Hadleigh Adams to make European opera stage debut in Netherlands

Hadleigh Adams (Photo right: Cory Weaver)

Bass-barihunk Hadleigh Adams will make his long overdue European debut in a staged performance of an opera. The San Francisco-based singer will appear in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music at the Nederlandse Reisopera from March 16th through April 9th. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Adams will be performing the role of the buffoonish, hypocritical, yet charming Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, who sings the popular piece "In Praise of Women." The most famous piece from the opera is Desiree's "Send in the Clowns," which has been popularized by numerous singers, including Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan.

Adams has previously performed in Europe, but not in a professionally staged operatic production. He attended the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he sang Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, and also performed Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Royal National Theatre in London, as well as Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in a concert performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Dov'è la figlia? from Hadleigh Adams on Vimeo.

Since its premiere in 1973, A Little Night Music has become a staple of Broadway musical theaters and opera companies, toeing the lines between a musical, operetta and opera. Numerous writers and critics have argued whether the piece should be categorized as a musical or an operetta/opera. Although the piece is best known for its runs on Broadway and London's West End, a number of opera companies have produced the piece, including the New York City Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opera Australia and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler were inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, which involves the romantic lives of several couples. A film of the musical was released in 1977 featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Len Cariou, Lesley-Anne Down, and Diana Rigg.

On June 4th, Adams returns to California to join the San Francisco Symphony on June 4th for Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. He then performs in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at both the Cincinnati Opera and the San Francisco Opera.

Rafael Fingerlos tours with Nederlandse Reisoper

Rafael Fingerlos as Harlekin (photo by Marco Borggreve)

Austrian barihunk Rafael Fingerlos is touring as Harlekin with the Nederlandse Reisoper in their production of Richard Strauss’Ariadne auf Naxos. The production is directed by Laurence Dale with stunning costumes by Gary McCann and features Soojin Moon as Ariadne, Jennifer France as Zerbinetta, Martin Momrich as Bacchus and Karin Strobos as the Composer.

Performances are remaining on September 20 and 22 in Zwolle, 24th in Arnhem, 27th in Maastricht, 29th in Breda and October 1st in Den Haag, 6 and 8 in Amsterdam. Tickets are available online.

Trailer for Ariadne auf Naxos at the Nederlandse Reisoper:

Fingerlos will become a fest ensemble member at the Vienna State Opera beginning with their 2016/17 season. His first role will be Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia on November 12 opposite the Rosina of Isabel Leonard and Almaviva of Pavel Kolgatin. Performances run through December 20.

Nederlandse Reisopera's tall order producing "Der Kaiser von Atlantis"

Wiard Witholt rehearsing Der Kaiser von Atlantis

They only time that Wiard Witholt has appeared on Barihunks was in 2010 when we were trying to figure out who the tallest barihunk was in the world. The Cardiff Singer of the World Competition listed him at 6' 7½" which is a little over 2 meters tall, making him the second tallest after Olivier Laquerre (but the tallest to ever compete at Cardiff).

He's now performing the title role in Czech composer Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis at the Nederlandse Reisopera from May 4-13 in Amsterdam, Enschede, Apeldoorn, Maastricht and Leiden. The Netherlands Opera presented the world premiere of the opera December 16, 1975, at the Bellevue Centre in Amsterdam. The opera was performed at Theresienstadt on May 25, 1991, fifty-one years after the initial rehearsal.The opera has had numerous performances worldwide in recent years, including in Kassel, Long Beach, Hamburg, Linz, Boston, Lyon, Vienna, Dijon and a U.K. tour. Other upcoming performances will be in Madrid with Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester and in Vienna with Matteo Loi.

Wiard Witholt studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the New Opera Academy in Amsterdam, graduating in 2005. In 2008, he made his debut at the Royal Theatre La Monnaie Brussels as Le Berger in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. In the 2009-10 season, he became a full-time member of the Opera House in Dessau. He created Schemariah, the principal character in Hiob, Erich Zeisl's opera based on the novel by Joseph Roth. Last season he sang the Messanger in the world première of Pascal Dusapin's Penthesilea at the Royal Theatre La Monnaie and Dusapin's Passion at the Sydney Festival 2016.

Viktor Ullman and his librettist Peter Kien wrote Der Kaiser von Atlantis while interned at the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terezín) around 1943. The opera received a rehearsal at Theresienstadt in March 1944, but the Nazi authorities interpreted the work's depiction of the character Kaiser Overall as a satire on Adolf Hitler and did not allow a performance.

Both of Viktor Ullmann's parents were from families of Jewish descent, but had converted to Roman Catholicism before his birth. Ullmann remained active musically at Theresienstadt, where he was a piano accompanist, organized concerts, wrote critiques of musical events, and composed, as part of a cultural circle including Karel Ančerl, Rafael Schachter, Gideon Klein, Hans Krása, and other prominent musicians imprisoned there. Both the composer and the librettist died in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The Netherlands Opera presented the world premiere of the opera December 16, 1975, at the Bellevue Centre in Amsterdam. The opera was performed at Theresienstadt on May 25, 1991, fifty-one years after the initial rehearsal.