Crossing with Rod Gilfry makes NY debut at BAM

Rod Gilfry as Walt Whitman in Crossing

Matthew Aucoin's opera Crossing is making its New York premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music from October 3-8. The ageless barihunk Rod Gilfry returns in the role of Walt Whitmen, whose Civil War diary that he kept while working as a nurse inspired the opera.

Crossing explores how the individual experiences of soldiers are remembered and told. As Whitman listens to wounded veterans share their memories and messages, he forges a bond with a soldier who forces him to examine his own role as writer and poet. The opera, directed by Diane Paulus, begins with Walt Whitman's prologue, delivered while facing the audience in front a bunch of rickety hospital beds. Whitman sings, “What is it, then, between us?,” a key line from his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” While caring for the injured soldiers, Whitman is drawn to a haunted-looking soldier names John Wormley, who is sung by tenor Alexander Lewis. The opera deals with a number of "crossings," including between poet and reader, performer and audience, and the contradictory elements of Walt Whitman himself.

The cast also includes a spate of barihunks, including Davone Tines as a South Carolina slave, Hadleigh Adams, Michael Kelly as a soldier, Ben Lowe, Matthew Patrick Morris and Jorell Williams. Tickets are available online.

The opera heads to California for its West Coast premiere in May 2018 for a concert performance at the Los Angeles Opera, which also stars Rod Gilfry. The opera originally premiered in May 2015 at the Shubert Theater in Boston.

Matthew Patrick Morris at Brooklyn Art Song Society

Matthew Patrick Morris

Barihunk Matthew Patrick Morris will be one of the singers in the upcoming program of Benjamin Britten songs at the Brooklyn Art Song Society on March 17th.

The program will include the composer's On This Island, Op. 11, The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op. 35, Songs and Proverbs of William Blake, Op. 74 and Cabaret Songs. The other performers include soprano Laura Strickling, mezzo-soprano Samantha Malk, tenor Joseph Gaines and Michael Brofman and Spencer Myer on piano.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings the Songs and Proverbs of William Blake:

Morris will perform the William Blake songs, which were composed in 1965 and premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The works were written to showcase Fischer-Dieskau's unique blend of intense lyricism and dramatic characterization. Although best known for writing for his partner tenor Peter Pears, Britten wrote a number of great baritone roles in opera, including major roles in Billy Budd, Owen Wingrave, The Rape of Lucretia, Peter Grimes and Death in Venice.

The concert will be held at the Brooklyn Historical Society in downtown Brooklyn. Tickets are available online. 

Barihunks galore in Walt Whitman opera

Ed Parks and Walt Whitman

Two barihunks will be sharing the role of Walt Whitman in Matthew Aucoin's new opera Crossing at The American Repertory Theater at Harvard University.

The opera was inspired by the diary that poet Walt Whitman kept as a nurse during the Civil War. Crossing explores how the individual experiences of soldiers are remembered and told. As Whitman listens to wounded veterans share their memories and messages, he forges a bond with a soldier who forces him to examine his own role as writer and poet.

Rod Gilfry will sing the role of Whitman on May 29, 31, June 2, 4 and 6, with Edward Parks taking on the role on June 5.  Also in the cast are barihunks Davone Tines, Michael Kelly and Matthew Patrick Morris, who will be joined by Alexander Lewis as John Wormley, Davone Tines as Freddie Stower, and Jennifer Zetlan as the Messenger.

Michael Kelly, Davone Tines and Matthew Patrick Morris (L-R)

Barihunk Edward Parks is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, and made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2009-2010 season as Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He since appeared at the Met as Schaunard in La bohème, Larkens in La fancuilla del West and returned this season for La Bohème, Don Carlo, and Die Zauberflöte. Future seasons will see his debut with Virginia Opera and a return to the Metropolitan Opera.

Bass-barihunk Davone Tines is building an international career commanding a broad spectrum of opera and concert performances. Recent performances include programs of Bach and Rameau at Alice Tully Hall and the U.S. premiere of Meanachem Zur's Cartoons at Lincoln Center.  Upcoming engagements include concerts with the Boston Pops, Tanglewood Music Festival, two one-man shows entitled American Gothic and The Black Clown, and the premier of two chamber operas by Kaija Saariajo at the Dutch National Opera and Ojai Music Festival. He is a 2009 graduate of Harvard College and received a Masters degree in voice from The Juilliard School in 2013.

Additional information and tickets are available online.