LaMarcus Miller to reprise role in "Fallujah" at New York City Opera

LaMarcus Miller

LaMarcus Miller, who back in March sang the the leading baritone role in Tobin Stokes and Heather Raffo's Fallujah at the Long Beach Opera, will now reprise the role with the revamped New York City Opera. Performances run daily between November 17-20 at the Duke Theater in New York City. The opera was a co-commission between the two companies.

Miller also sang in the workshop at the Kennedy Center, which was one of a series over the last four years including at Arena Stage, the Noor Theater in New York City and The Culture Project in New York City.

LaMarcus Miller in Fallujah at Long Beach Opera

The opera's characters were inspired by people United States Marine Christian Ellis encountered, including fallen comrades. In 2004, Christian Ellis was a young US Marine fighting in the Iraq War. He suffered a broken back when his platoon was ambushed, and was one of the few survivors. When eventually he returned home he found himself battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ellis has attempted suicide four times since returning from Iraq and used developing the opera as a vehicle to deal with the stress. Ellis' mother was a singer who pushed him to play the trumpet and start singing lessons when he was nine years old.

Tickets and additional cast information is available online. 

LaMarcus Miller to star in premiere of first opera about Iraqi War

LaMarcus Miller

LaMarcus Miller, who first appeared on this site competing in the Met Auditions, has landed the leading baritone role in Tobin Stokes and Heather Raffo's Fallujah at the Long Beach Opera. Miller sang in the workshop at the Kennedy Center, which was one of a series over the last four years including at Arena Stage, the Noor Theater in New York City and The Culture Project in New York City. The Long Beach production will be the official world premiere.

The opera's characters were inspired by people United States Marine Christian Ellis encountered, including fallen comrades. In 2004, Christian Ellis was a young US Marine fighting in the Iraq War. He suffered a broken back when his platoon was ambushed, and was one of the few survivors. When eventually he returned home he found himself battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ellis has attempted suicide four times since returning from Iraq and used developing the opera as a vehicle to deal with the stress. Ellis' mother was a singer who pushed him to play the trumpet and start singing lessons when he was nine years old.
 

The real US Marine Christian Ellis

Award-winning Iraqi-American playwright and librettist Heather Raffo met Ellis in the winter of 2011. After extensive interviews began the process with composer Tobin Stokes of translating elements of Ellis's wartime experience into the opera. Fallujah is believed to be the first opera to deal with the Iraqi War.

Performances will run from March 12-20 the National Guard Armory in Long Beach. Tickets are available online. 

In 2012, LaMarcus Miller won First Place at the Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition at Carnegie Hall. That same year he won the Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition for the Eastern Region.

MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE NEW YEAR ARRIVES; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGERS FROM 9 COUNTRIES.

 

Nine Baritones Competing in Met Auditions in NYC

The Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions will be held at Merkin Hall in New York City on November 18 and 19. This year, nine of the 82 singers are baritones, including SeokJong Baek, Vladimir Tsyglian, Robert Balonek, LaMarcus Miller, Kidon Choi, Takaoki Onishi, Ryan Torino, Anthony Caputo and Cameron McPhail.

A number of the singers have appeared on Barihunks, including Takaoki Onishi who we introduced to readers in May 2014, Robert Balonek who we featured in our Met Auditions overview earlier this year and Cameron MacPhail who is in our recent post about upcoming Messiahs (he's performing with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra).

The singers will perform before judges Susan Ashbaker, Richard Bernstein and Cori Ellison for a spot in the Region Finals to be held on January 14, 2015. The judges for the Finals will be Gayletha Nichols, Richard Bado and Susan Graham.

Cameron McPhail

Canadian baritone Cameron McPhail was the 2014 winner of the George London Foundation Competition. He joined the Canadian Opera Company for the 2012-13 season as a member of the Ensemble Studio where he made his company debut as Premiere Officer in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites. During the 2013-14 season he returned to Canadian Opera Company with mainstage appearances as Schaunard in La Bohème, Guglielmo in Così fan Tutte, and Silvano in Un Ballo in Maschera.

Robert Balonek

Robert Balonek attended SUNY Purchase College and the Mannes School of Music. During his two years at Mannes he performed Guglielmo in Cosi Fan Tutte as well as ​Ford in Falstaff. He also performed with the Mannes Baroque Ensemble as the bass soloist for the Bach's St. Matthew Passion and the Fauré Requiem soloist for the Westchester Choral Society.  In 2014, he performed in scenes from Le Chevalier Saint George's L'amant Anonyme with the Little Opera Theater of NY, Paul Revere in the Boston Tea Party Opera at the NY Fringe Festival and Castro in Victor Herbert's only grand opera, Natoma.

LaMarcus Miller

In 2012, LaMarcus Miller won First Place at the Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition at Carnegie Hall. That same year he won the Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition (Eastern Region). He made his Kennedy Center Center debut singing the leading role of USMC Philip in the new Opera “Fallujah” by Tobin Stokes & Heather Raffo.
In August, he performed Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with the Sugar Creek Symphony.

Anthony Caputo

New York City native Anthony Caputo recently completed his Graduate work at SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Music where he studied under the tutelage of Jacque Trussel. While there he performed Balthazar and Melchior in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Antonio in Mozart's La Nozze di Figaro, Mercurio in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Prince Ferdinand in the East Coast Premiere of Holby's The Tempest, Father Francis in the World Premiere of Lucas' Confession, Pappageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Le Directeur in Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen and Pandolfe in Massenet's Cendrillon.

Vladimir Tsyglian

Canadian Vladimir Tsyglian earned his Performance Degree from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. He was a 1st Prize winner in the Concert Recital category at the Kiwanis Music Fesival. He made his professional debut in the world premiere of "A Dickens of a Christmas." He recently performed Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen with Opera by Request in Toronto.

Takaoki Onishi

Takaoki Onishi won the Top Prize in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and the First Prize in both the Opera Index, Inc. Vocal Competition and the Licia Albanese - Puccini International Vocal Competition. He also received a prize in the 2013 Loren L. Zachary Competition, as well as two Grants from the Giulio Gari Foundation.  He made his Lincoln Center debut in the Julliard Vocal Arts Honors Recital at Alice Tully Hall. In February, he performed the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin with Julliard Opera and in March he performed Jesus in Bach's St. Matthew's Passion.

Kidon Choi

Kidon Choi is a first-year Master's student at Manhattan School of Music and a recipient of the Joseph F. McCrindle Scholarship. He completed his B.M. in vocal performance at Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea. In April 2013, Choi made his Sejong Art Center debut with Seoul Metropolitan Opera as Amonasro in Verdi's Aida. Choi released his own CD ‘Soar’ with Sony Music Entertainment.

Ryan Torino and SeokJong Baek

We don't have bios for Ryan Torino and SeokJong Baek.

Suggested admission to the Metropolitan Opera District Auditions is $20.  You are welcome to attend both days and come and go as you please. Tickets are available online.

Make sure to order you 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar today. Each year, the money raised from the calendar goes to support young artists like those featured above. This year's calendar features 19 of the hottest singers in opera today. Order by clicking below.