Georg Festl turns heads with sexy Golaud in Freiburg

Georg Festl in Pelléas et Mélisande (Photo: Rainer Muranyi)

German barihunk Georg Festl certainly caught the attention of the audience with his sexy, oft-shirtless performance of Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Theater Freiburg. We thought readers might enjoy seeing a few of the pictures, since the run ended on July 20. This was his role debut.

For those not familiar with the piece, the opera is tragic love triangle involving two noble half-brothers, Golaud and Pelléas, and the enigmatic Mélisande, who comes into their lives unexpectedly after a tremendous and undisclosed personal calamity. She marries Golaud, but he is soon convinced of her illicit union with his brother, and his jealous rage ends in Pélleas’ murder.  Mélisande dies after giving birth to a child.

Georg Festl in Pelléas et Mélisande (Photo: Rainer Muranyi)

Festl make his house debut at the Opernhaus Zürich next Spring as Masetto in Don Giovanni in a cast led by fellow barihunk Luca Pisaroni in the title role, Andreas Wolf as Leporello, Wenwei Zhang as the Commendatore, Jane Archibald as Donna Anna, Sine Bundgaard as Donna Elvira, Mauro Peter as Don Ottavio and Natalia Tanasi as Zerlina. 

Georg Festl was born in Nuremberg, Germany and studied English and American studies at the University of Music Würzburg. After graduating, he was cast as Artie Green in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg.  He is a recipient of the Richard-Wagner Society scholarship and the Da-Ponte Society scholarship

Reader Submission: Barihunk Denis Milo

Denis Milo (Photos courtesy of artist)

Moscow born Denis Milo has lived in Germany since childhood and is currently a member of the Staatsoper Nürnberg.

He started his musical training playing the flute at age eight and later switched to voice, with early vocal training from renowned baritones Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Thomas Quasthoff in Berlin. He made his first stage appearance at age twelve in a musical production of Emil and the Detectives, which toured Europe, North America and Japan.

Denis studied at the Berlin University of Arts with Enrico Facini, where he performed Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte and Valentin in Gounod's Faust. In early 2016, he debuted as Nardo in Mozart's La finta giardiniera with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and later that year he participated in the Mozart Residency at the Académie du Festival d'Aix en Provence.

In 2016, Milo became a member of the Komische Oper Berlin Opera Studio where his roles included Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Moralès in Bizet's Carmen, Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Zopire in Rameau's Zoroastre and L'horloge in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges.

Since 2018 Denis has been a member of the Ensemble of the Staatsoper Nürnberg, where is rooles have included Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Posa  in Verdi's Don Carlos.

In 2017, he performed at the New Music World Festival, singing the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.

Milo has an extensive concert repertoire, which includes Bach cantatas, Verdi’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Beethoven’s Symphony No 9. 

As an actor, he has performed the role of Claudio in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin.

Şzymon Komasa in Opera Columbus world premiere "The Flood"

Şzymon Komasa as Stanley Kowalski

We originally featured Şzymon Komasa back in 2013 when a readers spotted him participating in an online master class at Julliard with Joyce DiDonato. His father is the famous Polish actor, Wieslaw Komosa, who appeared in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. 

He just wrapped up a run in Leonard Bernstein's Candide at Opery Wrocławskiej and now has two exciting projects on the horizon. From February 8-10, he'll appear as Hans in the world premiere Korine Fujiwara and Stephen Wadsworth's The Flood with Opera Columbus. The opera tells a story of human connection through loss and shared tragedy, centered around the devastation of Columbus’ Franklinton neighborhood in the Great Flood of 1913. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

In March, he'll return to the Teatr Wiekl as Stanley Kowalski in Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, which he performed with the company in May. Tickets and additional cast information is available online. 

Şzymon Komasa as Stanley Kowalski

Komasa was born in Poznań, Poland and studied at the Academy of Music in Łódź, from which he graduated with honors in 2009 in both cello and vocal studies. He graduated from the Opera Studies program at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and the Juilliard School in New York.

