Barihunk trio to star in Berkshire Festival's Don Giovanni

André Courville, Erik Anstine and Brian James Myer

The Berkshire Opera Festival has announced its 2020 season, which includes Mozart's Don Giovanni starring the barihunk trio of André Courville in the title role, Erik Anstine as Leoporello and Brian James Myer as Masetto. They will be joined by Laura Wilde as Donna Anna, Joshua Blue as Don Ottavio, Joanna Latini as Donna Elvira, John Cheek as the Commendatore and Natalia Santaliz as Zerlina.

The new production will be directed by co-founder Jonathan Loy and conducted by artistic director Brian Garman. The production will include scenic designs by Stephen Dobay, costumes by Charles Caine, and lighting Alex Jainchill.

The production will open on August 22 with additional performances on the 25th and 28th at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Tickets and additional information is available online.

Erik Anstine can next be seen as Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Opera Omaha on February 7 and 9. André Courville can be heard as Figaro in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Kentucky Opera from February 14-16. Brian James Myer will be Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Knoxville Opera from February 14-29.

Feast of barihunks in AVA's The Demon

Nathan Milholin, André Courville and Daniel Noyola

 The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia will present Anton Rubinstein's The Demon on December 10, 13 & 15 at the Helen Corning Warden Theater. 

The opera is a veritable feast for lovers of the low male voice, featuring a baritone as The Demon, a bass-baritone as Prince Gudal and a bass-baritone as the Old Servant. 

Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Alexander Tsymbalyuk in The Demon (complete):

The Russian Opera Workshop will present rotating casts, with Ethan Simpson, Timothy Renner and Christopher Kenney sharing title role duties, Nathan Milholin and Daniel Noyola performing the Prince and André Courville taking on the Old Servant all three nights.
Even the smaller roles of the bandits include barihunks Jared Bybee and Anthony Whitson-Martini. Bybee also appears in our 2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar (check out the bottom of the post)!

Christopher Kenney, Timothy Renner and Ethan Simpson

 

Jared Bybee and Anthony Whitson-Martini rehearse as the bandits

The story is about a fallen angel, the Demon, who is banished from heaven and is condemned to spend eternity alone. The angel appears and warns the Demon not to destroy God’s creation and try to reconcile with heaven. the rebellious Demon rejects the idea. Enamored with Tamara, the Demon woos her. "Tamara, love me! ... you will be the queen of the universe, my eternal companion," he whispers into her soul. Feeling fear and powerful temptation, Tamara succumbs to his seduction. The Demon's kiss kills her and in the moment of conquest, he is defeated by the Angel who saves Tamara's soul. Alone again, Demon curses the universe. 

Tickets are available online.  

Enjoy Jared Bybee and a host of barihunks from across the globe in our 

2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar. 

ON SALE NOW AT LULU.

Michael Hewitt, Gianluca Margheri and Jared Bybee

TRIFECTA: André Courville wins his third major vocal competition

Chloe Moore, André Courville and Marie Natale

Bass-barihunk André Courville, won his third First Prize when he took home top honors at the 28th Annual Violetta DuPont Vocal Competition. He previously won the 2015 Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition and the 2014 Giargiari Bel Canto Competition. The competition was held at Lenfell Hall in the Mansion at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Courville took home $5,000 as the winner of competition. The $3,000 Second Prize went to soprano Marie Natale and the $1,500 Third Prize to soprano Chloe Moore. The winners were winnowed down from 114 candidates, which resulted in 18 finalists.

Each finalist performed an aria of his or her choice to be judged by a panel of renowned opera figures and jurists based on voice quality, technique, intonation, diction, interpretation, and stage presence. The judges included Gerda Lissner Foundation President Stephen DeMaio, Maestra Eva Quelar, Artist Manager Robert Lombardo, retired soprano Barbara Ann Testa, and arts patron James Thurmond Smithgall.

Last year's winner, tenor Alasdair Kent, performed "Fantaisie aux divins mensonges" from Leo Delibes' Lakme as the judges deliberated.
Courville can next be heard on May 6th as the bass soloist in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with The Cecilia Chorus of New York at Carnegie Hall. The West Coast can hear him on May 22 in concert with the Opera Associates of Los Angeles at the 36th Church of Christ, Scientist in Studio City, California.

Barihunk André Courville featured in Opera News

André Courville (photo by Dario Acosta)

André Courville (photo by Dario Acosta)

Barihunk André Courville is featured in Opera News accompanied by two gorgeous photos from New York photographer Dario Acosta. Here is the feature from Sound Bites in Opera News:

ANDRÉ COURVILLE began to sing the “Air du tambour-major,” from Thomas’s Caïd, at Los Angeles’s Loren L. Zachary Society Competition last May, and suddenly there was no doubt who was going to take home the $12,500 top prize. It was one of those jaw-dropping moments when you sense a singer stepping into his own brilliant future. Courville’s basso cantante has both smooth richness and bite, and the Thomas aria was an inspired choice. “It has a fun melody, fast runs at the end, high notes and legato line,” says the twenty-nine-year-old Courville. “It has everything. I didn’t see it as a competition, though. I always have the same objective—to reach the audience and make them feel something. It’s a performance for me, whether or not I’m competing for a prize or a job.” This May, he is bass soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, with the Cecilia Chorus of New York at Carnegie Hall.

