Ed Parks as Steve Jobs(Photo courtesy of Santa Fe Opera)
“The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” by composer Mason Bates walked away with the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. The recording featured two barihunks, Edward Parks and Kelly Markgraf, along with Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Garrett Sorenson, Wei Wu and conductor Michael Christie with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.
Daniel Kushner in his "Critic's Choice" review in Opera News wrote of the opera, that it "may well become a staple in the twenty-first century’s operatic canon...it’s the work’s subtle nuances in structure, text and the musical
treatment of the characters that are most impactful—and may point to
where the future of opera is headed."
Every nominee for Best Opera Recording this year featured a barihunk. The other nominees were:
John Adams, Doctor Atomic, featuring barihunk Aubrey Allicock, Gerald Finley, Julia Bullock and Brindley Sherratt.
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Alceste, featuring barihunks Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Douglas Williams, Emiliano Gonzalez, Toro and Judith Van Wanroij.
Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier, featuring Günther Groissböck, Elīna Garanča and Erin Morley.
Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto, featuring the late barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Nadine Sierra.
There are two performances of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs coming up on the West Coast. The Seattle Opera will perform the piece from February 23 through March 9th with John Moore as Steve Jobs with Nicole Paiement conducting. The San Francisco Opera will present the opera from June 20 through July 3r with Edward Parks as Steve Jobs and Michael Christie conducting.
Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Günther Groissböck, Edward Parks & Aubrey Allicock
Every GRAMMY nominee for "Best Opera Recording" featiures a barihunk this year.
The nominees, which were announced today, are as follow:
John Adams, Doctor Atomic, featuring barihunk Aubrey Allicock, Gerald Finley, Julia Bullock and Brindley Sherratt.
Mason Bates, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, featuring barihunk Edward Parks, Sasha Cooke, Jessice E. Jones, Wei Wu and Garrett Sorenson.
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Alceste, featuring barihunks Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Douglas Williams, Emiliano Gonzalez, Toro and Judith Van Wanroij.
Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier, featuring Günther Groissböck, Elīna Garanča and Erin Morley.
Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto, featuring the late barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Nadine Sierra.
Bate's The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs was also nominated for "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" along with Jake Heggie's Great Scott, which features the ageless barihunk Nathan Gunn. Other nominees in the category are Du Yun's Air Glow, Kernis' Violin Concerto and Mazzoli's Vespers for Violin.
One of our favorite summer opera festival's recently kicked off, as the Des Moines Metro Opera kicked off their 44th season with a number of barihunks in the cast. Last season, we even featured a barihunk group photo from their production of Puccini's La fanciulla del West, which made our 2015 Best of Barihunks feature in addition to Brad Baron, who was an apprentice artist with the company and our Best Twitter discovery of the year (@BaronAsInRed).
This summer, the company is featuring full-scale operas along with a black box production. The full-scale productions are Verdi’s Falstaff, Massenet’s Manon and Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, which will be running until July 17th at the Blank
Performing Arts Center in Indianola Iowa. The black box opera will be Philip Glass’ Galileo Galileo, which will be performed on July 7 and 10 at the Science Center of Iowa in Des
Moines.
Edward Parks sings Ford's aria from Verdi's Falstaff:
We can always rely on the company featuring some of the most talented barihunks on the scene and this season is no exception, as Verdi’s Falstaff will feature Wayne Tigges in the title role and Edward Parks, a recent Operalia finalist, in his debut as Ford. The gifted soprano Kelly Kaduce will sing the role of Alice Ford. Massenet’s Manon will feature the rising young talent Michael Adams making his debut as Lescaut and Troy Cook taking on de Brétigny. While none of three main characters in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice are baritones, the cast includes the hot young bass Brent Michael Smith as one of the Furies. The rest of the cast includes Jennifer Johnson Cano in the title role, soprano Susannah Biller as Eurydice and Honorary Barihunk Cree Carrico as Amor. Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei will feature Troy Cook as the Younger Galileo.
DMMO young artists Nate Mattingly, Brent Michael Smith & Charles Eaton
There are a number of baritones and basses in the Des Moines Opera Appretice Artist Program this season, including Tyler Alessi, Joshua Conyers, Charles Eaton, Reuben Lillie, Brent Michael Smith, Spencer Reichman, Nate Mattingly, Connor McDonald, Ben Schaeffer and Reuben Walker. The young artists will be performing scenes on July 8, 13 and 16.
We are thrilled that Brent Michael Smith will appear in our 10th Anniversary "Barihunks in Bed" calendar. He can next be seen back at the Michigan Opera Theater, where he is a young artist. From October 15-23 he'll be singing Zuniga alongside the Morales of fellow barihunk Harry Greenleaf in Bizet's Carmen. From November 12-20, he appears as the British Major in Kevin Puts' Silent Night alongside fellow barihunk Gabriel Preisser's Lt. Gordon and tenor Chad Johnson's Nikolaus Sprink. Tickets for all performances can be found online.
We plan on featuring some of the DMMO young artists and we'll start with Charles H. Eaton, who recently received his Master of Music degree from the University of Minnesota. In his second year of studies, he was a participant of the ECCO Program, which facilitates hours of coaching and exchange between promising young artists in the School of Music and the music staff at Minnesota Opera. Charles will cover Lescaut in Des Moines Metro Opera's production of Manon and participate in the chorus of Falstaff as an apprentice artist. He is a Rocky Mountain District winner of the 2016 Metropolitan Council Auditions.
Edward Parks, Bongani Justice Kubheka & Tobias Greenhalgh
Three baritones, including two barihunks familiar to readers of this site have advanced the finals of Plácido Domingo's Operalia Competition, which is being held in London this year. Edward Parks and Tobias Greenhalgh, both of the U.S., have been featured on our site before. South African Bongani Justice Kubheka is new to our site.
