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.
Italian barihunk Pietro Di Bianco will sing Osmida in Saverio Mercadante's rarely performed "Didone abbandonata" at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik.
Encouraged by Rossini, the composer had a number of successful operas early in his career, including Violenza e Constanza, Maria Stuarda: Regina di Scozia and Elisa e Claudio. Rossini invited him to Paris in 1836, where he composed I Briganti for four of the best-known singers of the time, Giulia Grisi, Giovanni Battista Rubini, Antonio Tamburini and Luigi Lablache. While in Paris, he was influenced by the operas of Meyerbeer and Halévy and began to stress greater drama in opera.
Mercandante became part of the "Reform Movement" after the publication of Giuseppe Mazzini's Filosofia della musica. During this time, he composed his greatest works, including Il giuramento, Elena da Feltre and Francesco Florimo. These works made him one of the most popular composers of the time, before being eclipsed by Giovanni Pacini and the early works of Giuseppe Verdi. After his death in 1870, his operas began to fade in popularity, unlike his contemporaries Donizetti and Bellini.
Ettore Bastianini sings Mercadante's Sogno:
Didone abbandonata is part of his early period and is based on a classical libretto by the great poet Metastasio. The opera contains many of the trademarks of early 19th century operas, including scenes with cantabile and cabaletta for all the main characters, rousing ensembles, thrilling duets and grand finales. The suicide of the Carthaginian Queen Dido, abandoned by Aeneas and betrayed by Jarba, is composed as great death scene.
There will be performances on August 8, 12 and 14 at the Tiroler Landestheater. The cast also includes Viktorija Miškūnaité as Didone, Katrin Wundsam as Enea, Carlo Allemano as Jarba, Diego Godoy as Araspe and Emilie Renard as Selene. Tickets are available online.
In October, the Wexford Festival Opera will perform the composer's Il bravo.
Last month we posted about the Opéra national de Paris' barihunk quartet in Mozart's Don Giovanni, which featured Artur Ruciñski in the title role, Alessio Arduini as
Leporello, Fernando Radó as Masetto and Alexander Tsymbalyuk as
the Commendatore.
Pietro Di Bianco as Thoas at the Paris Opera (left)
It fairly common to see barihunk trios and, occasionally quartets, in Don Giovanni, but Rossini's Barber of a Seville
is a different matter. Leave it to the Opéra national de Paris to
assemble three of opera's hottest barihunks for their all-star Barber of a Seville
featuring Lawrence Brownlee as Almaviva and Pretty Yende as Rossini.
They have brought back Alessio Arduini as Figaro, Ildar Abdrazakov as
Basilio and Pietro Di Bianco as Fiorello to fill the low voice roles.
The production opens on February 2 and runs through March 4. Tickets are available online.
Ildar Abdrazakov sings La Calunnia from the Barber of Seville:
Alessio Arduini's current schedule included two roles in Puccini's La bohème, as he takes on Marcello in La bohème in Vienna
beginning November 7, 2015 and Schaunard at The Met beginning April 5,
2016. He will rotate Schaunard with two other barihunks, as Alexey
Lavrov opens the opera on November 23 and David Pershall takes over on
January 6.
Ildar Abdrazakov is currently at The Met singing Henry VIII in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. In December, he'll sing the title role in Verdi's Attila at the Marinsky Theater.
MAKE SURE TO ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR BEFORE THE HOLIDAY RUSH; 18 OF THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SINGER FROM 9 COUNTRIES.
The barihunks duo of Pietro di Bianco and Thomas Lavoie will appear at this year's Innsbruck Festival of Early Music in Lully's rarely performed Armide. Di Bianco, who was awarded the top prize for men at the Paris Opera Competition last year, will sing the role of Armide's wicked uncle Hidraot, while Lavoie takes on the dual assignment of Aronte and Ubalde.
Lully's Armide premiered at the Paris Opera on February 15, 1685 and was revived numerous times by the company during the 17th century. The opera is in the form of a tragédie en musique, a genre invented by Lully. Unlike most of his operas, Armide concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a character — not the crusader Renaud, who spends most of the opera under Armide's spell, but Armide, who repeatedly tries without success to choose vengeance over love.
