Étienne Dupuis to star in operatic adaptation of Pink Floyd's The Wall

Étienne Dupuis (Photo on left by Yan Bleney)

Founding Pink Floyd singer/bassist Roger Waters revisited the band's classic 1979 concept album The Wall for a massive world tour that ran from 2010 to 2013, and he's now working on another project based on the record. It's scheduled to premiere in Montreal next March to mark the Canadian city's 375th anniversary, running from March 11-24.

The project brings together Québecois barihunk, Étienne Dupuis, who will play Pink, the fallen rock star; and three exceptional artists: Julien Bilodeau, composer of the new opera vision of the work; Dominic Champagne, director of this monumental 80s music endeavour; and Alain Trudel, conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain. Waters will serve as librettist for the production. The work is written for 10 soloists, 48 ​​singers and 70 musicians.

The story is about the Pink's alienation and isolation in addition to the difficulties facing his entire generation regarding disillusionment. Following the death of Pink's father during World War II, and continuous abuse from his mother and teachers, Pink isolates himself from the rest of the world. The disintegration of his marriage represents the last brick in the metaphorical wall he has been building for himself. If his survival depends on it, will Pink be capable of demolishing his inner wall?

According to Rolling Stone magazine, "The story behind The Wall was partly borne out of an incident that occurred in Montreal's Olympic Stadium in 1977, when a Pink Floyd concert ended with Waters spitting in the face of a fan who attempted to storm the stage. When asked whether The Wall's opera being staged in Montreal brings the album full circle, Waters said, "The Wall is about the journey from the enmity of spitting in someone's face to the position where love becomes more important than that enmity."

 Étienne Dupuis talks about his upcoming opera Les Feluettes:

Dupuis is next scheduled to sing Claudio in Berlioz's Beatrice & Bénédict at La Monnaie Bruxelles, which runs from March 24-April 6. He then heads home to perform Jeune Simon in the premiere of Kevin March's Les Feluettes (Lilies) at Opéra de Montréal from May 21-28.

John Moore makes two company debuts

John Moore

Barihunk John Moore made his company debut yesterday at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, as Thoas in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride. The all-star cast directed by James Darrah includes Alexandra Deshorties in the title role, William Berger as Oreste and Colin Ainsworth as Pylade.

Iphigénie en Tauride, based on the Greek myth about a priestess facing the aftermath of her family’s violent history, is often considered the culmination of Gluck’s life ambition to achieve a perfect union of music and drama. There are performances remaining on March, 7, 9, 11 and 13 and tickets are available online.

Thomas Allen sings Oreste's aria "Dieux qui me poursuivez":

He then heads to the Florida Grand Opera to make his company debut as Tadeusz in Mieczysław Weinberg’s 1968 opera The Passenger. The opera was banned in the Soviet Union and was first premiered in 2010 at the Bregenz Festival. Weinberg, a Soviet composer of Jewish-Polish heritage who died in 1996, never saw a performance of this lost masterpiece in his lifetime. 

John Moore sings Largo al factotum from the Barber of Seville:

The opera revolves around an encounter between two women – one a former Auschwitz guard and the other a former prisoner. Melrose plays Tadeusz, a camp inmate and violinist who defies the Commandant byordered by performing some meloncholy music by Bach rather than a frolicking waltz. Needless to say, things don't end well for Tadeusz.

Performances run from April 2-9 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Reader Submission: Corey Crider

Corey Crider

Our latest Reader Submission is Corey Crider, who is singing Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte at Sarasota Opera through March 12th. On April 23rd, he opens a run as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in a cast that includes some of opera's finest young artists, including Zanda Svede in the title role, Janai Brugger as Micaela and Rafael Davila as Don Jose.

