Kasey Yeargain (left in tee shirt) with Stefan Barner;Backstage for Romeo & Juliet (right)
What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day, but with a classic love story like Romeo & Juliet (although we hope your romance ends better). The Tulsa Opera is presenting the Gounod classic on this weekend for lovers, with performances bookending the holiday on February 13 and 15.
Barichunk to barihunk Kasey Yeargain continues to be a fan favorite with the company and he takes on the role of Paris, Juliet's other suitor and the favorite of Romeo's dad. This summer he'll be singing Jud Fry in Rodgers and Hammerstein' Oklahoma! with the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma from June 23rd - June 27th.
Also in the cast are hunkentenor, Daniel Montenegro as Romeo and Stefan Barner as Tybalt.
Jeremy Milner
Also in the cast of Romeo & Juliet is Tulsa native Jeremy Milner, who is new to this site. The bass-barihunk recently débuted the role of Hagen in Götterdämmerung with the Grand Théâtre de Genève and performed in Shostakovich's The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera.
He'll be appearing in Don Carlo with Opera Philadelphia from April 24 to May 3. He's become a regular with the company, having performed performed Colline in La bohème, Zuniga in Carmen, Minotauros in Henze’s Phaedra, Lodovico in Otello, Grenvil in La traviata, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, and Le fauteuil in L’enfant et les sortilèges.
(L-R) Barihunk Gregory Jebaily, tenor Kenny Stavert, Barihunk Colin Ramsey and barihunk Stefan Barner
To no one's surprise, we're big fans of Operaticus on Facebook. It's where opera singers go to share workout tips, share stories about weight loss and fitness, and share photos. We recently saw a photo posted by Gregory Jebaily, who we introduced to readers in April 2013 and who has proven to be extremely popular with our readers. It appears that he's stuck to his workout routine, as you can see from the photo above. At this rate we may see him on the cover of both Opera News and Men's Fitness magazine.
Also catching our eye in the photo was another emerging singer who we haven't featured before, bass-barihunk Colin Ramsey. Ramsey is currently at the birthplace of Operaticus, the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Artist Program [If you want the history, click HERE]. He's appearing in the apprentice artist scenes, as well as covering the role of Friar Lawrence in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette. Early next year, he's slated to make his mainstage debut with the Seattle Opera as Mr. Kofner in Menotti's The Consul.
Colin Ramsey sing La calunnia from Barber of Seville:
Ramsey graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in 2011, where he received the Hugh Ross Award, awarded to singers with "unusual promise." An award winner with the Pasadena Opera Guild, he went on to become a studio artist at Opera Santa Barbara and the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program.
He made his debut with Opera Santa Barbara singing the Doganiere in La Boheme. At Wolf Trap Opera he was featured as Hermann in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann, Jonas Fogg in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and as Figaro and Alidoro in a program of scenes. We look forward to seeing plenty more of this gifted young singer in the future.
