Bass-barihunk
Ryan McKinny will be featured along with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke in
the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas' composition, "Rilke Songs," a
musical setting of lyric poems by German modernist poet Rainer Maria
Rilke. A number of composers have set Rilke texts to music, including
Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Anton Webern, Arnold Schoenberg and Peter
Lieberson.
Tilson Thomas has
been an active composer throughout his career In addition to Rilke, he has set the texts of
Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Anne Frank. Other
compositions include Street Song for brass instruments and Agnegram, an overture for orchestra. This will mark Michael Tilson Thomas' 25th and final season
as the San Francisco Symphony’s music.
Performances run from January 9-12 and tickets and additional concert information is available online.
McKinny returns to the operatic stage on February 29 for eight performances as the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Washington National Opera. He'll be joined by fellow barihunk Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello, along with Vannessa Vasquez as Donna Anna, Keri Alkema as Donna Elvira and Alek Shrader as Don Ottavio. In April, he takes on Jokanaan in Richard Strauss' Salome at the Houston Grand Opera with Lise Lindstrom in the title role and Susan Graham as Herodias.
Bass-barihunk Ryan McKinny is replacing Davide Luciano in the final three performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, who was scheduled to sing in performances between December 3-8. The company previously announced that barihunk Lucas Meachem would replace Ildar Abdrazakov in the November 14-30 performances.
Meachem has previously sung the role at the Semperoper Dresden, Cincinnati Opera and Santa Fe Opera, while McKinny recently debuted the role at the Houston Grand Opera. He will reprise the role with the Washington National Opera in February and March 2020.
McKinny joins a cast that includes Matthew Rose, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Amanda Majeski, Ying Fang, Brandon Cedel, Mika Kares, and Ben Bliss.
The Lyric Opera of Chicago production was recently featured on this site and you can read about it HERE.
Kasper Holton's Don Giovanni (left) and Ryan McKinny at the Los Angeles Opera (right)
Bass-barihunk Ryan McKinny will make his role debut as the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Houston Grand Opera from April 20 through May 5. The cast includes Paolo Bordogna as Leporello, Ailyn Pérez as Donna Anna, Melody Moore as Donna Elvira, Ben Bliss as Don Ottavio, Dorothy Gal as Zerlina, Daniel Noyola as Masetto and Kristinn Sigmundsson as The Commendatore.
The new production by Kasper Holten will be on a rotating set with projections to let the audience delve into the mind of the serial philanderer. Set designer Es Devlin has designed sets for Beyoncé, Jay Z, U2 and Adele, as well as the closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Tickets are available online.
Ryan McKinny sings Schubert's "Gute Nacht":
If you can't make it to Houston, McKinny will return to the role at the Washington National Opera from February 29-March 22. The cast includes fellow barihunk Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello, Vanessa Vasquez as Donna Anna, Keri Alkema as Donna Elvira, Alek Shrader as Don Ottavio and Peter Volpe as The Commendatore. Tickets are available online.
Other upcoming performance for McKinny include Mahler's 8th Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, his role debut as Joseph De Rocher in Heggie's Dead Man Walking a the Lyric Opera of Chicago and a Mahler concert with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and the San Francisco Symphony.
Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will mark his 25th and final season as the San Francisco Symphony’s music director with a schedule that includes newly commissioned works by John Adams, Julia Wolfe, Adam Schoenberg and the composer/conductor himself.
Bass-barihunk Ryan McKinny will be featured along with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke in the world premiere of Tilson Thomas' composition, "Rilke Songs," a musical setting of lyric poems by German modernist poet Rainer Maria Rilke. A number of composers have set Rilke texts to music, including Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Anton Webern, Arnold Schoenberg and Peter Lieberson.
Tilson Thomas has been an active composer throughout his career He has set the texts of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Anne Frank. Other compositions include Street Song for brass instruments and Agnegram, an overture for orchestra.
Performances run from January 9-12 and tickets and additional concert information is available online.
Ryan McKinny can currently be seen in the European premiere of John Adams' "Girls of the Golden West" at the Dutch National Opera.