Edward Parks and Tobias Greenhalgh have both opted to sing Rossini'sLargo al factotum from Il barbiere di Siviglia, while Bongani Justice Kubheka has chosen to sing La calunnia from the same opera.
Other finalists include tenor
Julien Behr (France); soprano Andrea Carroll (USA); soprano Lise
Davidsen (Norway); tenor Ioan Hotea
(Romania); soprano Kiandra Howarth (Australia); soprano Noluvuyiso Mpofu (South Africa);
soprano Hyesang Park (South Korea); and
tenor Darren Pene Pati (New Zealand). In addition to vying for the
competition’s main prizes, Carroll, Hotea, Howawrth, Park and Pati will
also compete for Operalia’s Zarzuela prize.
Sunday evening's Gala concert will feature Plácido Domingo conducting the orchestra of
the Royal Opera House. Operalia will award two $30,000 first prizes, two $20,000 second prizes,
and two $10,000 third prizes, with one male and one female singer
receiving prizes in each category. In addition, one man and woman will
each receive a $15,000 Birgit Nilsson prize for his or her performance
of an aria by Richard Strauss or Richard Wagner. One male and one female singer
will also be awarded the $10,000 Zarzuela prize, which is meant to encourage singers to work in the art form. There is also an Audience Prize.
Past
Operalia winners have included Ainhoa Arteta, Nina Stemme, Brian Asawa,
José Cura, Elizabeth Futral, Eric Owens, Erwin Schrott, Joyce DiDonato,
Rolando Villazon, Joseph Calleja, Susanna Phillips, Ailyn Perez, Olga
Peretyatko and Sonya Yoncheva.
The
2013 winners of the Music Academy of the West's Marilyn Horne Song
Competition, baritone John Brancy and pianist Mario Antonio Marra, will
perform the premiere of Force by up-and-coming composer Chris Kapica,
Schumann's Dichterliebe, works by Dvorák, and American standards in a
trio of East and West Coast recitals. The first will take place at the Music Academy's Hahn Hall in Santa Barbara, California on Tuesday, March 4, followed by Santa Monica's Broad Stage on Friday, March 7, and the National Opera
Center in New York City on Sunday, March 16. The New York recital is
part of OPERA America's Emerging Artist Recital Series, a showcase for
finalists and prizewinners from the nation's most prestigious young
artist programs and competitions.
Barihunk John Brancy, who along with accompanist Mario Antonio Marra, won the 2013 Music Academy of the West's Marilyn Horne Song Competition, will perform concerts on both coasts as part of their prize. The first will take place at the Music Academy's Hahn Hall in Santa
Barbara, California on Tuesday, March 4th, followed by Santa Monica's
Broad Stage on Friday, March 7th, and the National Opera Center in New
York City on Sunday, March 16. The New York recital is part of OPERA
America's Emerging Artist Recital Series, a showcase for finalists and
prizewinners from the nation's most prestigious young artist programs
and competitions.
Brancy will perform the world premiere of cross-genre composer Chris Kapica's "Force," along with Schumann's Dichterliebe, Dvorák's Three Modern Greek Poems, Op. 50, Hoagy Carmichael's The Nearness of You, Jerome Kern's The Folks who Live on the Hill and Cole Porter's Night and Day.
baritone Edward Parks, and pianist In-Sun Suh (2008)
Other baritones who have won the Marilyn Horne Song Competition include Edward Parks in 2008 and Evan Hughes in 2006.
Tickets for the March 4
recital in Santa Barbara are $25 general admission and $10 for
students. Hahn Hall is located at the Music Academy of the West. Free
parking will be available on the campus grounds. For more information,
visit www.musicacademy.org.
Tickets for the March 7 recital range from $16 to $35. The Broad Stage is located at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St. in Santa Monica. For more information, visit http://thebroadstage.com or call 310-434-3200.
The recital in New York City on March 16, which will be
live-streamed, will be presented as part of OPERA America's Emerging
Artist Recital Series, which was inaugurated in September by 2012 Music Academy of the West Marilyn Horne Song Competition winners Tracy Cox and Maureen Zoltek. The NationalOpera Center is located at 330 Seventh Avenue. Tickets, which are $20, can be purchased online at www.operaamerica.org/recitals.
Tickets for the March 4th recital in Santa Barbara are $25 general admission and $10 for students. For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org. Tickets for the March 7th recital at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center range from $16 to $35. For more information, visit http://thebroadstage.com or call 310-434-3200. The recital in New York City will be at the National Opera Center on March 16th. Tickets, which are $20, can be purchased online at www.operaamerica.org/recitals.
If you can't make any of the recitals, you're in luck as the March 16th performance will be live-streamed as part of OPERA America's Emerging Artist Recital Series.
When we woke up this morning and saw the announcement of New York's first performance of the complete songs of Franz Schubert, we thought that we had died and gone to heaven. It wasn't because of the thought of eight months of virtually non-stop Schubert, but it was the lineup of singers, which includes a dozen of our favorite barihunks.
The project is the brainchild of Lachlan Glen and Jonathan Ware who run Schubert & Company in the Big Apple. They've assemble fifty-three singers who have volunteered their services to perform all 603 songs at the Central Presbyterian Church the corner of 64th Street and Park Avenue.
The roster of barihunks consists of a virtual Who's Who of this site, including Tyler Simpson, Edward Parks, Kelly Markgraf, Michael Kelly, Jonathan Estabrooks, Jeong-Cheol Cha, Brandon Cedel, John Brancy, Jesse Blumberg, Julian Arsenault and others.
The duo is trying to raise the necessary funds for this project on Kickstarter and we encourage everyone to give even a few dollars/euros to makes this a reality.
