Teatro Real's sexy, "100% Masculine" Billy Budd

Jacques Imbrailo and Borja Quiza in Billy Budd at the Teatro Real

The advertisement for Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd at the Teatro Real in Madrid looks like it was written by Bariunks: "100% Masculine, 8 baritones, 1 bass-baritone and 3 basses..." [and some tenors, etc.].  The production, which is part of their bicentenary celebration, includes a veritable "who's who" of barihunks, including Jacques Imbrailo as Billy Budd, Thomas Oliemans as Mr. Redburn, Duncan Rock as Donald, Torben Jürgens as Lieutenant Ratcliffe and Borja Quiza as The Novice's Friend.

Teatro Real's sexy ad for Billy Budd

The libretto is based on the novel with the same name by Herman Melville and takes place aboard a ship of the British Royal Navy. The opera tells the story of the sailor Billy Budd: a beautiful youth who is loyal, generous, strong, naive and kind. Billy’s physical attributes and charisma disarm the ship's master-at-arms who is incapable of controlling the situation and in the end, he sacrifices the innocent lad without compunction. 

The Teatro Real certainly plays up these aspects in their production, which runs through February 25. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Introducing Davide Luciano; Starring in Teatro Real's Marriage of Figaro

Davide Luciano preparing for Le nozze di Figaro

We thought that you might enjoy seeing how Davide Luciano is preparing for his upcoming role as Figaro in Teatro Real's production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. The opera is kicking off their new season on September 15th and includes two casts. Other upcoming operas include Donizetti's La fille du Régiment, a double-bill of Goyescas and Gianni Schicchi, and Britten's Death in Venice.

Davide Luciano will be paired with the Count Almaviva of Andrey Bondarenko, while the other cast features barihunk Luca Pisaroni as Almaviva and Andreas Wolf as Figaro.

Davide Luciano, was born in Benevento, Italy to a family of musicians. Before taking up singing, he played piano, percussion, bass and classical guitar. When he was 19 he began studying voice with the baritone Gioacchino Zarrelli.

Davide Luciano

Five  years later, he won his first competition and was awarded "Best New Artist" at the Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana. He subsequently made ​​his debut as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at Opera domani, followed by his debut at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro as Don Profondo in Rossini's comic masterpiece Il viaggio a Reims under the baton of Alberto Zedda. He won first prize and the audience prize at the Premio internazionale di canto lirico Santa Chiara in Naples. 


After singing Figaro, he heads to Sāo Paolo, Brazil to sing Silvio in Pagliacci. He then returns to his home base at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he will perform Nottingham in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, Ping in Puccini's Turandot, Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Duncan Rock to make U.S. stage debut with Boston Lyric Opera

The highly-anticipated U.S. stage debut of British Barihunk sensation Duncan Rock will occur not far from another rock, Plymouth Rock. The Boston Lyric Opera has snagged the charismatic fan favorite to portray the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni next season.

Fans will have to wait a year, as the opera runs from May 1-10, 2015, but we assure you it will be worth the wait. To order a tickets, call 617-542-6772 or email boxoffice@blo.org. The remainder of their upcoming season includes Verdi’s La Traviata, Frank Martin’s The Love Potion and Janáček’s Kátya Kabanová.

At rehearsals of La bohème at English National Opera

We first discovered Duncan Rock when he was in Britten's Billy Budd at Glyndebourne and then as Moralès in a sexy production of Bizet's Carmen directed by Calixto Bieto at the English National Opera. In his young career, Rock has developed a reputation as both a gifted singer and riveting stage presence. His gender bending performance in Don Giovanni: The Opera at London's famous nightclub Heaven was a sensation. He followed that with an portrayal as an often shirtless Tarquinius in Benjmain Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at Glyndebourne, where Irish actress and theatre and opera director Fiona Shaw pushed him to new dramatic limits. His performance prompted Tim Ashley, of the Guardian to comment, "Rock undercuts Tarquinius's raffish allure with unnerving intimations of psychotic violence."
 
Duncan Rock recently finished a successful run as Marcello in Puccini's La bohème with the English National Opera in a production that was updated to 1950s Paris. European fans can catch him as the waiter in Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice at the Teatro Real in Madrid from December 4-23. The cast also includes the amazing countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as the voice of Apollo. Tickets are available online.

First "Brokeback Mountain" video released; Daniel Okulitch's doppelgänger

The first preview of Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain with video has finally been released by the Teatro Real in Madrid. You read more about the opera in our last post.