Pietro di Bianco sings "De noirs pressentiments" from Iphigénie en Tauride:
The story takes place during the First Crusade, when Armide ensnares her enemy the Christian knight Renaud with her magic spells. At the moment she raises her dagger to kill him, she finds herself falling in love with him. She casts a spell to make him love her in return. Upon returning to her castle, she cannot bear that Renaud's love is only the work of enchantment. She calls on the Goddess of Hate to restore her hatred for Renaud, but fails to escape from her feelings of love for him. The Goddess condemns Armide to eternal love. Before Armide can return to Renaud, two of his fellow soldiers reach Renaud and break Armide's spell. Renaud manages to escape from Armide, who is left enraged, despairing, and hopeless.
Performances are on August 22, 24 and 26. Tickets, cast information and additional festival shows are available online.
Pietro di Bianco, Sam Roberts-Smith and Xiaohan Zhai
Baritones are once again dominating a major singing competition, as a third of the finalists at the prestigious Paris Opera Awards were from our favorite voice range. Pietro di Bianco, Sam Roberts-Smith and Xiaohan Zhai have all advanced to the final round and di Bianco walked away with the top prize for male singers. Soprano Daria Terekhova took the top prize for women.
In fact, all three of the top prizes plus the audience prize went to the low voices. Xiaohan Zhai took second place and Sam Roberts-Smith won both third place and the Special Jury Prize for the best performance. Marina Nachkebiya and Leonie Renaud took second and third place for the women. Di Bianco will receive €5000 ($6300 US) for taking the top prize, Zhai receives €3000 ($3800 US) and Roberts-Smith €1000 ($1250 US) for each of his prizes.
Pietro di Bianco, Michael Hewitt and Michael Scarcelle in the Barihunks Calendar
You can enjoy Pietro di Bianco for the entire month of February in our new Viva, Italia! Barihunks Calendar, which is available by clicking below.
Pietro di Bianco opens on Saturday, September 13th as Beaupertuis in Nino Rota's Il cappello di paglia di Firenze at beautiful Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy. This performance precedes his upcoming performance at the Paris
Opera Competition on November 19tth, where he will be in the finals with fellow baritones Xiaohan Zhai of China and Sam Roberts-Smith of
Australia.
Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (The Florentine Straw Hat) is based on the classic French farce The Italian Straw Hat by Eugène Labiche and Marc Michel, and the 1955 opera is considered one of the truest opera buffas since the death of Donizetti.
Watch the opera complete in this 1999 production with Juan Diego Florez:
The story is about Fadinard, a nervous bridegroom, who takes a ride in the park the morning of his wedding. His horse finds a straw hat and starts to eat it. It belongs to a young married woman named Anaide who is trysting in the park with her military officer lover, Emilio. Fadinard must find a match for the hat–else fight a duel with the officer–all the while fending off the suspicions of his bride’s father.
Di Bianco's character of Beaupertuis is the jealous husband of Anaide.
(The
Florentine Straw Hat) is based on the classic French farce The Italian
Straw Hat by Labiche and Michel, and it may be the best pure opera buffa
since the death of Donizetti. It has the sparkle of Rossini, the
sassiness of Prokofiev, and the wit of Poulenc. (The plot: Fadinard, a
nervous bridegroom, takes a ride in the park the morning of the
nuptials. His horse finds a straw hat and starts to eat it. It belongs
to a young married woman who is trysting in the park with her military
officer lover. Fadinard must find a match for the hat–else fight a duel
with the officer–all the while fending off the suspicions of his bride’s
father.)
- See more at:
http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-12670/#sthash.zmyZsG4c.dpuf
(The
Florentine Straw Hat) is based on the classic French farce The Italian
Straw Hat by Labiche and Michel, and it may be the best pure opera buffa
since the death of Donizetti. It has the sparkle of Rossini, the
sassiness of Prokofiev, and the wit of Poulenc. (The plot: Fadinard, a
nervous bridegroom, takes a ride in the park the morning of the
nuptials. His horse finds a straw hat and starts to eat it. It belongs
to a young married woman who is trysting in the park with her military
officer lover. Fadinard must find a match for the hat–else fight a duel
with the officer–all the while fending off the suspicions of his bride’s
father.)
