Seattle Opera's "Four Barihunks" Model Tee Shirts

Sarah Larsen with  Michael Todd Simpson, Steven LaBrie, Joseph Lattanzi, and Colin Ramsey (Photo by Elise Bakketun)

 

We recently posted about the barihunk foursome performing in Menotti's The Consul at the Seattle Opera. The opera stars Michael Todd Simpson as John Sorel, Steven LaBrie as the Police Agent, Joseph Lattanzi as Assan and Colin Ramsey as Mr. Kofner. The four singers agreed to don their Barihunk tee shirts and take some shots on the set with soprano Sarah Larsen, who plays the secretary.

Sarah Larsen with  Michael Todd Simpson, Steven LaBrie, Joseph Lattanzi, and Colin Ramsey (Photo by Elise Bakketun)

The Consul was a huge hit during its initial Broadway run, earning both the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical and the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Music. The original production featured the legendary performances of Patricia Neway as Magda Sorel and Marie Powers as the mother. The great Verdi baritone Cornell MacNeil sang the role of John Sorel.

The story is about a devoted wife and mother who clashes with the bureaucracy of a nameless police state while trying to obtain an exit visa for her family.

Sarah Larsen with  Michael Todd Simpson, Steven LaBrie, Joseph Lattanzi, and Colin Ramsey (Photo by Elise Bakketun)

The opera runs from February 22nd to March 7 and tickets are available online.

Barihunk foursome in Seattle Opera's The Consul

Michael Todd Simpson & Colin Ramsey

Joseph Lattanzi & Steven LaBrie

Michael Todd Simpson will be joining three of the hottest barihunks on the scene in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul at the Seattle Opera, which runs from February 22nd to March 7. Michael Todd Simpson takes on the major role of John Sorel, Steven LaBrie makes his company debut as the Police Agent, Joseph Lattanzi performs Assan and Colin Ramsey also makes his company debut as Mr. Kofner. We can't remember many instances when there's been this much pulchritude on the stage at one time.

Michael Todd Simpson is also the featured singer on the Seattle Opera blog where you can read an extensive interview with the Seattle based performer. 

Colin Ramsey will reprise the role of Mr. Kofner in a different production of The Consul with Opera Santa Barbara on March 25 and 27.  That production will feature barihunk Joshua Jeremiah as John Sorel.

Bass-Barihunk Colin Ramsey to make Seattle Opera debut

Colin Ramsey in L'incoronazione de Poppea at Opera NEO

We introduced bass-barihunk Colin Ramsey last summer as one of the guys on the Operaticus fitness site on Facebook. He just finished a run yesterday as Collatinus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia with Vespertine Opera in Seattle. We didn't have any pictures from the production, which is a shame, as it's one of our favorite operas to showcase barihunk talent. If some emerge, we promise to post them.

However, we did find a few amazing pictures of Colin Ramsey as Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea with Opera NEO, the summer opera festival and young artist workshop in San Diego, California.

Colin Ramsey & Alyssa Packard in L’incoronazione di Poppea:

If you missed this emerging barihunk, you'll have another shot when Ramsey makes his debut with the Seattle Opera as Mr. Kofner in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul. The opera runs from February 22-March 7. If you attend operas based on the Barihunk Quotient, then The Consul is a "must see" production, as it features barihunks Michael Todd Simpson as John Sorel, Steven LaBrie as the Secret Police Agent and Joseph Lattanzi as Assan.

Ramsey will reprise the role of Mr. Kofner in a different production of The Consul with Opera Santa Barbara on March 25 and 27.  That production will feature barihunk Joshua Jeremiah as John Sorel. In May, he moves back a few centuries to portray Somnus and Cadmus in the Pacific Musicworks's production of Handel's Semele in cooperation with the University of Washington.

Colin Ramsey in The Marriage Tango (L) and
L'incoronazione de Poppea (R)

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.

Happy Birthday, Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007)

Gian Carlo Menotti

For American Independence Day, we celebrated the great composers produced by that country. One composer who is often mentioned as American is Gian Carlo Menotti, who was born in Italy and never renounced his Italian citizenship. He enrolled at the Milan Conservatory at age 11 and when he moved to the U.S., enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music at age 17.

Although he wrote some of the most famous and frequently performed works in the opera repertory, he penned few memorable arias for baritones. Perhaps the best known is "When the air sings to summer" from The Old Maid and the Thief. The piece is rarely performed by major opera companies and is generally seen at conservatories or universities. The aria is occasionally heard as an audition piece.

Brian Rix in a student performance at the Boston Conservatory:

The only other baritone pieces of any note are "Oh, woman, you may keep the gold" from his holiday classic Amahl and the Night Visitors and the Police Agent's aria from The Consul. His most memorable arias were written for sopranos and many are regularly heard on concert programs, including, "Vola intanto l'ora insonne' from Amelia al ballo, "To this we've come" from The Consul, Monica's Waltz from The Medium, and "Steal me, sweet thief" from The Old Maid and the Thief.

Menotti wrote two libretti for his life partner and fellow composer Samuel Barber, Vanessa and A Hand of Bridge, as well as revising the libretto for his Antony and Cleopatra.

In 1958,  Menotti founded the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. It is devoted to the cultural collaboration of Europe and America and programs a wide variety art forms, including ballet, jazz, choral, folk and opera.  In 1977, he created a sister festival in Charleston, South Carolina, which he led until 1993 when he became director of the Rome Opera.

In 1984, Menotti was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievement in the arts. He was chosen the 1991 "Musician of the Year" by Musical America.

Seattle Opera announces new season with barihunk-laden Consul, Rigoletto

Donovan Singletary and Steven LaBrie

The Seattle Opera announced its 2013-14 season which includes two operas not generally thought of as barihunk operas, Menotti's The Consul and Verdi's Rigoletto.

The Consul includes three of the hottest singers on the scene, led by Seattle resident Michael Todd Simpson in the major role of John Sorel. Also in the cast are Steven LaBrie as the Police Agent and Joseph Lattanzi as Assan. LaBrie is making his Seattle Opera debut. Performances run from February 22nd to March 7, 2014. The Consul won the Pulitzer Prize in 1950.

Marco Vratogna

This year is the big 200th anniversary of Verdi's birth, so we're getting an ample supply of the Italian's operas. Usually it's Attila that features two barihunks and rarely is it Rigoletto. Seattle has cast the amazing Marco Vratogna as the hunchbacked jester and this is a portrayal that is not to be missed. We caught him at the San Francisco Opera and it was one nothing short of a masterful performance both vocally and dramatically. In the smaller, but important role of the Count Monterone is fitness guru Donovan Singletary. Gilda and the Duke will be performed by Davinia Rodríguez and Francesco Demuro respectively. The opera is being transported to 1930s Italy and performances run from January 11-25, 2014.

Michael Todd Simpson and Joseph Lattanzi

Speaking of anniversary seasons, the Seattle Opera seems to be marking a bunch of them this season, including their 50th anniversary, their 10th year at McCaw Hall and general director Speight Jenkins'  30th year leading the company.

Other operas for the upcoming season include Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment from October 19-November 2, 2013 with tenor Lawrence Brownlee and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman from May 3-17, 2014 with tenor William Burden and the brilliant mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey. Visit the Seattle Opera website for additional information and don't miss their upcoming Ring Cycle featuring Greer Grimsley as Wotan.