Fans of vocal music accompanied by string quartet are in luck on both coasts. At New York's Zankel Hall, on February 19th Nathan the indefatigable Nathan Gunn will perform the world-premiere of Jennifer Higdon's chamber version of "Barnyard Bloom."
Based on Walt Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" the piece explores a wide range of grief and loss. Gunn will also perform Samuel Barber's famous “Dover
Beach" which is also accompanied by string quartet. Gunn will also be joined by his wife Julie Gunn for a selection of songs in English by Butterworth, Quilter, Ives, Bowles, and Ben Moore.
Nathan Gunn can next be seen in Rossini's Le Comte d'Ory at the Metropolitan Opera opening February 2nd.
Across the country on the same date, Jesse Blumberg will also explore the topic of grief and loss in Ricky Ian Gordon's masterful 80-minute mini-opera "Green Sneakers."The work was written as a way for Gordon to find
solace from the grief of losing his partner, Jeffrey Grossi, to
AIDS, and following their last few months together. Blumberg, who
created the piece, joins San Francisco's exciting Del Sol Quartet in this performance.
Jesse Blumberg performs the epilogue to Green Sneakers:
The work will be performed at the Southside Theater at Fort Mason in San Francisco on February 19th. Seating is limited, so purchase tickets today.The performance will be directed by the talented young director John De Los Santos.
Fans of Blumberg in New York are in luck, as Green Sneakers will be featured as part of Lincoln Center Presents on April 6th at the Kaplan Penthouse. Tickets are available online. , who we named the top opera director in 2010. If you can't wait that long, check him out at the New York Festival of Song, where he'll join soprano Stacey Tappan in music by Ricky Ian Gordon, Kevin Puts, Christopher Theofanidis and others.
Regular readers might recall that we generously covered the debut of Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera "Silent Night," when it premiered at the Minnesota Opera in 2011. It featured a veritable army of barihunks including Troy Cook, Gabriel Preisser, Ben Wager, Michael Nyby and Craig Irvin, all of whom posed for a picture that we posted [see below].
Five of the barihunks from that production are reprising their roles at Opera Philadelphia opening on February 8th and running through February 17th. They include Craig Irvin as Lieutenant Horstmayer, the German commanding officer;
baritone Liam Bonner as Lieutenant Audebert, the conflicted French
commander and his aide-de-camp Ponchel sung by Andrew Wikowske; baritone Gabriel Preisser as Lieutenant Gordon; and, Troy Cook as Father Palmer.
Troy Cook, Gabriel Preisser, Ben Wager, Michael Nyby and Craig Irvin
Tenor William Burden stars as the drafted opera singer whose voice inspires peace among adversaries and soprano Kelly Kaduce as his love interest, Anna Sørenson. Kaduce also happens to be married to a barihunk in real life, Lee Gregory.
Liam Bonner sings Lieutenant Audebert's "J'ai perdu ta photo"
Silent Night, which is based on the 2005 French film Joyeux Noel, recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. On World War I’s western front, weapons are laid down when Scottish, French and German officers defy their superiors and negotiate a Christmas Eve truce. Enemies become brothers as they come together to share Christmas and bury their dead.
Gabriel Preisser
Tickets and additional information is available online.
Also in 2014, the Fort Worth Opera Festival will give the regional premiere of the opera.
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'sDaughter 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.
West Edge Opera (formerly Berkeley Opera) is performing Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea in a new edition created by Mark Streshinsky and Gilbert Martinez. Performances will be on February 1, 2 and 3 and tickets are available online.
Seneca, a philosopher and Nero's tutor, will be played by Paul Thompson. The young bass studied with the Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre Institute and the American Institute of Musical Studies. He has performed a number of roles on the West Coast, including Dr. Grenvil in Verdi's La Traviata with Opera San Jose, the title character in Donizetti's Don Pasquale with Nevada Opera Theater and Sarastro in Mozart's Magic Flute at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Michael Schopper sings "Solitudine amata" from L'Incoronazione di Poppea:
Poppea is one of the earliest operas ever written. But even in 1642 when it was written, sensuality ruled the day. Emperor Nero can’t get his mind off the beautiful Poppea. He thinks about her more than he thinks about his country. He certainly thinks about her more than he thinks about the Empress.
Nero is Christine Brandes, Poppea is Emma McNairy and Ottone is the rising countertenor sensation Ryan Belongie.
