Reader Submission: Dean Murphy

Dean Murphy in Tender Land (center)

Our latest reader submission is Massachusetts native Dean Murphy, who is performing Top in Aaron Copland's The Tender Land at Opera North in Lebanon, New Hampshire. There is one remaining performance on August 15th and ticket and cast information is available online.

Murphy graduated in 2014 from the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance.  At Hartt, he performed Tobias in Thomas Pasatieri's The Hotel Casablanca, Frank in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, and Frank Maurrant in Weill's Street Scene.

In May 2014, Dean made his Connecticut Lyric Opera debut as Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. In June 2013, he made his debut with Hartford Opera Theater as Gideon March/Mr. Dashwood in Mark Adamo's Little Women. In November 2013, he sang Brighella in Antonio Salieri's The Little Harlequinade with Connecticut Concert Opera, where he is a Resident Artist. Dean was a participant in Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance Young Artist Program, where he covered the role of Belcore in Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore.

Dean Murphy joins ensemble at Deutsche Oper Berlin

Dean Murphy (photo: Jiyang Chen)

We first introduced American barihunk Dean Murphy to readers back in 2015 when he was singing Top in Aaron Copland's Tender Land at Opera North in Lebanon, New Hampshire. His career has clearly taken off since then, as he has now joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he'll start performing as part of the ensemble in January 2018.

He'll be performing Dancairo in Bizet's Carmen, a judge in Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane, Fiorillo in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, a mocker in Prokovfiev's The Love for Three Oranges, a Flemish Deputy in Verdi's Don Carlo, Wagner in Gounod's Faust, the sargeant in Puccini's La bohème, a singer in Ponchielli's La Gioconda, a delivery boy in Verdi's La traviata, an officer in Meyerbeer's Le Prophète and the bailiff in Verdi's Rigoletto.

Murphy holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Hartt School of Music. He will graduate from Yale’s School of Music with a Master of Music degree in the spring of 2017. He was a resident artist with Opera Connecticut from 2013-2014 where he performed a number of roles. He has been a regular at a number of other New England companies including Salt Marsh Opera, Opera Connecticut, Connecticut Lyric Opera and Yale Opera.

Murphy can next be heard on May 20th as Mercutio in excerpts from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette with the Opera Theater of Connecticut in Clinton. Tickets are available online.

Buff Ramin Karimloo singing in Evita at Vancouver Opera

Ramin Karimloo (photos by Matthew Murphy)

Ramin Karimloo will be performing Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita from April 30-May 8th at the Vancouver Opera. He'll be joined by Caroline Bowman as Evita and John Cudia and Perón in a full-scale production of the musical.

Last Fall, Karimloo was performing Jean Valjean in Les Misérables eight times a week at the Imperial Theatre in New York City and was buffing up at the Columbus Circle Equinox. That's when these photos were taken by Matthew Murphy and his assistant Mitch Dean.

Ramin Karimloo sings Bring Him Home from Les Misérables:

Karimloo, who is classically trained, has spent most of his career singing Broadway musicals. He considers himself a "high baritone" and reviewers have commented that he's a lyric baritone with an easy reach into the tenor range. The closet Karimloo has gotten to an opera performance is a few gigs on stage singing Gilbert & Sullivan. He remains one of the most popular singers on our site based on reader views.

Tickets for Evita at the Vancouver Opera are available online.

Sexy photo shoot of Ramin Karimloo

Ramin Karimloo

Barihunk Ramin Karimloo is performing the role of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables eight times a week at the Imperial Theatre in New York City. That alone is a workout, but he's also been buffing up at the Columbus Circle Equinox.

Fortunately, The Broadway Style Guide did a feature on his workout routine which includes some amazingly beautiful photos by Matthew Murphy and his assistant Mitch Dean. You can read the entire feature on their website. 

the Columbus Circle Equinox

Imperial Theatre

Imperial Theatre

Ramin Karimloo

Karimloo, who is classically trained, has spent most of his career singing Broadway musicals. He sang the Pirate King in the U.K. tour of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. Tickets for Les Misérables are available online.