Thursday, April 9, 2009

Emerging Barihunk Michael Nyby




I've been keeping an eye on Michael Nyby, hoping that he'll break out soon. He's currently performing in Donizetti's Elixir of Love with the Santa Fe Opera Spring Tour.

Here's a video of him singing "Deh, vieni alla finestra" from Mozart's Don Giovanni in Czechoslovakia. He also performs frequently with the Vancouver Opera and here is an interview with him from their blog (http://vancouveropera.blogspot.com/):

Guilty musical pleasure?
I love singing Karaoke.

Where do you love to sing?
I often sing when mountain biking or snowboarding.

What is your idea of earthly happiness?
If only I knew.

To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
I have a serious professional hockey addiction.

Who are your favourite heroes/heroines of fiction?
Macbeth, Jean Valjean, Odysseus, and Batman

Who are your favourite characters in history?
I'd have to go with Cleopatra - her life reads like an epic novel.

Who are your favourite heroes/heroines in real life?
Leonard Warren, Barack Obama, and Wayne Gretzky

Who is your favourite author?
I've gone through many, but I always seem to come back to Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins.

Your favourite musician?
My wife.

Your favourite composer?
That's a tie between Mozart, Verdi and Curtis Mayfield. Only a true genius could write Die Zauberflote, Otello, or the Soundrack to Superfly.

What quality do you most admire in a person?
A sense of humour.

Your favourite virtue?
The ability to accept and make light of one's faults.

Your favourite occupation?
If I weren't an opera singer, I would wan to be Indiana Jones, so I suppose the anser is a totally-awesome-archaeologist-adverturer.

What did you want to be as a child?
Indiana Jones. I still do!

Your most marked characteristic?
It's hard for me to say, but my wife says the first thing she notices about me was my eyebrows. They're very pronounced.

What do you most value in your friends?
Constancy. I have very few friends whom I can contact after years apart and it is like no time at all has passed.

For what would you like to be remembered?
I'd be happy just being remembered.

What natural gift would you most like to possess?
The Force.

What is your motto?
"Come on, it'll be fun!" Which could also qualify for my famous last words.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

Subscribe to Barihunks by Email
___________________________________________________

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for the shout-out! Michael Nyby was wonderful as Morales in our Carmen. He is definitely on his way up. Pretty soon, we'll be able to say, "We knew him when..."

    Ling Chan
    Assistant to Managing Director
    Vancouver Opera

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so proud of my husband!

    Sonya Harper Nyby

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mr.Nyby is THE man. I actually had to go to the hospital a few times to get treatment from the beating I would receive after I would hear him sing. I spent two days in Vancouver General after watching his Ford in Verdi's Falstaff. Way to go Mike!

    From,
    The Italian from that opera school in Western Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Baritones rock! Mike Nyby is a baritone and therefore rocks!! He of course will make it to the top, there is no doubt in my mind! Have loved and will always love watching him perform and working with him.

    From, as noted before, Anonymous!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This young gentleman is HOT! His Don Giovanni really turned me on. Welcome in my bed anytime ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. these is no more Czechoslovakia!!! For about 10 years!

    ReplyDelete