Barihunk Nicholas Nelson explains the plot of Tosca in one minute with one beer. He'll be performing in the opera as Angelotti from February 1-9 at the Portland Opera with Kara Shay Thomson as Tosca, Roger Honeywell as Cavaradossi and Mark Schnaible as Scarpia. Tickets are available online.
Nelson is a returning Resident Artist with the
Portland Opera. He previously performed roles with the Portland Opera inBernstein's Candide, Philip Glass' Galileo Galilei, Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Ravel's L’Heure Espagnole and L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, and Puccini's Turandot. Nelson made his debut with Tacoma Opera last season as Selim in Turk In Italy.
Originally
from Winthrop, Minnesota, Nelson attended the University of Minnesota. In 2007, Nelson won First Prize at the Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions in the Minnesota District.
The Canadian Opera Company in Toronto has announced their 2013-14 season, which is leading the way with a barihunk filled production of Puccini's La boheme. We often get asked if we post basses and bass-baritones, as well. We post all of the low male voices and actually love when we see roles like Colline filled with sexy bass-baritones. After all, the guys in La boheme are bunch of young, Parisian artists, so we expect them to look the part.
Phillip Addis
The Canadian Opera Company hasn't disappointed us in this regard, rotating Christian Van Horn and Tom Corbeil as Colline. Both singers have been regulars on this site. They've also cast Phillip Addis and Joshua Hopkins as the Marcellos, so barihunk fans should get their tickets now. Performances will run from October 3-30, 2012. Tickets are available online.
Tom Corbeil, who recently wrapped up a tour of the Addams Family: The Broadway Musical, returns to his operatic roots in a big way, as he'll also be singing Swallow in Benjamin Britten's masterpiece Peter Grimes. Tenor Ben Heppner will sing the title role and soprano Ileana Montalbetti will take on Ellen Orford. Peformances run from October 5-26, 2013.
Robert Gleadow
Other operas this season include Robert Gleadow as Guglielmo in Mozarts Cosi fan tutte (Jan 18-Feb 21), Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (Feb 2-22), Handel's Hercules (April 5-30), Donizetti's Roberto Deveraux (April 25- May 21) and Massenet's Don Quichotte (May 9-24).
Matthew Worth strikes his Father Flynn pose
2012 (c) Aleutian Calabay for Minnesota Opera
The Minnesota Opera is presenting the world premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo’sopera Doubt, which opens
on January 26th and runs through February 3rd. The libretto was written by playwright John Patrick Shanley, who based it on
his Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The opera was commissioned
by Minnesota Opera in collaboration with the Cincinnati Opera and the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. The opera is part of the opera company’s New Works Initiative, a
landmark program designed to invigorate the operatic repertoire with an
infusion of contemporary works.
Matthew Worth on playing Father Flynn in Doubt:
The premiere of Doubt will feature
Matthew Worth as Father Flynn, who is accused of inappropriate behavior with a young African-American student. Soprano Christine Brewer will sing the role of the school principal Sister Aloysius, who makes the accusations and sets the drama in motion at the Bronx-based Roman Catholic in 1964. The young, idealistic Sister James will be played by Adriana Zabala and the boy's mother by mezzo Denyce Graves. Other than a chorus and a children's chorus, these are the only vocal roles. The opera will be conducted by
Christopher Franklin and directed by Kevin Newbury. Tickets are available online.
Matthew Worth on Mozart and modern American opera:
Matthew Worth returns to the Minnesota Opera after a successful run as Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte in the 2011-12 season. After Doubt he'll return to the role of Guglielmo on March 15th with the Boston Lyric Opera. On April 4th and 6th, he returns to Opera Memphis to partake in the Midtown Opera Festival in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. This is his third world premiere, as he created the role of William Shrike in Lowell Liebermann's Miss Lonelyhearts with the Juilliard Opera and the Coachman in Stephen Hartke's The Greater Good at Glimmerglass Opera, which was recorded for Naxos.
Matthew Worth talks about the music of Doubt:
The play Doubt: A Parable
by John Patrick Shanley, won both the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for
Drama and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play. In 2008, Shanley wrote and
directed the motion picture adaptation of Doubt, starring Meryl
Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis. The film
was nominated for five Academy Awards, including a Best Adapted
Screenplay nod for Shanley.
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