[Continue reading at OPERA NEWS. They do not allow for full article reprints]

Bevy of barihunk in AVA's Don Giovanni

André Courville, Anthony Whitson-Martini and Jared Bybee

Not to be outdone by the barihunk sextet rotating in casts in Don Giovanni at the Hampstead Garden Opera in the U.K, we were notified that the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia is also showcasing a bevy of barihunks in their production of the same opera.

André Courville will be singing Leporello (and rotating it with Nathan Milholin), Anthony Whitson-Martini will be singing Masetto (and rotating it with Jorge Espino) and Jared Bybee will be singing the title role (and sharing it with Daniel  Noyola and Ethan Simpson). To top things off Anthony Schneider will be singing the Commendatore. November 7, 10 and 12 in Philadelphia, November 14 in Bethlehem (PA), November 17 & 19 in Haverford and November 21 in Doylestown.

Nathan Milholin, Ethan Simpson and Anthony Schneider

AVA first presented Don Giovanni in 1986-87 with additional performances in 2000, 2005 and 2011, which featured many alumni who went on to international careers, including Nicholas Masters, Burak Bilgili, Latonia Moore, Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel, Ellie Dehn, Taylor Stayton and Othalie Graham.

Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Enjoy 18 more barihunks in our new Charity Calendar, which is on sale now. 

ORDER HERE:

 

André Courville wins Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition

André Courville (left) and Jared Bybee (right)

Barihunk André Courville won the Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition for Young Opera Singers in Los Angeles today. Five of the ten finalists were baritones this year, including fellow barihunks Jared Bybee and Michael Adams, who have both been featured on this site. Other finalists included baritone Anthony Clark Evans, soprano Chelsea Chaves, bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee, mezzo Sarah Mesko, soprano Julie Davies, soprano Elizabeth Baldwin and tenor Dominick Chenes, who won the Encouragement Award.

Dominick Chenes, Micahel Adams, André Courville and Jared Bybee

Courville's winning performance included "Vieni la mia vendetta" from Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia and Air du Tambour-Major from Thomas' rarely performed Le Caïd. Adams performed "Come Paride" from Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Thomas' "O vin dissipe la tristesse" from Hamlet, while Bybee sang "Per me giunto" and "io morro" from Verdi's Don Carlo.

Courville even managed to pay tribute to the great Ezio Pinza while in Hollywood, whose birthday we're celebrating today in a separate post.

Barihunks to portray JFK and LBJ in Fort Worth

Matthew Worth and Daniel Okulitch

One of America's most innovative opera companies, the Fort Worth Opera has collaborated with the American Lyric Theater to produce an opera based on President John F. Kennedy's final twelve hours. The opera will star two of the world's most popular barihunks in the lead roles, as Matthew Worth takes on JFK and Daniel Okulitch portrays LBJ. Worth shares both the good looks and New England charm of our 35th President, while Okulitch matches the Vice President's 6' 4" frame.

Joining them in the cast will be the amazing mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as Jackie Kennedy, Talise Trevigne as hotel maid Clara Harris, and the thrilling tenor Sean Panikkar as JFK's secret service agent and confidant, Henry Rathbone. The opera is being written by composer David T. Little and librettist Royce Vavrek, who collaborated on the critically acclaimed opera Dog Days in 2012.

The opera, which is slated to premiere at the Fort Worth Opera's 2016 season, is the perfect setting, as it's the last place that the President slept before being gunned down in Dallas. JFK left the Hotel Texas (now the Fort Worth Hilton) on the rain-soaked morning of November 22, 1963, and spoke to thousands who had waited in the rain to hear him speak. Those remarks were to be his final public speech.

The American Lyric Theater and the Collegiate Chorale will produce a workshop of the opera-in-progress this November, which will bring together the world-premiere cast together for the first time. On Tuesday, November 25 at 7:00 PM, American Lyric Theater will present InsightALT: JFK at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. The InsightALT series provides the public with the opportunity to look inside the process of creating new operas at all stages of their development through a combination of performance and discussion with the creative artists behind these new works. InsightALT: JFK will feature excerpts from the opera, as well as a discussion, moderated by ALT artistic director Larry Edelson, between composer David T. Little, librettist Royce Vavrek, Fort Worth Opera's General Director Darren K. Woods, and the cast members.

In the 2015 season, the Fort Worth Opera will present David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's Dog Days, along with Verdi's La traviata and Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet, starring barihunk Wes Mason in the title role. Daniel Okulitch can next be seen in September with the Milwaukee Symphony singing Mozart's Don Giovanni with André Courville as Masetto and Matthew Rose as Leporello. You can listen to Matthew Worth on a live stream of Bernstein's Candide on WCRB on August 17th from the Tanglewood Festival.