Remo Tobiaz in not only a reader submission, but he was suggested by a fellow barihunk. (Anyone out there casting for a barihunk duo?).
His path to opera has been unusual, as he once played bass guitar and sang for the punk band Croak. Influenced by the techno subculture, he produced electronic music until 2005 when his participation in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion inspired him to pursue more classical music.
Tobiaz then studied opera with Douglas Yates and is now perfecting his craft as a lyric baritone. He sings with various ensembles including Berlin International Opera, Oper Oder Spree, Opernhausen and Ensemble Corund, as well as concerts throughout Germany and Switzerland.
You can click HERE to listen to him sing from Smetana's opera Hubicka or HERE to listen to him at a late night Eurovision concert.
Meet the barihunks of the opera in Pforzheim, Germany - Stefan Keijo Hagendorn and Axel Humbert.
Stefan Hagedorn studied in Frankfurt and debuted with the Theater der Stadt Bieleford. He went on to perform with the Chamber Opera at the Rheinsberg Castle, Staadstheater Braunschweig and the Festival Rossini in Wildbad. He is currently in the ensemble at the opera in Pforzheim.
Axel Humbert is also part of the ensemble at Pforzheim and he takes on the roles in the lower bass-baritone range. He studied in Würzburg and went on to sing a number of Mozart roles, including Don Alfonso in Cosi, Figaro in Nozze and Colas in Bastien und Bastienne.
24-year-old Ukrainian baritone Andrei Bondarenko has has won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize. Bondarenko bested four other young singers in the competition. Bondarenko, has been a member of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers since 2007.
Bondarenko sang a diverse program that included Robert Schumann and Georgi Sviridov. The Song Prize jury was chaired by John Fisher, former chief executive and artistic director of Welsh National Opera, and included Marilyn Horne, baritone Håkan Hagegård, Swedish pianist Bengt Forsberg and BBC Radio 3's Adam Gatehouse. This wasn't his first win at a major competition, he previously won the 2006 International Rimsky-Korsakov competition and took first prize at the international vocal competition "Art in the 21st Century" in Vorzel (Ukraine).
Future highlights will include his debut with the Glyndebourne Festival & Touring Opera.
Baritone Gustavo Feulien made his operatic debut as Don Giovanni in his native Argentina, where he also performed Germont in “La Traviata” and Figaro in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Haly in “L’Italiana in Algieri,” and Il Marito in “Amelia al ball.” He performed leading roles in “Traviata” and “Rigoletto” in concerts throughout Argentina as part of the Teatro Colón, making his debut in “Carmina Burana.” Montserrat Caballé chose him to perform at her Voices Concert in Spain. He has also sung Di Luna in “Il Trovatore” and Marullo in “Rigoletto.”
A first-prize winner at the Il Trovatore International Competition in Argentina, he was also a semifinalist in the Hans Gabor Belvedere International and the Francisco Viñas competitions, and a finalist in Caballé's International Vocal Competition. Feulien completed music courses at the Julian Aguirre Conservatory and continued his studies at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
We were hoping to post a video, but the YouTube site featuring Feulien has video sharing disabled. You can click HERE to watch him sing "Eri tu" from Verdi's "Un Ball in maschera."
We were recently sent an email asking why we've never featured Henk Neven. We were certain that we had because we remembered preparing the post. However, when we checked it seemed like we forgot to post it. So we'd like to belatedly introduce you to this gifted Dutch barihunk.
Henk Neven studied with Maarten Koningsberger and Margreet Honig at the Conservatory of Amsterdam where he graduated cum laude in 2003. In winning the 2008 Fortis MeesPierson Award, the jury declared that "Neven has the potential to grow into a sensational artist". On April 16, 2011, Henk Neven received the Dutch Music Prize (Nederlandse Muziekprijs), presented by Judith van Kranendonk, a representative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Neven's new recording of Loewe & Schumann
In addition to lieder and oratorio Henk Neven has sung in many operas, performing such roles as Marco Gianni Schicchi, Don Giovanni and Leporello Don Giovanni, Count Le nozze di Figaro, Aeneas Dido and Aeneas, Schaunard La boheme, Morales Carmen, Ben The Telephone and Mr. Gobineau The Medium (Menotti) and Mars Vénus et Adonis (Desmererst), Pollux Castor et Pollux and Frère Léon St. François d’Assise staged by Pierre Audi which was also recorded for DVD by Opus Arte (De Nederlandse Opera). He has appeared at the Opéra National de Paris, Staatsoper Berlin Unter den Linden, Le Duo de Dijon, Grand Théatre de Bordeaux, L’Opéra National de Montpellier, Grand Theatre de Tours, Opéra de Rouen and De Nederlandse Opera. In the Notre Dame in Paris he sung the role of Joseph in L’Enfance du Christ by Hector Berlioz, conducted by John Nelson.
Neven can next be heard on July 5th at the City of London Festival where he will be performing Brahms, Grainger and Britten.
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.
