Christopher Bolduc making Wagnerian debut

Christopher Bolduc

Christopher Bolduc in making his Wagnerian debut today as the King's Herald in Lohengrin in Wiesbaden, Germany. His only prior on-stage performance of the great German composer was singing the aria "O du, mein holder Abendstern" from Tannhäuser at his undergraduate recital.

Performances run throught May 25th with two casts, although Bolduc is in all of the performances. It opens with Marco Jentzsch as Lohengrin, Johanni van Ostrum as Elsa and Andrea Baker as Ortrud, with those roles being taken over by Klaus Florian Vogt, Barbara Haveman and the great Waltrud Meier. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

In the 2013-14 Bolduc made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Jake in Nico Muhly’s Two Boys.
Last season, he also performed Christopher as the Huntsman in Heinz Holliger’s Schneewittchen at Theater Basel and Belcore in L’elisir d’amore at Oper Köln.

At the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the American barihunk has performed Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème and Figaro in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. On May 3rd he takes on another great German composer in Wiesbaden when he sings Der Einäugige (the one-eyed man) in Richard Strauss' Die Frau Ohne Schatten.

Christopher Bolduc makes role debut as Marcello in Germany

Christopher Bolduc as Marcello in Wiesbaden

American barihunk Christopher Bolduc made his role debut as Marcello in Puccini's La boheme on Friday night at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany. Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, who is the new general director at the opera company, set the piece in a world of nostalgic fairy book charm, complete with a carousel.

Bolduc, who has impressed European audiences with performances at Oper Köln, Glyndebourne and Theater Basel is now on the permanent roster of the the opera in Wiesbaden where he's also wrapping up a run in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten today. He'll reprise his performance in that opera in May 2015. In between, he'll be singing Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and the King's Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin. American audiences will remember Bolduc from his stunning portrayal of Jake in Nico Muhly’s Two Boys in his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2013. 

The current cast performs through October 30th with Matias Tosi taking over the role of Marcell beginning on November 14th.  Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Christopher Bolduc and Keith Miller in new Two Boys recording

Christopher Bolduc and Keith Miller

Nonesuch is releasing Nico Muhly's Two Boys, which was recorded live during the Metropolitan Opera’s 2013 production with barihunks Christopher Bolduc as Jake and Keith Miller as Peter. It's currently available for pre-orders at the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the opera’s Act I, Scene 6.

The two-act opera, which features a libretto by award-winning playwright Craig Lucas, is loosely based on true events and follows a lonely detective whose investigation of a seemingly simple crime draws her into a complex web of online intrigue. Alice Coote sings the role of Detective Inspector Anne Strawson and Paul Appleby sings Brian, the 16-year-old boy at the center of her investigations.

The 32-year old Muhly, 32 is the youngest composer ever commissioned by the Met, and Two Boys was his first large-scale opera. Two Boys, set in an English industrial city in 2001, combines two story elements rarely seen on the operatic stage: a police procedural and a dramatization of the mysterious and lonely lives of those who inhabit the dark corners of the Internet.

Muhly’s other recent projects include music for the Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie and the score to the film Kill Your Darlings. His other film credits include scores for Joshua (2007), Margaret (2009), and the Academy Award–nominated The Reader (2008).

The cast also features Jennifer Zetlan as Rebecca, Caitlin Lynch as Cynthia, Sandra Piques Eddy as Fiona, Judith Forst as Anne’s Mum

Christopher Bolduc is currently a resident artist at the  Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany. He'll be performing Der Einäugige in Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten from September 12-October 11. In October, he'll be Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème, followed by Figaro in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia in December.

Make sure to check out our recent post about Keith Miller's upcoming appearance in Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas at the Nashville Opera.

READER SUBMISSION: Brett Carter

Brett Carter in Rape of Lucretia (left) and L'heure espagnole (right)

Our latest Reader Submission is Australian Barihunk Brett Carter who is currently starring as Mercurio in Cavalli's Calisto at the Hessischen Staatstheaters in Wiesbaden.

He studied Classical Guitar and Voice at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He then became a member of the Australian Opera Studio where his roles included Mozart’s Conte Almaviva, Don Giovanni and Britten’s Tarquinius in Rape of Lucretia. After receiving a Scholarship to participate in the Cincinnati Music Festival in Lucca, Italy, he then went on to become a Young Artist with Opera Queensland. During this time he received first prize in the German Australian Opera Grant and since 2007 is a member of the Hessischen Staatstheater in Wiesbaden.

Brett Carter sings L'heure espagnole:

His roles with the company include Papageno, Guglielmo, Masetto, Rossini’s Figaro, Malatesta, Puccini’s Schaunard and Ping, Falke, Harlekin, Kurt Weill’s Bill (The Rise and Fall of the City Mahagonny), Monteverdi’s Ulisse (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) and Ravel’s Ramiro (L’Heure Espagnole). In 2008 he made his debut with Staatsoper Stuttgart as Allazim in Mozart’s Zaïde and in 2010 in a new production of Pizzetti’s Murder in the Cathedral with Oper Frankfurt.

In Summer 2012 Brett made his debut with Victorian Opera in a new production of Le nozze di Figaro as Conte Almaviva. Further highlights for the 2013/14 season include Ford in Verdi's Falstaff, Leander in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, and Mercurio  in the aforementioned Calisto at the Staatstheater in Wiesbaden. There are additional performances of Calisto on March 17 and 30 and April 4. Tickets are available online.