Canadian Mike Nyby will be making his role debut as the evil police chief Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca with Opera Ithaca. Nyby will be replacing fellow barihunk Zachary James, who had to withdraw for personal reasons. Nyby has previously performed with the company as Demetrio in Kristin Hevner Wyatt's Il Sogno and as Falke in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.
Jake Stamatis (Photo: Joshua Bernard)
The cast also includes barihunk Jake Stamatis as Angelotti, Megan Nielsen as Floria Tosca and Paola Buffagni as Mario Cavaradossi. The semi-staged production will be performed at the Community School of Music & Arts in Ithaca on February 16th and at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn on February 18th. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
This is Nyby's fourth Puccini role, have previously performed Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi and both Schaunard and Marcello in La bohème. This is a homecoming of sorts for Nyby, who graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Music.
Garrett Obrycki in Opera Ithaca's promo for Don Giovanni
Opera Ithaca will present the latest creation of innovative director R.B. Schlather when their Don Giovanni opens on December 5th. The opera comes with an R-rated warning for containing "nudity, sexual content and violence." The opera stars the barihunk duo of Garrett Obrycki in the title role and Zachary James as the Commendatore. James was also a co-founder of the company with Lynn Craver, which launched in 2014.
We learned that the opera will open with a rape and a murder and the rest of it is about sex. There will be full nudity and partial nudity from at least two characters (one being Don Giovanni).
Garrett Obrycki sings "Bella siccome un angelo" from Donizetti's Don Pasquale:
Don Giovanni will star Philadelphia baritone Garrett Obrycki in the title role. Obrycki is a Minnesota native who receieved his Bachelor of Music in Voice from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While at Eastman, he performed Tarquinius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Frank Maurrant in Kurt Weill's Street Scene. After his undergraduate studies, Garrett sang as a Young Artist with the Ohio Light Opera, a chorister with Opera Philadelphia and as a member of the Philadelphia Singers. He's also a teaching artist with Opera Philadelphia.
Zachary James as Bluebeard at Opera Ithaca
Zachary James previously performed the role of the Commendatore at Central City Opera. The towering bass-barihunk aptly created the role of Abraham Lincoln in the world premiere of Philip Glass’ opera The Perfect American at the Teatro Real in Madrid, a role he reprised for London’s English National Opera and Australia’s Opera Queensland. Upcoming performance for Zachary James include La Reina with the
Prototype Festival in New York in January 2016, Liebeslieder Walzer with
the New York City Ballet also in January 2016 and The Mikado with
Anchorage Opera in April 2016.
Opera Ithaca’s production of Don Giovanni will play Ithaca’s Community School of Music and Arts Ballroom Saturday, December 5th and Sunday, December 6th at 8pm each evening. Tickets are available online.
Enjoy 18 more barihunks in our new Charity Calendar, which is on sale now.
Keep an eye out for a tall, sexy, bald guy with a muscle shirt during the September 26th broadcast of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street on PBS. That's Zachary James, who has sung the title role in Sweeney Todd, but appears as part of the ensemble in this production.
The show, which stars Oscar winning actress Emma Thompson and legendary opera singer Byrn Terfel, will air as part of public television's Live From Lincoln Center. Audra McDonald, who hosts the broadcast, also appears in the uncredited role of the beggar woman.
The production, directed by Lonny Price and conducted by Alan Gilbert, played to sold out crowds at Avery Fisher Hall from March 5 through March 8.
Zachary James returns to the operatic stage from September 15-20, when he portrays Abraham Lincoln in Philip Glass' The Perfect American. The opera imagines the final months of Walt Disney’s life, including mythical imaginings of Abraham Lincoln and Andy Warhol. British baritone Christopher Purves will be portraying Walt Disney. Additional information and tickets are available online.
In October, he returns to the United States to take on the title role in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle opposite soprano Megan Nielson at Opera Ithaca.