He has won awards in international singing competitions, including the Best Wagner Singer at the 7th Annual Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in Dublin in January of this year. He previously took third prize at the Ada Sari Vocal Art Competition in Nowy Sącz in Poland, first prize at the Puccini International Singing Competition in Verona and first prize at the Halina Halska-Fijałkowska Vocal Competition in Wrocław. In 2011, he represented Poland in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, but fell ill and had to withdraw before the finals.

Reader Submission: Austrian barihunk Matthias Störmer

Matthias Störmer (Don Giovanni center) Photos from artist website

Our latest Reader Submission is Austrian barihunk Matthias Störmer, who is a member of the ensemble at the Theater Regensburg in Bavaria. He is wrapping up a run as the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni today.

After graduating from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna in 2010, he became a member of the ensemble at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, where he sang the title role in Florian Bramböck's Der dritte Polizist.

 Matthias Störmer sings Don Giovanni's serenade:

Since joining the Theater Regensburg ensemble, he has performed Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly Leopold in Stolz's Im weißen Rössl,Testo in Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Kuligin in Janáček's Kát’a Kabanová, Melot in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto.

He studies with the legendary mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender.

In January, he will perform Papageno again, appear in two concerts and sing Bondy in Kálmán's operetta Die Herzogin von Chicago.

Watch Gianluca Margheri as The Minotaur from Spoleto

Gianluca Margheri as The Minotaur (Image courtesy of Rai5)

You can now watch the complete performance of Italian barihunk Gianluca Margheri as the title character in composer Silvia Colasanti's Il Minotauro (The Minotaur) recorded at the Spoleto Festival. 

The libretto was inspired by the story from Friedrich Dürrenmatt, in which the Minotaur cannot at once appreciate both his world’s coherence and its richness, either oversimplifying what he perceives or being baffled by it. 

Il Minotauro is a lyric opera in 10 scenes where the myth is centered on the terrifying monster transforming into a "human" drama reflected in the mirrors of the labyrinth. In addition to the three leading voices – Minotaur, Arianna and Teseo – the Chorus of the Birds provides a modern version of the Greek chorus who comment on the action.

Upcoming performances for Margheri include Garibaldo in Handel's Rodelinda at the Gran Teatre Del Liceu from March 2-15 and The Stranger in Purcell's They Fairy Queen at the Hungarian State Opera from April 12-28. 
 

David Diston posts funny bio for upcoming Winterreise

David Diston

We've been meaning to post about Canadian David Diston for at least a year, but his bio for his upcoming bio for the 24-baritone Winterreise-fest was the best motivation to get this done. Regular readers may recall barihunk Zachary Luchetti's hysterical and epic biography that we posted about in 2015 and Diston's is shorter, but every bit as clever.

"David Diston’s rapidly developing artistry is quickly gaining him recognition as a ‘sonorous baritone’ (Huffpost Alberta) with ‘full-throated and characterful singing’ (Calgary Herald). Also hailed as 'the best baritone ever' (Dave's Mom), Mr. Diston recently performed a most dramatic rendition of Don Giovanni, in his shower. Critically acclaimed for his coffee consumption abilities, David becomes a bigger fan of coloratura with each additional cup. Don't miss David in his upcoming appearances as 'King of the Night' in his living room, and 'passenger' on the 11:43pm Lakeshore West from Union."

You can hear (and see) Diston live in the Tongue In Cheek Productions performance of twenty-four basses and baritones singing Schubert's Winterreise on Wednesday, September 5, 8pm at Lula Lounge in Toronto. Some of the singers include Jason Howard, Doug MacNaughton, Dion Mazerolle, Alexander Hajek, Cairan Ryan, Aaron Durand, Michael Nyby and Olivier Laquerre. Tickets are available online.

Sexy photos of Hadleigh Adams in Quartett; Opening today at West Edge Opera

Heather Buck and Hadleigh Adams (Photo: Cory Weaver)

Bass-barihunk Hadleigh Adams is headling this year's West Edge Opera Summer Festival in Luca Francesconi’s Quartett, directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer. The enigmatic and controversial opera is based on the 1982 play by the [East] German playwright Heiner Muller (itself based on Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' Les Liasions dangereuses), which emphasized the author's abiding concerns, including the inherent cruelty of human existence, the way all relationships ultimately come down to struggles for possession and defeat of "the other."

