Steven LaBrie in Rossini's Le Comte Ory

Taylor Stayton (left) and Steven LaBrie (right)

There are still two opportunities to see one of the comic masterpieces of the operatic canon, Rossini's Le Comte Ory, which is playing tonight and on July 18th at the Des Moines Metro Opera.

Barihunk and MAC model Steven LaBrie as Raimbaud heads a brilliantly talented cast that includes tenor Taylor Stayton as Le Comte Ory, Sydney Mancasola as Comtesse Adèle, Wayne Tigges as the tutor and Margaret Lattimore as Ragonde. Tickets are available online.

"Sister" Steven LaBrie in Le Comte Ory

The opera was first performed on August 20, 1828 at the Salle Le Peletier by the Paris Opera. It's American premiere was on December 16, 1830 at the Théâtre d'Orléans in New Orleans. Often described as either a comedy or a farce, it is rapidly gaining in popularity throughout the world and is now considered one of the finest comedies in the repertory.

The story centers around Count Ory, who is determined to win the countess Adèle. He will do anything to get access to the castle where the women are, including disguising himself and his men as nuns.

The Metropolitan Opera had a huge hit with the opera in 2011 with a cast that included Juan Diego Flórez, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato and barihunk Stéphane Degout. The performance has been released on DVD. 

Matt Worth sings Bernstein in a castle

Matt Worth and the Castello di Amorosa

Barihunk Matt Worth will be singing Sam in Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti with the Festival del Sole in California's Napa Valley on Thursday, July 17th.

This is the Festival's first full-length production of an opera and it will be performed at the majestic Castello di Amorosa, an authentically-styled 13th century Tuscan castle and winery. The castle sits on over thirty acres of estate vineyards and was built over the course of fourteen years by Dario Sattui, a fourth-generation winemaker.  The 121,000 sq ft castle boasts 8 levels, 5 towers, and 107 rooms, 95 of which are used for making or storing wine.

Samuel de Beck Spitzer sings "There are laws about men" from Trouble in Tahiti:

Leonard Bernstein was on his honeymoon in 1951 when he began composing his one-act opera, Trouble in Tahiti, a candid portrait of the troubled marriage of a young suburban couple. Written between his biggest Broadway successes— On the Town in 1944 and Candide and West Side Story in 1956 and 1957, respectively— Trouble in Tahiti draws upon popular songs styles to deliver an uncompromising critique of post-war American materialism. Beneath the couple's marital discord is a profound longing for love and intimacy. Their spiritual emptiness, in contrast to a veneer of happy consumerism, creates the heart of the drama and is emphasized by sudden stylistic shifts in the music.

The opera focuses in on the domestic conflict of Sam and Dinah, a young couple who, in contrast to the perfect picture of suburban life painted by the Trio, are desperately unhappy. Starting with an argument over breakfast, the piece explores a day in their life—Sam's as a successful businessman, and Dinah's as a frustrated housewife.

Bernstein dedicated the piece to his close friend Marc Blitzstein, who had led him toward music theater. Tickets for Trouble in Tahiti are available online.

Morgan Pearse in recital at Wigmore Hall

Morgan Pearse

Australian barihunk Morgan Pearse will be performing at Wigmore Hall tonight with accompanist James Baillieu, as well as the Françoise-Green Piano Duo. Pearse and the Françoise-Green Piano Duo are 2013 winners of the Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition for singer and ensemble respectively.

Pearse will be performing Schumann's Liederkreis Op. 39 and Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel. Other music on the program includes the Schumann/Debussy Six studies in canon form Op. 56, Bach/Kurtág Chorales and a selection from György Kurtág's Játékok.

Pearse joins a long list of notable winners of the Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition, including Keith Lewis, Jean Rigby, Susan Bullock, Elizabeth Watts, Cheryl Barker, Gillian Keith and Lucy Crowe. Tickets for the July 14th concert are available online.

Last year, Morgan performed the title role in Britten's Owen Wingrave for Sydney Chamber Opera, and as bass soloist in Handel's Messiah for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Pearse is headed to the United States to continue his studies at the Houston Grand Opera’s Opera Studio, where he is slated to sing Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute, Yamadori  in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Anthony in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. 

Ryan McKinny returns to Glimmerglass as Billy Bigelow

(Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)

Über-barihunk Ryan McKinny, whose photos from the Glimmerglass Festival's production of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman last summer instantly went viral, is now appearing as Billy Bigelow in their new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. The production opened last night and runs through August 22nd. 

Performances on August 12 and 19 will feature the young barihunk Chris Carr as Billy Bigelow. The production also features Glimmerglass Young Artist Ben Edquist as Jigger Craigin. Edquist, who took first place in the Lotte Lenya Competition, is completing his Masters in Music at Rice University.

