Pietro Di Bianco to make US Debut in Minnesota

Pietro Di Bianco as Thoas in Iphigenie en Tauride at the Opéra national de Paris (left)

Italian barihunk will make his long-overdue US debut on January 26th at the Minnesota Opera in Nino Rota’s The Italian Straw Hat. The 2014 Paris Opera Awards Competition winner has sung to great acclaim at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra national de Paris, Wexford Festival Opera and the Innsbrucker Festwochen.

In this absurdist farce by the composer of the music for The Godfather films, groom-to-be Fadinard gallops around Paris on his wedding day in search of a straw hat to replace the one his horse has inadvertently eaten. The bright and breezy score captures the increasingly ridiculous situation that rides on the edge of chaos. Di Pietro will sing the role of the jealous husband Beaupertuis, who suspects that his wife Anaida is having an affair.

The Straw Hat from Milan's La scala with Juan Diego Florez:

The opera premièred at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo on April 21, 1955 and had its first US performance at the Santa Fe Opera in 1977.

Di Pietro wraps up today as Vincenzo Biscroma in Donizetti's Viva la Mamma! in Geneva. This season he will also appear as Pistola in Verdi's Falstaff at The Grange Festival and in Cesti's La Dori in Innsbruck.

Reader Submission: CrossFit barihunk Cody Monta'

Cody Monta'

Our latest reader submission is barihunk and CrossFit enthusiast Cody Monta'. He is currently a fellow at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC.  He will be making his professional debut in the role of Marullo in Piedmont Opera’s production of Verdi's Rigoletto in Winston-Salem, NC on October 23, 25, 27, 2015. The cast includes tenor Rene Barbera as the Duke of Mantua. Barbera also graduated from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. Tickets are available online.

Cody Monta sings "Questo amor vergogna mia" from Puccini's Edgar:  

The Maryland native holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University. His 2015-16 season includes performing the role of Emilio in Nino Rota's Il cappello di paglia di Firenze in February 2016 and Escamillo in Peter Brook's La tragédie de Carmen in April 2016 at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. 

He recently appeared as Mr. Gideon March in Northwestern University Opera Theatre’s recent production of Little Women.  Last summer, Monta' attended the Aspen Music Festival and School as a New Horizon’s fellow where he covered the role of James Vane (The Picture of Dorian Gray). He currently lives in Winston Salem, NC with his fiancée, Brandi and two dogs, Thriller and Vibrant.