While we were looking at the video, it dawned on us that barihunk Daniel Okulitch reminded us of someone else who has been in the news, Super Bowl-bound quarterback Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos.

Peyton Manning and Daniel Okulitch

First Rehearsal Pictures from Wuorinen's "Brokeback Mountain"

Tom Randle & Daniel Okulitch

Tom Randle & Daniel Okulitch

Tom Randle & Daniel Okulitch

One of the most anticipated opera premieres of 2014 is undoubtedly Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain, which premieres January 28 at Madrid's Teatro Real. We've certainly received numerous request about rehearsal photos or clips, which we're thrilled to announce have finally become available. Canadian bass-barihunk Daniel Okulitch stars as Ennis Del Mar and the American tenor Tom Randle portrays Jack Twist (played in the film version by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal).

The composer worked closely with Annie Proulx, the author of the original story. Wuorinen points out that the opera will be much different than the film, particularly making the Wyoming setting more ominous.

Listen to Charles Wuorinen discuss the opera:

The opera was originally commissioned by Gerard Mortier for the New York City Opera in 2008 and he brought it to Teatro Real before his recent departure.

The English language opera is in two acts and lasts just over two hours. It is scheduled to run at the until February 11.

Daniel Okulitch to star in operatic version of Brokeback Mountain

Daniel Okulitch in Dead Man Walking

Madrid's Teatro Real has confirmed that Canadian barihunk Daniel Okulitch will star in the world premiere of  Charles Wuorinen's operatic adaptation of Brokeback Mountain, based on the 1997 Annie Proulx's story of a cowboy love affair that became an Oscar-winning film. Okulitch will play the role of Ennis Del Mar, which was portrayed by Heath Ledger in the 2005 movie adaptation. American tenor will Tom Randle will play the Jake Gyllenhaal role of Jack Twist.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain

Although no exact date has been announced for the premiere, it is expected to open on January 28, 2014 and run through February 11th. We suspect that the music will be drastically different from the movie soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla, as Wuorinen writes in the 12-tone style. His previous opera was Haroun and the Sea of Stories, based on Salman Rushdie's novel. Santaolalla won the Academy Award for "Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score."

 Guitar transcription of Gustavo Santaolalla's "Brokeback Mountain" music:

David Fry sings Wuorinen's "Never again the same"

Brokeback Mountain was originally commissioned for a 2013 premiere by Gerard Mortier while he was at the embattled New York City Opera. When he became the head of the Teatro Real, Mortier decided to revive the work and present it there. Annie Proulx has written the libretto and it will be directed by Dutch director Ivo van Hove.

Kwiecien Ruling Again as King Roger

Mariusz Kwiecien: KING OF THE WORLD

In June 2009 we posted about Polish barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien's steamy hot potrayal of  Karol Szymanowski's "King Roger" at the Paris Opera (Pictures HERE). We subsequently named him as one of our "Top 10" posts of 2010 for being "just plain hot."

Kwiecien has returned to the role that he owns at the Teatro Real in Madrid. There are nine performances of the opera running through May 14th. He is joined in the production by the Ukrainian-born Polish soprano Olga Pasichnyk as Queen Roxana. 

Kwiecien as King Roger in Paris

Teatro Real is also hosting an exhibition in the foyer documenting the life and work of Karol Szymanowski, whose compositions served as a transition between Chopin and the Polish avant-garde movement. Many have described King Roger as the pinnacle of Szymansowski's "sensualist phase" and there are echoes of Ravel, Stravinksy, Richard Strauss and Prokofiev in his music.

You can watch the entire opera from Paris on YouTube with Kwiecien. Here is the first video in a series of ten:




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Erwin Schrott's Tribute to Placido Domingo

Erwin Schrott at Domingo's 70th Birthday Concert

Erwin Schrott hams it up at Placido Domingo's 70th Birthday Gala at the Teatro Real in Madrid singing "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" from Mozart's Don Giovanni.

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Another Hot Shave: Jose Carbo sings "Al idea di quel metallo"

About two months ago I posted a video of the adorable Jose Carbo singing the Largo. Here he is at the Teatro Real with the amazing tenor Lawrence Brownlee singing "Al idea di quel metallo." In a bit of luxury barihunk casting the role of Basilio was sung by Ildebrando d'Arcangelo.

I've received a couple of emails from Carbo's colleagues who say that he is the nicest person to work with.