David Adam Moore as Stanley Kowalski(Photo @dabva)
The Teatro Colón has announced its 2019 season, which will include barihunk David Adam Moore as Stanley Kowalski in Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, in what will be the South American premiere of the opera. Moore has had great success with the role at both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Virginia Opera.
The opera is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams and has become a showcase for barihunks, including Gregory Gerbrandt, Dan Kempson, Rod Gilfry, Ryan McKinny, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Jordan Shanahan.
A Streetcar Named Desire was premiered at the San Francisco Opera
in 1998 with Rod Gilfry as Stanley and its become one of the most
popular contemporary American operas in the repertory. It has gone on to
see performances in New Orleans, Kentucky, Carnegie Hall in New York San Diego, Washington D.C.,
San Francisco (Merola Opera), Cleveland, Chicago, Santa Barbara,
Honolulu and Virginia Opera. It had it European premiere in Strasbourg
in 2001 and its U.K. premiere in 2003, with subsequent performances
throughout Europe and in Tokyo.
The Teatro Colón cast will also include Sarah Jane McMahon, Eric Fennell, and Victoria Livengood. Performances run from May 7-14, 2019
Opèra de Montrèal's upcoming performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold will feature the barihunk duo of Ryan McKinny as Wotan and Solomon Howard as Fafner. The cast also includes Nathan Berg as Alberich, David Cangelosi as Mime, Aidan Ferguson as Fricka and Caroline Bleau as Freia. The production is directed by Brian Staufenbiel.
Performances are on November 10, 13, 15 and 17 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montrèal. This is the first performance of the opera in the city in twenty years. Tickets are available online.
Watch Soloman Howard transform into Fafner:
The season will continue with barihunks Aubrey Allicock in Terence Blanchard's Champion and Nathan Keoughan in Ricky Ian Gordon's 27.
Upcoming performances for McKinny include reprising the role of Clarence in John Adams Girls of the Golden West at the Dutch National Opera and singing the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Houston Grand Opera.
Upcoming performances for Soloman Howard include the role of the Lion in Jeanine Tesori's The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me at the Washington National Opera and The King in Verdi's Aida at The Met.
Ryan McKinny and Daniel Okulitch(Photo: Ken Howard, Santa Fe Opera, 2018)
The Santa Fe Opera is presenting its first John Adams opera ever, which is surprising considering their historic dedication to both new opera and those by American composers. The all-star cast includes barihunks Ryan McKinny as Robert Oppenheimer, Andrew Harris as Edward Teller and Daniel Okulitch as General Groves, as well as Julia Bullock as Kitty Oppenheimer, Ben Bliss as Robert Wilson, Meredith Arwady as Pasqualita and Tim Mix as Jack Hubbard.
Much of the opera actually takes place just 33 miles from Santa Fe in Los Alamos and Alamogordo, where the detonation of the first atomic bomb took place.
Andrew Harris and Ryan McKinny(Photo: Ken Howard, Santa Fe Opera, 2018)
First performed in 2005 at the San Francisco Opera, Doctor Atomic reunited composer John Adams with librettist and stage director Peter Sellars, whose earlier collaborations included Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer. The European premiere took place at De Nederlandse Opera in 2007 and The Metropolitan Opera broadcast the work nationally in 2008.
Much of the text from the opera was adapted from declassified U.S. government documents and communications among scientists, government officials, and military personnel who were involved in the project. Other borrowed texts include poetry by Charles Baudelaire and Muriel Rukeyser, the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, quotes from the Bhagavad Gita, and a traditional Tewa Indian song.
Gerald Finley sings "Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God"
Perhaps the most famous piece from the opera is the baritone aria "Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God" with text by the poet John Donne. The poem actually inspired Oppenheimer to name his test site for the atomic bomb “Trinity.”
Additional performances at the Santa Fe Opera are on July 27, and August 2, 7 and 16. Tickets are available online.