Elkhanah Pulitzer is directing three performances, which opens tonight and has additional performances on August 16 and 19 at the Craneway Conference Center in Richmond, California, which is a former Ford assembly plant on the  San Francisco Bay designed by the legendary industrial architect Albert Kahn. West Edge Opera has become renowned for their choice of unusual and interesting locations to stage their operas.

Heather Buck and Hadleigh Adams (Photo: Cory Weaver)

Hadleigh Adams will perform the role of the Vicomte de Valmont, joined by soprano Heather Buck as the Marquise de Merteuil. The Marquise de Merteuil and the Viscount de Valmont are trapped in a salon having renounced all sense of love and play seductive mind games taking on the roles of the lovers Tourvel and Volanges. Hence, the title Quartett.

Composer Luca Francesconi described the piece as a challenge to our ideas of opera, of society, of the dominance of Western thinking: “Don’t dare to come if you can't accept that you need to analyze what you do and who you are. This piece is violent, it’s sex, it’s blasphemy, it’s the absence of mercy.”

Heather Buck and Hadleigh Adams (Photo: Cory Weaver)

The opera was originally commissioned by La Scala and has since been performed at the Royal Opera in London, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Rouen, and at the Spoleto Festival. The score features two orchestras: a live chamber orchestra with electronics, and a recorded full orchestra and chorus created for the La Scala Premiere.

The remainder of West Edge Opera's season includes Claude Debussy’s lone opera Pélleas and Mélisande, with tenor David Blalock and Kendra Broom in the title roles, along with Efrain Solis as Golaud, contralto Malin Fritz as Geneviéve, and bass-baritone Philip Skinner singing the role of King Arkel. Remaining performances are on August 12 and17

Heather Buck and Hadleigh Adams (Photo: Cory Weaver)

The final offering is Matt Marks and Paul Peers’ Mata Hari, which originally premiered at the New York’s Prototype Festival in January of 2017. The cast includes mezzo-soprano Molly Mahoney as Sister Leonide,  tenor Samuel Faustine as Vadime, and Daniel Cilli, Nikolas Nackley and Jason Sarten as the military men that become Mata Hari’s lovers and targets. There is one remaining performance on August 18.

Tickets for all three shows are available online.

After Quartett, Hadleigh Adams returns to his home base at the San Francisco Opera to sing Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca this Fall with Carmen Giannattasio in the title role and tenor Brian Jagde as her lover. 

Andrew Potter's shirtless Fafner at Pittsburgh Festival Opera

Andrew Potter as Fafner (Images: Pittsburgh Festival Opera)

The Pittsburgh Opera Festival is kicked off their English language version of Wagner's Ring Cycle on July 13th with the sexy and shirtless Fafner of Andrew Potter in The Rhinegold (Das Rheingold).

The Pittsburgh Ring is based on a version by composer Jonathan Dove, John McMurray, and Graham Vick, which slightly condenses the orchestration and length of the works (none last longer than three hours) while retaining the authenticity of the original. The Rhinegold runs approximately two hours.

Andrew Potter's Fafner, who has already being turned by the power of the Ring, comes out in the final fanfare and begins shirtlessly attacking the walls of Valhalla as the gods aloofly celebrate in their beautiful tower.

There are remaining performances on July 15 and 17, and tickets and additional cast information is available online. The Ring Cycle continues over the next three years.

Levent Bakirci in revealing Il Prigioniero at Maggio Musicale

Levent Bakirci in Il Prigioniero

Levent Bakirci, who we recently featured starring in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Teatro Municipal Santiago in Chile, just made his debut at the Festival del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Bakirci is singing the difficult title role in Luigi Dallapiccola's Il Prigioniero and spends much of the opera in little more than a pair of briefs. 

Dallapiccola's Il Prigioniero is a 7-part, 50-minute opera which was first performed on May 3, 1948 for the XIII Maggio Festival, and was considered one of the cornerstones of 20th century musical theater. It was first broadcast by the Italian radio station RAI on December 1, 1949.