Corey Crider sings "Is not his word like a fire?" from Mendelsohn's Elijah

Crider is an alumnus of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center and recently returned to the company as Malatesta in Don Pasquale. In the 2014-15 season Corey debuted the title role of Sweeney Todd with Madison Opera, sang Marcello in La bohème with Opera on the James, Scarpia in Tosca with the New Philharmonic, Escamillo in La tragédie de Carmen with Opera Naples, the Sacristan in Tosca with the Detroit Symphony, and Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love with Finger Lakes Opera.

Corey Crider sings "Urna fatale" from Verdi's La forza del destino:

Crider is a two-time national semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, Corey took fourth prize in the Florida Grand Opera Young Patronesses of the Opera Voice Competition.

Half of Met Audition Finalist are Low Male Voices!

Bass-Barihunks Christian Pursell (left) and André Courville (right)

Twenty-three young opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States arrived at the Met this week to compete in the semi-final round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The closed semi-final competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition. Eleven of the 23 semi-finalists are baritones, bass-baritones or basses!

Brian Vu sings Pierrot's Tanzlied:

This year’s regional winners were chosen from nearly 1,500 singers who participated in the auditions held in 42 districts and 13 regions throughout the United States and Canada. The singers arrived yesterday for music preparations for the semi-finals competition on Sunday, March 6.

The 2016 semi-finalists include 23 aspiring opera singers representing various regions around the United States and Canada. This year, there are eight sopranos, two mezzo-sopranos, one tenor, one countertenor, seven baritones, two bass baritones, and two basses semi-finalists competing on Sunday, March 6.

Barihunks Sean Michael Plumb (left), Brian Vu (center) and Theo Hoffman (right)

The baritones include Jeff Byrnes (Great Lakes Region: Baton Rouge, LA); Alex DeSocio (Midwest Region: Wichita, KS); Hunter Enoch (Mid-South Region: Paris, TN); Theo Hoffman (Eastern Region: New York, NY); Jin Sol (Eastern Region: South Korea, currently living in Fort Lee, NJ); Sean Michael Plumb, (Gulf Coast Region: Philadelphia, PA); and Brian Vu (Southeast Region: Los Angeles, CA).

 Theo Hoffman sings three songs by Jonathan Dove:

Bass-baritone semi-finalists are André Courville (Great Lakes Region: Cecilia, LA) and Christian Pursell (Central Region: Santa Cruz, CA).

Two basses round out the list: Daniel Mirosław (Eastern Region: Warsaw, Poland, currently living in New York, NY) and Anthony Robin Schneider (Middle Atlantic Region: Auckland, New Zealand, currently living in Philadelphia, PA).

The remaining semi-finalists include sopranos Tracy Cantin, Yelena Dyachek, Alison King, Lauren Feider, Felicia Moore, Kerriann Otaño, Christine Price and Ann Toomey; mezzo-sopranos Emily D’Angelo and Samantha Gossard; tenor Jonas Hacker and countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński

The BASS-barihunks Anthony Schneider (left) and Daniel Mirosław (right)

The winners of this event will go on to sing in the Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. hosted by past National Council Auditions winner Deborah Voigt. Each finalist will perform two arias with conductor Antony Walker and the Met Orchestra. Bass-baritone Eric Owens, a past National Council Auditions winner and National Advisor for the Metropolitan Opera National Council, will be the guest artist and perform during the judges’ deliberations once the auditions part of the program is over.

 Daniel Mirosław sings the Catalog Aria from Don Giovanni:

At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will receive an individual cash prize of $15,000 and career-making exposure. The Met Auditions were crucial in introducing many of today’s best-known stars, such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Patricia Racette, Deborah Voigt, Nathan Gunn, and Lawrence Brownlee.

Following the semi-finals, those contestants who advance will have a week of preparation with Met musical and dramatic coaches to prepare for the Grand Finals Concert on March 13th. Tickets for the Grand Finals Concert may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.

Jason Duika wrapping up young artist program with two shows

Jake Duika showing off his guns

Barihunk Jason Duika looks like he's squeezing in some gym time along with his vocal coaching during his five months with the Benenson Young Artist Program.

