Edwin Crossley-Mercer in first performance of Hippolyte et Aricie in Zurich

Edwin Crossley-Mercer in Hippolyte et Aricie (Photo: T+T Fotografie)

Barihunk Edwin Crossley-Mercer performed Thésée in the first performance of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie at the Zurich Opera House last night, which was conducted by 18th-century French music expert Emmanuelle Haïm. They were joined by Stéphanie d’Oustrac  as Phèdre, Cyrille Dubois as Hippolyte and Mélissa Petit as Aricie.

There are additional performances of this French Baroque rarity on May 22, 24 and 30, and June 2, 7 and 14. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Jean-Philippe Rameau was 50 years old when he staged his first opera, Hippolyte et Aricie, in 1733. There was little in his life to suggest he was about to embark on a major new career as an opera composer. He was famous for his works on music theory as well as books of harpsichord pieces. The closest he had come to writing dramatic music was composing a few secular cantatas and some popular pieces for the Paris fairs

As the most important musical theorist of his day, Rameau created a work that far surpassed the conventions of French musical theatre of the time. The French libretto, by Abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, is based on Racine's tragedy Phèdre. The opera takes the traditional form of a tragédie en musique with an allegorical prologue followed by five acts.

After a performance at the Paris Opéra in 1767, the work disappeared from the stage until the 20th century. The first modern performance took place in Geneva in March 1903 and returned to Paris in 1908. More recent performances include Aix-en-Provence in 1983, Lyon in 1984, the Opéra Comique in Paris in 1985, Lausanne in 1987, Versailles, in 1994, Palais Garnier in Paris in 1996 and Glyndebourne in 2013.

American audiences will be thrilled to know that Edwin Crossley-Mercer will appear at Carnegie Hall on June 24th (keep an eye out for an upcoming post with all the details)!

Philippe Sly to release CD of Rameau cantatas

Philippe Sly

One of our favorite young barihunks, Philippe Sly, joins the wonderful soprano Hélène Guilmette in "Les amants trahis," an album of cantatas by Jean-Philippe Rameau. The cantatas were originally performed  at Salle Bourgie of the Montreal Fine Arts Museum last year and the CD includes the same ensemble consisting of Adrian Butterfield and Chloé Meyers (violin), Grégoire Jeay (flute), Mélisande Corriveau (viola da gamba) and Luc Beauséjour (harpsichord). The album is available for purchase on March 12.

Check out our previous posts about Sly's last recording "In Dreams."

Sly is the first prize winner of the prestigious 2012 Concours Musical International de Montréal and a grand prize winner of the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions singing the varied repertoire of Mozart, Bach, Handel, Stravinsky and Wagner. Later that year, he became a member of the ensemble at the Canadian Opera Company where he was seen as Hermann in Offenbach's 'Les contes d’Hoffmann', Amantio di Nicolai in a new production of Puccini's 'Gianni Schicchi' , as well as A Scythian Man in Gluck's 'Iphigénie en Tauride' alongside the Iphigénie of Susan Graham.

In the summer of 2012, Sly joined the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival where he made his Festival debut as Sithos in von Winter’s 'Das Labyrinth' under the baton of Ivor Bolton. This season, the French-Canadian singer becomes a member of the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program at the San Francisco Opera where he will make his mainstage debut as Guglielmo in Mozart's 'Così fan tutte' under music director Nicola Luisotti. Tickets for Così fan tutte are available on the San Francisco Opera website.

Hadleigh Adams stars in Castor & Pollux

Hadleigh Adams in Castor & Pollux

Earlier this year, San Franciscans got to witness first-hand barihunk Hadleigh Adams' gifts as an exponent of early music when he brought the house down with “Somnus awake! ... Leave me loathsome light … More sweet is that name”  from Handel's Semele at the Merola Grand Finale. The City by the Bay will be welcoming back the popular Kiwi singer as an Adler Fellow early next year. But Adams is making waves again in early music on the other side of the globe.

Adams is currently performing early music again as Pollux in Rameu's Castor & Pollux with Pinchgut Opera in Australia. For our fans Down Under, there are still three performances of the opera left between now and December 10th. Many people in the business are predicting stardom for the charismatic singer, so now is the time to catch a rising star. Tickets are available online.

Also, don't wait for Santa Claus, order your 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar today:

Vittorio Prato is risqué "Les Indes Galantes"

When we first saw these pictures, the naked body on the right was identified as baritone Nathan Berg. We've seen him perform and were confident that it wasn't him. A little further research revealed that he's a dancer in one of many nude scenes in Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The scene pictured above is supposed to represent the Garden of Eden, which featured jocks and rap stars as symbols of our decaying society.

A shirtless Vittorio Prato

The opera goes on to deal with a number of topics that Rameau clearly never had to grapple with musically in his day, including consumerism, cocaine, illegal immigration and Islamic attitudes towards women (sexy women in lingerie are covered in burkas). We don't review operas and we weren't there, so we'll let you decide how you feel about the updated production concept by director Laura Scozzi.

Of course, what really caught our eye was one of our favorite barihunks, Vittorio Prato, prancing around shirtless on the "beach." Prato plays the role of Osman in the first act, but doesn't appear elsewhere in the opera. Prato can next be seen in Wolf-Ferrari's "Il segreto di Susanna" at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and then in the title role of Handel's "Imeneo" at the Théathe des Champs Elysées in Paris under Christopher Hogwood.

Nudity abounds in Théâtre du Capitole's latest production

Performances run through May 15 and additional information can be found at the Théâtre du Capitole website.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Vittorio Prato to perform Rameau with Rousset

Vittorio Prato: Hot, Hotter and hottest

We don't need much of an excuse to post something about Italian barihunk Vittorio Prato, so when we saw these recently posted clips from Massenet's "Werther" on YouTube, we figured it was time to see what he was up to.

Prato was born in Lecce, Italy and graduated in piano from the Conservatorio Tito Schipa in Lecce and in harpsichord from the Conservatorio Martini in Bologna. He voice with the great baritone Ivo Vinco and even worked with Luciano Pavarotti. In 2003, he won the Mattia Battistini International Competition and his singing career took off from there.

Vittorio Prato sings "Elle m'aime" from Werther with Rocio Ignacio as Sophie:



Vittorio Prato in Act 3 of Werther with Anna Bonitatibus:



We couldn't find Prato performing anywhere for the remainder of this year, but in May 2012, Prato can be seen as Osman in Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. The production also includes fellow barihunk Thomas Dolié as Adario and will be conducted by Christophe Rousset. Visit their website for additional cast and performance information.

Thomas Dolié

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.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

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