The opera has two remaining performances on June 21 and 23. Tickets are available online and start at only € 10. 

Levent Bakirci in Il Prigioniero

The work is based on the short story La torture par l'espérance ("Torture by Hope") from the collection Nouveaux contes cruels by the French writer Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and from La Légende d'Ulenspiegel et de Lamme Goedzak by Charles de Coster. Some of the musical material is based on Dallapiccola's 1938 choral work Canti di prigionia. After ruminating on the idea, he started work on the piece in 1939 at the suggestion of his wife Laura.

Bakirci, graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara before pursuing his career as a singer, including studying at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

He has performed Don Giovanni at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, where he is an ensemble member, as well as the Theater Bremen, where he was a member of the ensemble from 2008-11. He has appeared at some of the leading opera houses of the world, including the Theatre du Caputole Toulouse, Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Oper Stuttgart, as well as with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester and with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie Orchestra (NDW).

Sexy photos from world premiere of "When Adonis Calls"; Upcoming West Coast premiere of "The Hidden Singer"

Joshua Jeremiah and Trevor Martin (photo: Frank Zipperer)

The Asheville Lyric Opera has a huge success on its hands and bragging rights for landing the highly anticipated world premiere of composer Clint Borzoni and librettist John de los Santos' "When Adonis Calls," which debuted on May 11th. There are additional performances on May 12 and 13. Asheville is also the home of Gavin Geoffrey Dillard, whose poetry was refashioned into the libretto. Tickets are available online.

Joshua Jeremiah and Trevor Martin (photo: Frank Zipperer)

The opera, which was work-shopped at the Fort Worth Opera Festival's Frontiers series of new works in 2015, chronicles the tale of a distant relationship between an accomplished, if aging and discouraged Poet an a young, inspired, and impetuous Muse. Two male dancers create the emotional subtext as the poets banter back and forth of their loves, their animosities, their jealousies, and their creative furies.

Trevor Martin (photo: Frank Zipperer)

The piece is scored for two baritones, string quartet, percussionist and two dancers (and comes with an adult content warning). When Adonis Calls features a low and high baritone, and Asheville Lyric Opera featured two amazing performers in Trevor Martin and Joshua Jeremiah, as well as two local dancers.

Joshua Jeremiah and Trevor Martin and dancers (photo: Frank Zipperer)

"When Adonis Calls" already has a second performance scheduled in Chicago with the Thompson Street Opera Company this Fall. Details are forthcoming. Our site has also learned that discussions are underway for a West Coast premiere.

Malte Roesner (Photo: Jack Michaels)

For those on the West Coast, you'll have an opportunity to experience another world premiere from Clint Borzoni, when German bass Malte Roesner premieres the song cycle "The Hidden Singer, " based on the poetry of Wendell Berry. The cycle revolves around seven poems all associated with birds, which are normally correlated with high soprano voices. The song cycle is scored for string quartet, but opens with an a cappella setting.

The concert will be held at Ansel Adams' former home in San Francisco and tickets include a generous supply of wine and food, in keeping with Musica Marin's tradition to present chamber music in the original intimate, salon setting of a home. The song cycle will be paired with Mendelssohn's String Quartet in A minor. Tickets for the June 3rd concert are available online. 

Cody Quattlebaum in world premiere of "Der Traum von Dir"

Cody Quattlebaum in Der Traum von Dir

Cody Quattlebaum, who recently joined the ensemble at the Zurich Opera, will be featured in the world premiere of Swiss composer Xavier Dayer’s Der Traum von Dir (The Dream of You). The chamber opera is based on the famous novella Letter from an Unknown Woman by Stefan Zweig, and tells the story of an obsessive, unfulfilled love relationship between a young woman and a writer.  

There will be four performances on the company's Studio stage between December 2-9 and tickets are available online.

The story reveals the interaction between different layers of reality, in which the few real encounters of the couple are interlaced with manipulative, invented realities, wistful visions, amorous ecstasy and desperate loneliness. The unnamed female protagonist is split into a threefold ego, and in nine scenes traces the frenetic states of mind induced by an ecstatic love, which has possibly only existed in the head of the protagonist. 

