Carmen's barihunk trio being broadcast twice (with alternating Escamillos)

Carmen's barihunk trio: Valdis Jansons, Ricardo Crampton & John Paul Huckle

There will be two free, live streaming broadcast of Bizet's Carmen from the Teatro Carlo Felice, with alternating Escamillos. The first one is on Friday, May 8th at 8 PM CET/2 PM EST featuring Mattia Olivieri as Escamillo, John Paul Huckle as Zuniga and Ricardo Crampton as Morales. The second broadcast will be on Tuesday, May 12th at 3 PM CET/9 AM EST. In the second broadcast Valdis Jansons will sing Escamillo. Click HERE to watch the live stream.

Carmen will be rotated between Sonia Ganassi on May 8th and Anna Malavasi on May 12th. You can see the opera live until May 17th.

WatchTeatro Carlo Felice's "Barihunk Trio" live online

John Paul Huckle and the Teatro Carlo Felice "Barihunk Trio"

We recently posted about the barihunk trio in the Teatro Carlo Felice's production of Billy Budd and mentioned that they will be reuniting for Bizet's Carmen. We've now learned that you can watch them live online for FREE on May 8 and 6 PM (GMT) and May 12 at 1 PM (GMT) on their new livestream.

Valdis Jansons will sing Escamillo, John Paul Huckle is perfoming  Zuniga and Ricardo Crampton is taking on Morales. Jansons will be rotating the matador's role with another barihunk, Mattia Olivieri, who proved quite popular with our readers when we first posted about him.

Carmen will be rotated between Sonia Ganassi and Anna Malavasi. The opera opens on May 8th and runs through May 17.

Barihunk trio in Billy Budd and Carmen at Teatro Carlo Felice

Billy Budd at Teatro Carlo Felice with barihunks Ricardo Crampton, John Paul Huckle and Valdis Jansons       (Photo on left ©MarcelloOrselli)

We managed to get the three barihunks appearing in Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd at the Teatro Carlo Felice to pose for a backstage photo before a recent performance. Valdis Jansons is rotating the title role with Phillip Addis, while Ricardo Crampton performs the role of A Novice and John Paul Huckle sings Dansker for the entire run.

The production directed by Davide Livermore has been praised for turning the stage into a ship and lowering and rising the sets to create a sense of navigation. There is one remaining performance left on April 23. You can also watch a video of Phillip Addis discussing the role of Billy Budd.

If you can't make it to Billy Budd, you can still catch the barihunk trio in the Teatro Carlo Felice's upcoming production of Carmen, where Jansons will sing Escamillo, Huckle performs Zuniga and Crampton takes on Morales. Jansons will be rotating the matador's role with another barihunk, Mattia Olivieri, who proved quite popular with our readers when we first posted about him. He was even featured in our Best of 2014 post as one of our hottest newcomers to the site.

Carmen will be rotated between Sonia Ganassi and Anna Malavasi. The opera opens on May 8th and runs through May 17.

Ricardo Crampton performing Count in Le Nozze di Figaro

Ricardo Crampton and the Teatro Carlo Felice

In January, we introduced readers to 30-year-old Argentinian barihunk Ricardo Crampton. He's currently performing the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Teatro Carlo Felice, which live streamed a performance of the opera on March 14th. Fortunately, we have audio of his performance of "Hai già vinta la causa"

Ricardo Crampton sings "Hai già vinta la causa":  

There is a performance today with an alternate cast, but Crampton has one remaining performance on March 18th. He'll be returning to his native Argentina to perform Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Buenos Aires Lirica from October 17-25.

Reader Submission: Ricardo Crampton

Riccardo Crampton

Our last post prompted a reader in Buenos Aires to suggest that 30-year-old Argentinian Ricardo Crampton should be our latest "Reader Submission." We couldn't agree more!

Crampton's interest in opera began when he was 12-years-old and he began mimicking Luciano Pavarotti.  He studied voice at the Instituto Superior de Arte of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Opera Studio in Teatro Argentino of the La Plata.

In 2010, he was a finalist at the Opera National de Paris de la Bastille International Voice Competition. He made his professional debut in a production of Verdi's Rigoletto at the Teatro Argentino de La Plata, where he still performs. He has also performed a number of other roles with the compnay, including Handel's Julius Caesar, Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Rossini's Viaggio a Reims and Amadeo Vives' zarzuela Doña Francisquita.

He has also performed in Massenet's Werther and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi a the Teatro Colón, Verdi's Falstaff, Bizet's Carmen, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Verdi's Macbeth at the Teatro Avenida and also performs in Italy now. As you can see from the photo above, he is currently working on Puccini's La boheme. We'll have more on that in a future post.