He recently reprised the drinking song "Ò vin, dissipe la tristesse" from Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet at the Yale medical schools conference on "Music and Tourettes."

This season with Palm Beach Opera he performed Dancairo in Bizet's Carmen with Zachary Nelson as Escamillo and Tobias Greenhalgh as Moralés under the direction of John De Los Santos. He also performed Dr. Malatesta in the family performance of Donizetti's Don Pasquale. From March 18-20 he'll be singing the Wigmaker and covering Harlekin in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Then on March 29, he'll wrap up his time with Palm Beach Opera performing French and German lieder in their Liederabend. Tickets for both remaining shows are available online. 

On April 9 and 10, he will return to his alma mater, Alma College in Michigan to sing the title role of Saul in Handel's oratorio along with countertenor Bryan DeSilva and tenor Wilson Nichols.

Matthew Patrick Morris at Brooklyn Art Song Society

Matthew Patrick Morris

Barihunk Matthew Patrick Morris will be one of the singers in the upcoming program of Benjamin Britten songs at the Brooklyn Art Song Society on March 17th.

The program will include the composer's On This Island, Op. 11, The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op. 35, Songs and Proverbs of William Blake, Op. 74 and Cabaret Songs. The other performers include soprano Laura Strickling, mezzo-soprano Samantha Malk, tenor Joseph Gaines and Michael Brofman and Spencer Myer on piano.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings the Songs and Proverbs of William Blake:

Morris will perform the William Blake songs, which were composed in 1965 and premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The works were written to showcase Fischer-Dieskau's unique blend of intense lyricism and dramatic characterization. Although best known for writing for his partner tenor Peter Pears, Britten wrote a number of great baritone roles in opera, including major roles in Billy Budd, Owen Wingrave, The Rape of Lucretia, Peter Grimes and Death in Venice.

The concert will be held at the Brooklyn Historical Society in downtown Brooklyn. Tickets are available online. 

The Marriage of Figaro reset as Kim Kardashian's life

James Quilligan in Marriage of Kim K

Off the Page Productions is a vastly revised and updated version of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro dubbed The Marriage of Kim K, which needless to say, refers to reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Before purists get too upset, the entire venture is tongue in cheek and even the marketing campaign pokes fun at the entire endeavor (you can watch Episode 1 below and more on YouTube).

The piece stars Gabriella Noble as Kim Kardashian, Jack Trzcinski as Figaro, James Quilligan (who has been featured on this site) as former NBA player Kris Humphries and briefly Kim K's husband, Ell Potter as the Countess, Jono Hobbs as the Count, Amelia Gabriel as Beth and John Paul as Mo. 

The Marriage of Kim K tells four stories at once, each revolving around a marriage: The story of the Count and Countess from the original; the story of the breakdown of Kim Kardashian’s first marriage to Kris Humphries (which lasted 72 DAYS): the story of thr couple Mo and Beth who enjoy watching all of this on TVl and, the story of Figaro himself, a young vlogger, whose makes his own marital decisions based on these stories.

James Quilligan and Gabriella Noble

The librettist of Kim K is the Oxford-based poet and librettist Leo Mercer, who penned the libretto for The Prophetess at the Keble O'Reilly Theatre, a retelling of Henry Purcell’s baroque opera Dioclesian. Mercer is the President of the Oxford University Poetry Society and in 2014 took 2nd Prize at both the BBC Proms Poetry Competition and the Poetry Book Society Student Competition.

Episode 1 of the Kim K marketing campaign: 

Jack Trzcinski sings "Superficial" from The Marriage of Kim K

The performances are at the Keble O'Reilly Theatre at Oxford, and they have performances remaining on March 3rd at 7:30 PM, March 4 at 7:30 PM, and a matinee and evening performance on March 5th. Tickets can be booked here.