John Adams is one of the best known and most often performed of
America's composers. Adams was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on
February 15, 1947. During his youth, growing up in Vermont and New
Hampshire, he was strongly influenced by the intellectual and cultural
institutions of New England. He received both his BA and MA degrees from
Harvard University, where he was active as a conductor, clarinetist,
and composer. His principal teachers included Leon Kirchner, David Del
Tredici and Roger Sessions.
In 1971, Adams began an active career in the San Francisco area,
teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (1972-83) and
serving as new music adviser and composer-in-residence for the San
Francisco Symphony (1978-85).
Adams coined the term “post-minimalism” starting with his piece for string septet Shaker Loops (1978). This style is characterized by greater dynamic contrasts and a more fluid and layered sound. The completion and premiere of Harmonium in 1981 was well-received by critics and the public, establishing Adams as a major American composer. He was the winner of the 2003
Pulitzer prize.
Barihunk Ryan McKinny (left) and tenor Paul Appleby in Girls of the Golden West
His latest opera, "Girls of the Golden West," premiered at the San Francisco Opera on November 21, 2017 to decidedly mixed reviews. The cast included the barihunk trio of Ryan McKinny, Elliot Madore and Davone Tines and, like many of Adams' pieces, dealt with a slice of actual history.
A number of his pieces have leading roles for baritones, including J. Robert Oppenheimer in Dr. Atomic, Nixon in Nixon in China and the critical roles of the captain, terrorist (Rambo) and Klinghoffer in The Death of Klinghoffer. His oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary was written for tenor, soprano, mezzo-soprano and three countertenors!
Thomas Hampson sings a selection from The Wound-Dresser:
He also wrote the Walt Whitman-inspired piece The Wound-Dresser, which
is scored for baritone voice, 2 flutes (or 2 piccolos), 2 oboes,
clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, trumpet (or piccolo tpt),
timpani, synthesizer, and strings.
Upcoming performance of operas by John Adams include Nixon in China at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg in May/June 2018 and Dr. Atomic at the Santa Fe Opera in July/August 2018 with Ryan McKinny and Daniel Okulitch.
On November 21, San Francisco Opera will present the world premiere
of American composer John Adams' Girls of the Golden West, which will feature the barihunk trio of Davóne Tines as the fugitive slave Ned Peters, Elliot Madore as Ramón and Ryan McKinny as Clarence. The opera will run from November 21-December 10 and ticket and additional cast information is available online.
Bass-barihunk Davóne Tines, who is new to this site, makes his first local appearance in a fully
staged opera as Ned Peters, an African-American cowboy and fugitive
slave who is drawn to the promise of the frontier. At age 30, Tines has
had three operas composed with his voice in mind: Matthew Aucoin's
Crossing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Kaija Saariaho's Only the Sound Remains at the Dutch National Opera, as well as Adams' Girls of the
Golden West. Last year, he performed John Adams' El Niño at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Davóne Tines sings 'True Fire" by Kaija Saariaho:
This is Ryan McKinny's debut with the San Francisco Opera. He recently performed the role of Richard Nixon in Adams’ Nixon in China with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Elliot Madore returns after his successful debut with the San Francisco Opera as Anthony Hope in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd in 2015.
With a libretto drawn from historical sources by director Peter Sellars, Girls of the Golden West explores the true stories of pioneers on California's Gold Rush frontier during the 1850s. The collaboration between San Francisco Opera and John Adams
began with the 1992 West Coast premiere of The Death of Klinghoffer, followed by the acclaimed world premiere
of Doctor Atomic in 2005.
Part of the cast of Girls of the Golden West
Girls of the Golden West takes place in the historic mining camps of Rich
Bar and Downieville during California's transition from territory to
American statehood, a period which coincided with the Gold Rush and its
unprecedented migration of people from around the world attracted by the
prospect of striking it rich in the region's gold fields.