Cody Quattlebaum in Der Traum von Dir

The opera is cast for three female voices, baritone and six instruments. The female voices are performed by Soyoung Lee, Hamida Kristoffersen and Kismara Pessatti.

Der Traum von Dir is the first in a series of opera compositions that the Zurich Opera will be commissioning from Swiss composers over the coming seasons.

Quattlebaum, was a recent participant in San Francisco's prestigious Merola Opera Program, where he performed Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte and the title role in William Walton's The Bear. He will also appearing be as Larkens in Zurich Opera's La fanciulla del West, which runs from December 21 through January 12.

Cody Quattlebaum in the 2018 Barihunks Calendar

Quattlebaum also appears in our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men. The calendar 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!
 

Mariano Gladic turns a swamp frog into a sexy prince

Mariano Gladic as Vodnik

Bass-barihunk is turning heads at the Teatro Colon with his shirtless, sexy performance of the water goblin Vodnik in Antonin Dvořák's Rusalka. The opera is best known for the soprano aria
"Song to the Moon" sung by the title character, which is being shared by Ana María Martínez and Daniela Tabernig in Buenos Aires. Performances run through November 14th and tickets are available http://www.teatrocolon.org.ar/en/2017/opera/rusalka. 

Gladic's sexy portrayal of Vodnik is an impressive transformation, because in Slavic mythology the character appears as an old man with a frog-like face, greenish beard, long hair, with his body covered in algae, muck, and covered in black fish scales. He has webbed paws instead of hands, a fish's tail, and eyes that burn like red-hot coals.

Although it has become popular in recent years, with Renee Fleming and Gabriela Beňačková having great success as Rusalka, the Czech opera was not performed in the U.S. until 1975, when it was produced by the San Diego Opera. It didn't make its way to the Metropolitan Opera until 1993 and the San Francisco Opera until 1995. 

Mariano Gladic as Vodnik

Mariano Gladic was born in Mar del Plata on the Atlantic coast of Argentina, where he started his musical studies at the conservatory. He continued his studies in Buenos Aires, where he got immersed in acting, working with Héctor Bidonde, Helena Tritek, and Rubén Szuchmacher. He was a member of the company Futuro Anterior directed by Silvio Lang. Gladic has extensive experience as an actor and performed in the International Acting Festival in Havana, receiving a nomination for the A.C.E. awards and the Teatro del Mundo awards. 

Gladic was a member of Periferia Vocal and Orfeon de Buenos Aires. His opera roles include Handel’s Ariodante, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Rigoletto, and La bohème. He was one of the winners of the 8th Concurso Alejandro Cordero at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón.

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!

Anthony Reed launches "My BASSic LIfe"

Anthony Reed

Bass-barihunk Anthony Reed, who wrapped up his successful Opera Pop-Up Operatronica last night, has launched his own YouTube channel called My BASSic Life. He also just finished two runs at the San Francisco Opera where he sang Orest's tutor in Richard Strauss' Elektra and is currently singing Doctor Grenvil in Verdi's La traviata, which runs through October 17th.

My BASSic Life runs every Tuesday and he's already ran episodes where you can watch him roller blading in Golden Gate Park, getting his costume fitting, hiking shirtless in Yosemite, seeking out a translation of Turandot, getting a haircut in Philly and even singing to deer (as well as just singing -both pop and opera!). 

Upcoming performances include Haydn's Creation with the Nashville Symphony on November 3rd and 4th, as well as the Adler Gala Concert at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House on December 8th. Tickets for the Gala are available online.

A page from the Barihunks 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!

Q&A with Barihunk and Fitness Instructor Zacharias Niedzwiecki

Zacharias Niedzwiecki

Chicago-based barihunk Zacharias Niedzwiecki is new to our site and came to our attention earlier this year when he performed in Purcell's The Fairy Queen at Long Beach Opera. He received his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, where he performed in numerous productions, including the role of Connie Rivers in the collegiate premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's The Grapes of Wrath, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance as The Pirate King, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann as Schlémiel, Kurt Weill's Mahagonny Songspiel as Jimmy/Cypress Stark, and Puccini's La Bohème as Colline.

