German barihunk Björn Bürger is wrapping up 2018 with a busy schedule, as he's singing back-to-back-to-back performances in Switzerland in Germany.
He is opening a run as Dr. Falke in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus (La Chauve-Souris in French) in Lausanne on December 13th, with performances running through New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, he's wrapping up performances as Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. That means he'll be singing in Lausanne on the 28th, a matinee in Stuttgart on the 29th and back in Lausanne on the 30th.
The cast of the Die Fledermaus also includes Stephan Genz as Gabriel von Eisenstein and Eleonore Marguerre as Rosalinda.
The cast of Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Staatsoper Stuttgart also includes the always entertaining bass Matthew Anchel as Bartolo, Mert Süngü as Almaviva and Stephanie Lauricella as Rosina. There is an evening performance of the same opera that features fellow barihunk Jarrett Ott as Figaro.
Lausanne and Stuttgart are about 438 km (272 miles) apart.
Jarrett Ott will be making his debut at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and returning to the title character in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, which he first sang with the Dayton Opera. Performances are on April 28 and May 2, 4, and 6 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and tickets and cast information is available online.
Rossini's opera premiered on February 20, 1816 with the title "Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione (The useless precaution)." The famous overture was actually recycled from two of his earlier operas, Aureliano in Palmira and Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra and contains none of the thematic material from the opera.
The opera was first performed in the United States on May 3, 1819 in English at the Park Theatre in New York and was the first opera ever to be performed in Italian in New York, when it was performed at the Park Theater on November 29, 1825.
The famous "Largo al factotum" is one of the most difficult baritone arias to perform and has become an audience favorite, largely due to it's tongue twisting patter. The aria has been frequently used in cartoons, including by Michigan J. Frog in One Froggy Evening, as well as in Rhapsody Rabbit, Long-Haired Hare, You Ought To Be In Pictures, Notes To You and Back Alley Oproar.
Jarrett Ott will join the Ensemble of Staatsoper Stuttgart beginning in 2018-2019.
Irish bass-barihunk Padraic Rowan keeps racking up the awards, as he won the €5,000 First Prize Prize at the Azuriales Opera Competition in France. Earlier this Summer, he won the the 2016 Bernadette Greevy Bursary Award. He was also a finalist at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards and the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards. He also reached the semi-finals of the the 34th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, he won the 2014 Wessex Glyndebourne Award, the Dramatic Cup and Tony Quigley
Award and the German Government Cup at the 2013 Feis Ceoil in Dublin, and the 2013 Irene Sandford Award for Singers.
Rowan graduated from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2013 with a Masters in Music Performance and now studies in London. He is currently in the Young Artist program at the Les Azuriales Opera. This September, Rowa will join the Opera Studio of Oper Stuttgart in Germany, performing a number of roles during the 2016/17 season.
The Azuriales Opera Competition was started in 2003 to promote young singers at the start of their careers. The singers perform in a Competition Concert and are evaluated by a jury. Ellie Edmonds won the €1,000 Kerry Keane Award for artists under age 26 and tenor Thobela Ntshanyana won Second Prize.
You can hear Rowan in a clip from the St Matthew Passion by clicking HERE.
Irish bass-barihunk Padraic Rowan has won the Bernadette Greevy Bursary Award for 2016. The judges were unanimous in their decision.
As overall prize winner, Padraic receives a bursary of 5,000 euro towards his singing career and will have the opportunity to perform a solo recital at the National Concert Hall to take place next year.
Twenty-six year old Padraic Rowan graduated from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2013 with a Masters in Music Performance and is currently studying with Robert Dean in London. A Jerwood Young Artist at the 2014 Glyndebourne Festival, he made his Wigmore Hall debut in November 2015 as a finalist in the
Maureen Lehan Vocal Awards. In June 2015, he reached the semi-finals of the
34th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in
Amsterdam.
Upcoming engagements include the summer Young Artist programme with Les Azuriales Opera in France. This September, Padraic will join the Opera Studio of Oper Stuttgart in Germany, performing a number of roles across the 2016/17 season.
Oper Stuttgart is reviving Philippe Boesmans’ REIGEN in celebration of the Belgian composer's 80th birthday. In 1993, he paired up with director Luc Bondy and turned Arthur Schnitzler’s controversial drama into an opera.
The 1900 play La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler's created a bit of a scandal when it was first published. The play depicts men and women of various social classes through ten
sexual encounters that work their way like a relay back to the same
prostitute who is seen in the first encounter. Although the play spoke about class and society in turn-of-the-century Vienna, it is also a universal story about the attitudes, tensions and relationships
between the sexes. The circular narrative speaks first the prostitute and the soldier, then the soldier and the
chambermaid, the chambermaid and a young man, until finally the Count
meets up again with the prostitute.
Oper Stuttgart's trailer for REIGEN:
The Count in this production is sung by André Morsch, who only appeared briefly on this site on a post about Don Giovanni. The German singer began his studies in Austria before moving on to the Amsterdam Conservatory and The New Opera Academy in The Hague. He was the winner of the prestigious 'Internationaler Wettbewerb für
Liedkunst' in Stuttgart where he also received the Hermann- Reutter-
Prize after previously winning the Prix Bernac at the Ravel Academie in
Saint Jean de Luz.
André Morsch sings Schumann, Fauré and Ravel:
Since September 2011, he has been a member of the ensemble at the
Staatsoper Stuttgart, where he has sung Figaro in Mozart's Le
Nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Harlekin in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and Dandini in
Rossini's La Cenerentola. In 2005 he was part of Le jardin des Voix, led by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. He appears on a number of CDs and DVDs, including a performance of title role in Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione at the Opera Comique in Paris, which won the 2009 Diapason d'Or as DVD of the year.
You can watch REIGEN online beginning on May 6 at The Opera Platform. Live performances run from April 24 through June 6 and tickets are available online.
