The early results of our latest poll show that Francis Poulenc is the favorite French composer of Barihunks readers. Francois LeRoux, who we featured in yesterday's Bastille Day post, has dedicated himself to preserving French song. In August, his Académie Francis Poulenc will a ten day exploration of French song focusing on Poulenc, Charles Bordes, Emmanuel Chabrier and Henri Dutilleux.
Francois Le Roux
Here is Le Roux performing Poulenc's 1948 song-cycle Calligramme based on seven poems by Guillaume Apollinaire.
UPDATE: A reader asked if it's true that Francois Le Roux was the first male opera singer to appear completely nude onstage. We believe that to be true. He stripped off his clothes in Birtwistle's "Gawain" and had buckets of blood poured over his body. There is a pirate DVD of the opera if anyone is interested.
Out in the Sussex countryside away from the commotion of the Summer Olympics, the Glyndebourne festival is about to present it's sixth and final production of the season. On August 4th, the company will open the Ravel double-bill of L’heure espagnole and L’enfant et les sortilèges. Ravel’s two one-act operas will reunite director Laurent Pelly and
conductor Kazushi Ono, who made their Glyndebourne debuts in 2008 with
Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel.
Canadian barihunk Elliot Madore will make his U.K. and Glyndebourne debut as Ramiro in L’heure espagnole and as The Cat/Grandfather Clock in L’enfant et les sortilèges'. There are nine performances running through August 25th and the opera will be screened in theatresthroughout the U.K. on Sunday, August 19th for those who didn't get their tuxedos pressed in time.
The 1987 production from Glyndebourne with barihunk Francois LeRoux:
The former Lindemann Young Artist participant has also joined the ensemble of Opernhaus Zürich for the 2012-13 season. The company has cast him in a new production of Peter Eötvös’s 'Three Sisters', and revivals of 'Pagliacci' (Silvio), 'Un ballo in maschera' (Silvano), and 'La scala di seta' (Germano).
Readers of this site will recall that Madore created a sensation when he stepped in for Daniel Okulitch as Don Giovanni with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. He also appeared as Lysander at The Met in their Baroque pastiche The Enchanged Island.
Other operas that are still running at Glyndebourne include La bohème, Le nozze di Figaro and Purcell's The Fairy Queen. Visit their website for tickets and additional performance information.