Niedzwiecki is in his second year as a member of the Professional Diploma in Opera Program at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts in conjunction with Chicago Opera Theater. Last season he made his debut this with Chicago Opera Theater in Frank Martin’s The Love Potion as Duke Hoël, covered the role of Oberon in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with Chicago Opera Theater and Long Beach Opera, and appeared in the US premiere of Phillip Glass’ The Perfect American.

This season you can see Zacharias with Chicago Opera Theater in Menotti’s The Consul as Assan, the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ Elizabeth Cree as both Mr. Etcher and Karl Marx. He will also be covering multiple roles with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Gregory Spears’s opera Fellow Travelers.

Niedzwiecki is also a cycle instructor and yoga teacher keeps his body as fit as his voice. He answered some questions for us about his career, his fitness routine and a little about his personal interests.

Zacharias Niedzwiecki in Long Beach Opera's The Fairy Queen (photo: Liz Lauren)

1. What drew you to a career in opera? I was first drawn to the beauty of opera. When I was young, I thought that it was the most beautiful art form I ever experienced. I wanted to somehow be that beautiful too, so I aspired to be an opera singer. Somehow those aspirations became reality. 

2. You are a cycle instructor and yoga teacher. Tell us about that and what got you started in fitness? I first got started in fitness simply to get in shape. I didn't feel entirely comfortable in my own skin so I made the choice to change that. Years later is just part of my lifestyle, besides teaching fitness working out everyday is just part of my routine. Some people read the paper with their coffee in the morning, I workout. 

Zacharias Niedzwiecki teaching yoga

3. Do you feel that being in shape helps you on stage?I absolutely feel that being in shape helps many aspects of stage. I first started with vinyasa yoga. I read so many articles about singers who have worked out and became too tight to be successful in an operatic career. I didn't want that so I chose yoga as a way to tone and refine my movements. Being in shape allows in my opinion for you to have more bodily awareness on stage and at the same time look good doing it. 

4. How do you respond to people who say that working out can restrict proper breathing for singers? As far as restricting proper breathing for singers I completely understand this thought, it's valid. For that reason I believe a work out regimen should be balanced. That's why I combine workouts in yoga, cycling, and interval training. Yoga itself is about breath and movement, lengthening the body and flexibility. Therefore I feel it is essential to incorporate yoga into all workouts routines. If and when I lift, I only lift so much that I can still have proper form and not so much weight that I ever strain. Regardless the voice should come first, if you notice something has begun to restrict your breath stop doing it. 

Zacharias Niedzwiecki

5. Do you think the advent of HD broadcasts has changed the expectation of how a singer should look? Absolutely, I believe it has cause viewers to once again rethink this art form. Opera is an aural art form and a visual art form. With this in mind, it now being broadcasted, and our more health conscious society I feel the expectation have shifted for you to not only sound incredible, but for you to also look the role and look good doing it. 

6. Are there any roles in particular that you really hope to get to perform someday? There are a couple, I would absolutely love to perform the role Hawkins Fuller from Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears. The story is heart wrenching, the music is gorgeous and I would love to perform as a gay character. I would also like to perform the role of Escamillo from Carmen by Bizet. 

7. What other passions do you have aside from music? I am an avid botanist, my apartment in Chicago is filled with plants. I really enjoy learning about plants and spending time researching about them. I feel growing up gardening vegetables and flower at home in Northern Michigan instilled this passion.

Zacharias Niedzwiecki

8. What do you listen to other than opera? I listen to all kinds of music. Teaching both yoga and cycling and having to make these very different playlists I have to listen to and search through a large variety of music. I really enjoy lately electronic house with female vocals and more chill ambient music like Olafur Arnalds. 

9. Tell us something about yourself that people would be surprised to know. I took a year off from singing when I was 23 and became a research field technician of a Jaguar population density study in Panama. I lived there for about a year in the mountains, hiking everyday setting up camera traps along the mountain ridges.