Barihunks hit the road with English Touring Opera

Nicholas Lester (left) & Peter Brathwaite (photos from English Touring Opera)

The English Touring Opera is kicking off their new Spring season with some barihunks in key roles.

Peter Brathwaite, who has been a regular on this site and appeared in two of our charity calendars, will take on roles in two Donizetti rarities, Kaidamà in The Wild Man of the West Indies (Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo) and Incognito in The Siege of Calais. This will be the first staging of The Wild Man of the West Indies in Britain in the modern era.

The Siege of Calais tells the story of the sacrifices under siege of the citizens of Calais – and of the sacrifices of citizens everywhere, forced in extreme situations to decide what to give up for their country and their families.

Jan Capiński

Jan Capiński, who is new to this site will appear as Armando in The Siege of Calais. He recently completed his M.A. in Opera Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, graduating with distinction. He is currently training on English National Opera's Opera Works professional development program. Capiński was spotted by Scottish Opera while still a student and asked to cover the role of Pluto in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, before going on to perform the role twice with the main cast, marking his professional debut.

Click HERE to hear Jan Capiński sing Smirnov's aria from Walton's The Bear. You can also follow him on his blog or on Twitter @JanCapinski.

Nicholas Lester, who is also new to this site, will alternate the role of Marcello in Puccini's La bohème with Grant Doyle, who has appeared on this site numerous times.  He studied at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music and at the National Opera Studio, London where his studies were sponsored by Glyndebourne Festival Opera as the recipient of the Anne Woods/Johanna Peters Award. He has also appeared with the Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Nationale Reisopera and Opera Holland Park.

The tour opens in London at the Hackney Empire in March and travels through May to Truro, Norwich, Cheltenham, Suffolk, Leicester, Coventry, Exeter and Buxton. Visit their website for additional cast information and performance dates.