You will be able to watch the acclaimed 2010 production of Mozart's Don Giovanni from Glyndebourne online. It features three of the greatest low voices around today, Gerald Finley in the title role, Luca Pisaroni as Masetto and Guido Loconsolo as Masetto. Also not to be missed in this production is the Don Ottavio of William Burden and the Donna Anna of Kate Royal.
The video will go live HERE at 3pm London time (10 AM EST/7 AM PST) on July 6 and remain online until Sunday, July 13.
Critic Rupert Christiansen, writing about Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni and Luca
Pisaroni as Leporello, wrote: "Suavely ruthless, Finley was both steely
monster and molten charmer, singing with a firmness, clarity and stylistic
elegance that I can’t easily imagine surpassed. Pisaroni made a delightfully
goofy but treacherous Leporello, both his master’s alter ego and his rival."
We're big fans of music critic Rupert Christiansen in The Telegraph, so we were thrilled when his profile on über-barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien included a link to our site and a mention in the headline. Christiansen goes on to write:
"...another erotic phenomenon in classical music has gone wild on
the internet: the cult of “the
barihunk”. Its pitch is that the more palpitating charm in opera
emanates not from purveyors of high Cs but gym-buffed baritones with
smouldering voices to match their six-pack abs."
We love being included in an article on Mariusz Kwiecien, since he was the original inspiration to create the site. Early discussions were actually about creating a Kwiecien fan site, but it seemed too limiting and casting a wider net seemed much more interesting.
Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni (photo: Bill Cooper)
Kwiecien has just opened at the Royal Opera House in Kasper Holten's amazing production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, which we recently previewed. The cast also includes barihunks Alex Esposito as his sidekick Leporello and the thrilling Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore.
The entire run is sold out through the final performance on February 24th. Don't fret if you missed buying tickets, as the February 12th performance will be
broadcast live to cinemas in Europe. and taped for screenings worldwide
throughout March. If you're in Europe, check the Royal Opera House website for listings. If you're outside of Europe, check your local movie listings.
Kwiecien will appear next at the Vienna State Opera in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin from March 7-14, before returning to the Metropolitan Opera from April 17-May 10 in Bellini's I Puritani.
The world of opera is always looking for the next great piece that will squeeze its way into the standard repertory. The Met premiered John Corigliano's masterpiece twenty years ago and perhaps only a few operas have enjoyed such instant acclaim in the last two decades. Some that come to mind are Henze's "L'Upupa," Brett Dean's "Bliss," Mark Adamo's "Little Women," Birdwhistle's "The Minotaur," Saariaho's "L'amour de Loin," Ricky Ian Gordon's "The Grapes of Wrath," Heggie's "Dead Man Walking" and "Moby Dick," Philip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox" and "Appomattox" and John Adam's "Doctor Atomic."
Those have been outnumbered by some memorable flops led by Howard Shore's "The Fly" and Michael Daugherty's "Jackie O." So we were overjoyed with the critical acclaim that has greated American composer Nico Multy's "Two Boys" at the English National Opera. There is nothing that we could possibly add to Norman Lebrecht's spot-on review in The Telegraph, which you can read in its entirety HERE. Lebrecht's article is a "must read" for a number of reasons, including his views about what opera needs to do to succeed and, in particular, appeal to young people.
Jonathan McGovern: Jake in Two Boys
The story of "Two Boys" begins when a teenage boy is stabbed. An older boy is caught on CCTV leaving the scene. An open-and-shut case, it would seem. But, as Detective Inspector Anne Strawson investigates the older boy's story, she uncovers a bizarre nexus of chatroom meetings, mysterious internet identities, supposed spy rings and disturbing cybersex, leading to a stunning conclusion.
Critic William Robin said the opera deserves its place on the Metropolitan Opera's 2013-14 schedule. He perfectly described the music in her review:
Muhly composed several tender, brief, solo arias for the principal characters, and engaging dialogues both online and off. Though his music suggests the throbbing postminimalism of John Adams, his most clear influences come from this side of the pond — the English choral tradition of Herbert Howells (evoked in a somewhat out-of-place church scene) and the operas of Britten. “Two Boys” teems with references to Britten, from the pealing gamelan-style gongs of “Death in Venice” to the finale, an ornate passacaglia straight out of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The baritone role in the opera is sung by Jonthan McGovern who is new to this site. He was the winner of the 2nd Prize at the 2011 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and graduated with a first-class honours degree in Music from King’s College London. He completed a PGD in Vocal Studies at the Royal Academy of Music and continued his studies with Royal Academy Opera. He was winner of the gold medal and 1st Prize at the Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition 2010.
Recent operatic roles include Wu Tianshi and Pokayne in the première of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ opera Kommilitonen!; Shane Postcards from Dumbworld at Belfast Grand Opera Hosue; Delfa in Cavalli’s Il Giasone; Sid with Royal Academy Opera in John Copley’s first Albert Herring; Fiorello and Figaro cover Barber of Seville on tour with Armonico Consort Opera and Don Parmenione L’Occasione fa il ladro for RAO.
In September McGovern will join the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme to reprise the role of Sid for the Britten Festival in a new production conducted by Steuart Bedford and directed by Oliver Mears.
Click HERE for ticket and performance information.