Sellars'
libretto draws from sources illuminating multiple perspectives of this
global event, including the California history classic The Shirley
Letters, a collection of 23 letters by Louise Clappe penned under the
name "Dame Shirley" describing the rugged conditions and clash of
cultures in the gold mining camps from 1851 to 1852; the diary of
Chilean miner Ramón Gil Navarro; memoirs of fugitive slaves; poems of
Chinese immigrants; the Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni; Frederick Douglass' speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"; gold miner songs; and Mark Twain's Roughing It.
2018 Barihunks Calendar/Photo Book
Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for
purchase HERE.
In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book
this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the
calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think!
Bass-barihunk Ryan McKinny recently made his role debut as Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival. We'll reserve commentary about the costumes and production (which was set in the Islamic world), as we don't do reviews, but these pictures will give you a sense of it. News reports say that the production was booed on opening night and security was heightened.
Rather that set the piece in Montsalvat, the castle of the knights
of the Holy Grail, director Uwe Eric Laufenberg, reset the production in a bomb-outed church in
the Middle East. Ryan McKinny shared his own thoughts about the opera on Slipped Disc, which you can read in its entirety HERE. We were particularly struck by these words:
Ryan McKinny in Bayreuth's Parsifal
"I frequently feel distressed that this art form is too often reserved for the wealthy and powerful. But in this case, I think the wealthy and powerful are maybe the ones that need to hear this music the most...I hope this music reaches us. I hope we can feel compassion for our own suffering, for Amfortas’ suffering, for the suffering of the world. And through that compassion, gain some understanding."
Tickets for Parsifal are available online and the production runs through August 28th. McKinny returns to the United States from September 22-October 2 to perform the title role in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Washington National Opera. He then returns to the role of Amfortas with the Dutch National Opera from December 6-29. It will be directed by Pierre Audi.
René Pape as King Mark and Ryan McKinny as Kurnewal
Today we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Richard Wagner's masterpiece Tristan und Isolde. The opera premiered on June 10, 1865 at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich. We were planning on doing a more comprehensive post, but due to time restraints, recommend that you listen to today's feature on WQXR. One of our favorite performances in recent years was Ryan McKinny role debut as Kurwenal in Christof Loy’s production at the Houston Grand Opera in the 2012-13 season featuring Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme as the lovers. A couple performances featuring barihunks that we're looking forward to include René Pape singing König Marke in Munich from July 8-12, Kay Stiefermann as Ein Steuermann in Bayreuth from July 25-Aug 23 and Tommi Hakala as Kurnewal in Helsinki from May 14-28, 2016.
The lastest barihunk to take on Stanley Kowalski in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire is Gregory Gerbrandt, who will sing the role with Opera Santa Barbara on April 24 and 26. In recent months we've seen Wes Mason take on the iconic role at Kentucky Opera, Ryan McKinny at the Los Angeles Opera and Dan Kempson with Townsend Opera and Fresno Grand Opera.
Gerbrandt will have some help in creating an authentic New Orleans flavor, as his Mitch is New Orleans native Casey Candebat. Joining them in the cast are Beverly O'Regan Thiele as Blanche DuBois and Micaela Oeste as Stella.
Dan Kempson, Wes Mason and Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski
The production will utilize the revised score prepared by Peter Grunberg for the Merola Opera, which reduces the score from a 70-piece orchestra to a 40-piece ensemble. Jose Maria Condemi, who directed the opera at Merola and Kentucky Opera, will direct the work again in Santa Barbara. Candebat also sang the role of Mitch at the Merola Opera.
The production next travels to the Tulsa Opera where barihunk Jordan Shanahan will take on the role on March 4 and 6, 2016.
Pretty Yende and Ryan McKinny in LA Opera's Marriage of Figaro
Ryan McKinny made his role debut as the Count in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with the Los Angeles Opera. Other than a run as Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte at the Met last season, Mozart has been virtually non-existent in the American's repertory. There will be five more performances until the show closes on April 12th. A look at his calendar shows that it may be awhile before you can hear him in a Mozart again.