Ben Edquist

 

Ben Edquist as Jigger Craigin (Photos: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)

Carousel is one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most famous musicals, and was reportedly the composer’s favourite score. The show was turned into an MGM film in 1956 which starred Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones. The original 1945 Broadway production featured the legendary John Raitt as Billy Bigelow. Carousel tells the story of a carousel barker’s struggles to rise above challenging circumstances. The musical includes such favorites as “If I Loved You,” “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Ryan McKinny as Billy Bigelow and Andrea Carroll as Julie Jordan (Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)

Carousel will run in repertory with Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Strauss’ Ariadne in Naxos and Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy.

For more information on the 2014 Glimmerglass Festival and performance dates and times, call the Box Office at (607) 547-2255 or visit their website.

 

Daniel Okulitch brings fishy realness to Cincinnati

We've had a few straight barihunks on this site appearing in drag for the sake of art, including the inimitable duo of Seth Carico and Michael Mayes in Fort Worth, who were promoting a performance of Mark Adamo's Lysistrata.

Now comes barihunk Daniel Okulitch, who is appearing as Jove in Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto at the Cincinnati Opera. Amazingly, this is the company's first foray in baroque opera in it's 94-year history.

ove hatches a plan to wend his way into her heart (and her bed) by donning a Diana-like disguise. - See more at: http://www.cincinnatiopera.org/performances/la-calisto/#sthash.eCW96qWz.dpuf

Okulitch's drag get up isn't part of some German regie concept that was imported to Cincinnati, but an actual part of the plot. Jove, the ruler of the gods, hatches a plan to wend his way into the heart and bedroom of Calisto by donning a Diana-like disguise. But when Jove’s wife Juno, sung by Alexandra Deshorties, catches wind of the scheme, her fury knows no bounds.

The cast also includes barihunk Andrew Garland as Mercurio [pictures coming!].

There will be five performances between July 17-27 at the Corbett Theater. Tickets are available online.

Alexandra Deshorties

ove hatches a plan to wend his way into her heart (and her bed) by donning a Diana-like disguise. - See more at: http://www.cincinnatiopera.org/performances/la-calisto/#sthash.eCW96qWz.dpufove hatches a plan to wend his way into her heart (and her bed) by donning a Diana-like disguiseJove hatches a plan to wend his way into her heart (and her bed) by donning a Diana-like disguise

ove hatches a plan to wend his way into her heart (and her bed) by donning a Diana-like disguise. - See more at: http://www.cincinnatiopera.org/performances/la-calisto/#sthash.eCW96qWz.dpuf

Zachary Gordin back in San Francisco for song recital

Fresh from his return appearance at the Olympic Music Festival, the ever popular Zachary Gordin returns to San Francisco for a song recital with accompanist Bryan Nies. The two will perform as part of the Old First Concerts series in the City by the Bay on Friday, August 15th.

The duo will perform songs of Reynaldo Hahn’s Chansons Grises, as well as his À Chloris, Dans la nuit, Trois jours de vendage, Néère, and more.  They will then switch to British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ song cycle The House of Life.

Tickets are available online.

Baritone Brigade in Baltimore Gondoliers

 

Jeffrey Williams (left);  Jeffrey Williams, Andrew Pardini and Alexis Tantau (right)

Barihunk Jeffrey Williams, who we introduced to readers in December 2012, will be singing the role of Don Alhambra in the Young Victorian Theatre Company's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers. He's joined in the cast by a number of luscious low voices, including Spencer Adamson as Antonio [see photo below], Andrew Adelsberger as Duke of Plaza Toro, Timothy Kjer as Giorgio and Andrew Pardini as Giuseppe Palmieri.

Performances are on Saturday, July 12, Sunday, July 13, Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20 at the  Sinex Theater in Baltimore. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Spencer Adamson and the cast of Gondoliers

The Gondoliers, or, The King of Barataria, was the twelfth opera written together by Gilbert and Sullivan. Opening on December 7, 1889 at the Savoy Theatre, The Gondoliers ran for 554 performances, and was the last of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas that would achieve wide popularity.

The story of the opera concerns the young bride of the heir to the throne of Barataria who arrives in Venice to join her husband. It turns out, however, that he cannot be identified, since he was entrusted to the care of a drunken gondolier who mixed up the prince with his own son. To complicate matters, the King of Barataria has just been killed. The two young gondoliers must now jointly rule the kingdom until the nurse of the prince can be brought in to determine which of them is the rightful king. Moreover, when the young queen arrives to claim her husband, she finds that the two gondoliers have both recently married local girls. A last complicating factor is that she, herself, is in love with another man.