australian barihunk is singing Guglielmo in Opera Australia's visually stunning run of Mozart's Così fan tutte. Dundas who has played Masetto opposite the famously shirtless and ripped "Teddy Bare" a.k.a. Teddy Tahu Rhodes, appears to be the next generation of sexy barihunk from Down Under.
Dundas has been performing throughout Australia and New Zealand since
2005. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Moffatt Oxenbould Young
Artist program at Opera Australia. In 2010 his roles included
Doctor/Inquisitor/Judge/Stanislaus in Candide, the appropriately named character Handsome in La Fanciulla del West, Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ceprano in Rigoletto. In 2011 his roles include Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, Pish Tush in The Mikado, Cascada in Merry Widow and Masetto in Don Giovanni.
Other recent engagements have included Papageno The Magic Flute for Victorian Opera, the bass solos in Brahms Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus and his debut with Sydney Sinfonia in a Discovery series concert at the City Recital Hall in Sydney.
Dundas's 2012 roles include Fiorello in The Barber of Seville and Yamadori in Madama Butterfly for Opera Australia and the Title role in Opera Australia's tour of Don Giovanni.
Watch a trailer of the production:
Performances of Così fan tutte are running through March 26. Get additional performance information or ticket on the Opera Australia website. In July 2012, Dundas will be reprising another Mozart role when he performs Don Giovanni in Michael Gow’s new production for Opera Australia.
We haven't featured the rising Aussie barihunk Joshua Bloom in awhile and now seems like a fitting time. Bloom is starring as Figaro in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro." Bloom joined the Metropolitan Opera roster to cover the role of Figaro for the internationally renowned baritone Bryn Terfel. More recently portrayed Masetto at the Met opposite two other barihunks, the Don Giovanni of Mariusz Kwiecien and the Leporello of Luca Pisaroni.
Back in his native country, he is now impressing audiences as the title character of Mozart's masterpiece. Music critic Murray Black of The Australian wrote, "Vocally, baritone Joshua Bloom was a superb Figaro, sustaining a strong sense of line and burnished timbre."
Bloom honed his skills as a member of the prestigious Merola Program and as an Adler Fellow in San Francisco. He was an impressive Don Alfonso in Mozart's Così fan tutte, but he really came to the opera world's attention in his portrayal of The Black Politician in the American premiere of Ligeti's "Le Grand Macabre" on the San Francisco Opera mainstage.
Joshua Bloom and Peter Tantsits in "Le Grand Macabre" with the NY Philharmonic:
Performances of the "Marriage of Figaro" are running from February 10 through March 24
(Bloom performs through March 6, when Shane Lowrencev takes over the
role). Visit the Opera Australia website for additional information or to purchase tickets.