After garnering worldwide acclaim for his Kurwenal in Houston and Dutchman at Glimmerglass, the music of Richard Wagner has been playing the biggest role in his career. His upcoming calendar includes Biterolf in Tannhäuser at the Met, Amfortas in Parsifal at the Teatro Colón, Donner in Das Rheingold and Gunther in Gotterdammerung at Washington National Opera.
Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski and the Dutchman
After L.A., McKinny heads to the Santa Fe Opera to sing Jochanaan in Richard Strauss' Salome from July 18- August 27. The cast also includes hunkentenor Brian Jagde as Narraboth and Alex Penda as Salome.
Ryan McKinny in Flying Dutchman rehearsals at Hawaii Opera Theater (far left and right) and Glimmerglass (center)
Back in June 2013 we ran some sexy photos from photographer Karli Cadel of barihunk Ryan McKinny in rehearsals for Wagner's The Flying Dutchman at the Glimmerglass Festival. It became one of our most popular posts and still gets an amazing amount of traffic almost two years later.
That amazing production from Glimmerglass has been transported 4,900 miles to the Hawaii Opera Theater with three of the main cast members repeating their roles, including Jay Hunter Morris as Erik, Melody Moore as Senta and McKinny as the Dutchman. Hawaii even added barihunk Paul Whelan as Daland.
Forunately, there are more rehearsal pictures of Ryan McKinny, so we had to share them with you.
Ryan McKinny in Flying Dutchman rehearsals at Hawaii Opera Theater
Performances run from February 13-17 and tickets are available online. If you were planning on a vacation to Hawaii, this would be the time to go.
Hawaii Opera Theater, or HOT as they're affectionately known, has more barihunks on their season lineup. Wes Mason will sing the role of Jonathan Reed in Jonathan Dove's Siren Song, running from March 20-28. Jesse Blumberg then joins the roster for a run as Anthony Hope in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd from April 24-28.
Bass-Barihunk Ryan McKinny will join soprano Amanda Majeski in kicking off the 2014-15 season of the George
London Foundation for Singers with a joint recital at Gilder Lehrman
Hall at The Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. The recital will be McKinny's New York
recital debut. The two singers are both past winners of the George London Award.
McKinny will sing three selections from
Schubert's Schwanengesang, Die Frist ist um
from Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, and Se vuol ballare from
Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Together they will perform If I Loved You from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel.
The performance is on Sunday, November 9, 2014, at
4:30 PM, with pianist Ken Noda. Additional information is available online.
Performances on August 12 and 19 will feature the young barihunk Chris Carr as Billy Bigelow. The production also features Glimmerglass Young Artist Ben Edquist as Jigger Craigin. Edquist, who took first place in the Lotte Lenya Competition, is completing his Masters in Music at Rice University.
Ben Edquist
Ben Edquist as Jigger Craigin (Photos: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)
Carousel is one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most famous musicals, and was reportedly the composer’s favourite score. The show was turned into an MGM film in 1956 which starred Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones. The original 1945 Broadway production featured the legendary John Raitt as Billy Bigelow.Carouseltellsthe story of a carousel barker’s struggles to rise above challenging circumstances. The musical includes such favorites as “If I Loved You,” “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Ryan McKinny as Billy Bigelow and Andrea Carroll as Julie Jordan (Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)
Carousel will run in repertory with Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Strauss’ Ariadne in Naxosand Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy.
Formore information on the 2014 Glimmerglass Festival and performance dates and times, call the Box Office at (607) 547-2255 or visit their website.
LA Opera Production of Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Stacey Tappan as Stella. Photo by Robert Milliard
Ryan McKinny
Ryan McKinny
Ryan McKinny and Stacey Tappen
Renée Fleming and Ryan McKinny
As a follow-up to our previous post about the Los Angeles Opera's beautifully sung and sexy performance of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, here are some stunning photos from the production.
The opera featured bass-barithunk Ryan McKinny as the hotheaded Stanley Kowalski,
soprano Renée Fleming as Blanche, Stacey Tappan as Stella, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as
Mitch.
Sometimes words aren't needed, so enjoy the pictures.
Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski (Photo: Robert Millard for LA Opera)
The Los Angeles Opera has been marketing their upcoming performance of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire around mega-star Renée Fleming as Blanche DuBois. Fleming, who is a major exponent of American opera, and for whom the role was written when the opera premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 1998, certainly deserves to be the star attraction.
We, of course, were curious to see if the long tradition of casting a gym-toned barihunk as Stanley Kowalski was being upheld. The original Stanley was the Rod Gilfry in his vocal and physical prime. The role has subsequently been sung by a veritable Who's Who of barihunks, including Teddy Tahu Rhodes, David Adam Moore and Philip Cutlip. The L.A. Opera didn't disappoint, as they cast Ryan McKinny in the role, who like a bottle of 1982 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion just gets better and better with age.
Ryan McKinny as Stanley Kowalski and Stacey Tappen as Stella (Photo: Robert Millard for LA Opera)
McKinny became a household name in the world of opera after performing the Dutchman in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer
at the Glimmerglass Festival under the direction of Francesca Zambello.
Not only was McKinny's Dutchman vocally stunning, but it was the sexiest portrayal of that role in operatic
history. The photos on our site went viral and almost doubled the traffic to our site.
In addition to Fleming and McKinny, the all-star cast also includes Stacey Tappan as Stella and Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch. Performances are on Sunday, May 18th at 5 PM and May 21 and 24 at 7:30 PM. Tickets for all three performances are available online.
You can read an interview with Ryan McKinny on the LA Opera blog.
If there was any doubt left that Ryan McKinny has emerged as a major talent it was erased with the announcement that he'll sing Stanley Kowalski opposite megastar Renée Fleming in Andrè Previn's Streetcar Named Desire at the Los Angeles Opera. It also cements his budding reputation as a major barihunk, adding the notoriously sexy Stanley to his growing list of barihunk roles that includes Hercules, Escamillo and Jochanaan.
McKinny truly emerged last summer as the Dutchman in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at the Glimmerglass Festival under the direction of Francesca Zambello. McKinny's Dutchman was the sexiest portrayal of that role in operatic history and it worked masterfully. Regular readers know that we consider Zambello the "Queen Mother" of barihunks for her early and enthusiastic concept of casting baritones as not just villains and angry fathers, but as genuine sex symbols.
Ryan McKinny as the Dutchman
Streetcar Named Desire is being performed in a semi-staged concert production under the baton of Patrick Summers. The cast also includes the riveting tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Blanche’s guileless suitor Mitch and the wonderful soprano Stacey Tappan as Stella. Performances are on May 18, 21 and 24 and tickets are available online.
It's nice to see Ryan McKinny return to the LA Opera, as it's the company that provided him many opportunities early in his career. He debuted there in 2008 as Montano in Verdis's Otello, and subsequently appeared as the Servant in Ullmann's The Broken Jug, Dr. Grenvil in Verdi's La Traviata, Don Basilio in Rossini's Barber of Seville and Leone in Handel's Tamerlano.
He can currently be seen in two productions at the Houston Grand Opera. He's currenlty singing Donner in Wagner's Das Rheingold, also conducted by Patrick Summers, which runs from April 11-26 and then he switches to Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen from April-May 10. McKinny is a former participant with the Houston Grand Opera Studio. (We should also mention that you don't want to miss Stefan Margita as Loge in Rheingold. His is the definitive performance!).
The Los Angeles Opera has just announced that it is adding André Previn’s Streetcar Named Desire to
its 2013-14 season. Taking on the role of Stanley Kowalski will be Ryan McKinny, who just created a sensation in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer at the Glimmerglass Festival. We didn't need much evidence, as our sexy photos of him almost doubled traffic to the site.
Joining the rising superstar barihunk will be Renée Fleming in the role of
Blanche DuBois, instantly making this one of the hottest tickets in opera. The performances are being presented in a semi-staged concert version on May 18, 21 and 24.
Rounding out the cast are soprano Stacey Tappan as Stella and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch Mitchell, a role he performed at
the opera’s 1998 premiere. Tickets will be available online beginning on October 20th.