- See more at:
http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-12670/#sthash.zmyZsG4c.
Performances run from September 13-18 and tickets are available online.
Just days after Placido Domingo's Operalia Competition completely eliminated any low male voices from their finals scheduled in Los Angeles today, the Paris Opera Competition announced that three baritones/bass-baritones have advanced to their finals. Xiaohan Zhai of China, Sam Roberts-Smith of Australia and Pietro Di Bianco of Italy will compete in the Competition's final gala concert on November 19th. After the gala performance, three male and
three female singers will be selected as winners, with a prize of €5000
(US $6750) for 1st place, €3000 (US $4050) for 2nd place and €1000 (US
$1350) for 3rd place. Special prizes for Best Artistic Performance and
Audience Favorite will earn the winners €1000.
Joining the three in the final concert will be Carol Garcia of Spain, Marina Nachkebiya of Georgia, Daria Terekhova of Russia, Yujoong Kim of South Korea, Miriam Zubieta of Spain, Cristian Mogosan of Romania and Sarah Strauss-Zhai of Germany.
Xiaohan Zhai sings Leporello's aria from Don Giovanni:
Xiaohan Zhai was
born in in Kaifeng, China in 1986. He went to France to study at the
l'École Normale de Musique de Paris. In 2011, he took second place at
the Concours de Clés d'Or and a year later finished third at the FLAME
Competition. Last season, he performed Leoporello in Mozart's Don
Giovanni at the Festival Saint-Cere.
Born in 1983, Pietro Di Bianco studied piano at the
Conservatoire Giuseppe Martucci of Salerno, where he graduated in 2004. He
studied chamber music at the Accademia nazionale de Santa Cecilia and won
several national competitions. He was hired as a piano accompanist at the music
conservatories in Salerno and Potenza.
Pietro di Bianco sings Tamerlano's aria:
He then took up singing at the conservatory in Aquila
and graduated in 2009. He worked with the great soprano Renata Scotto at the
opera in Santa Cecilia and with the legendary baritone Renato Bruson in Sienna.
He was a finalist at the 62nd Concours européen Associazione lirica
concertistica Italiana at the Teatro de Como. He is currently honing his skills with the Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaiwanska.
He recently received critical acclaim for his performance as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra National de Paris in a cast that featured fellow barihunk Damian Pass as Masetto (who was eliminated at Operalia!).
Sam Roberts-Smith sings "Sois immobile" from Rossini's William Tell:
Sam Roberts-Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Music
and Graduate Diploma in Opera from the Western Australian Academy of
Performing Arts in 2008. After completing his studies he relocated to
Sydney and joined Australia’s national company, Opera Australia.
He is
the recipient of numerous prizes and awards including the Joan
Sutherland Society of Sydney Scholarship, the Rosina Raisbeck Award and
winner of the prestigious 2009 Australian Singing Competition. As winner
of the ASC, Sam was asked to perform at both Dame Joan Sutherland and
Richard Bonynge’s 80th Birthday Galas.
In 2010, after performing the
role of Morales in Francesca Zambello’s production of Bizet's Carmen and Yamadori in Puccini's Madama
Butterfly, he was invited to join Opera Australia’s Young Artist Program.
We've now learned that another of our favorite barihunks will be in the Final 50, as well. Italian barihunk Pietro di Bianco, who we introduced to readers back in February, will also be competing to make it into the Final 10, where contestants will perform with a full orchestra in a gala concert in honor of soprano Joan Sutherland. The singers will perform not just for the Grand Jury, but for agents and music professionals from across the globe.
Yu Di and Sam Roberts-Smith
After the performance, three male and three female singers will be selected as winners, with a prize of €5000 (US $6750) for 1st place, €3000 (US $4050) for 2nd place and €1000 (US $1350) for 3rd place. Special prizes for Best Artistic Performance and Audience Favorite will earn the winners €1000. The
competition starts with 50 singers and ends with prizes for three male
and three female singers. Ten singers will perform in a gala finale on
November 19th. Each singer can place two video clips on their profile
and the public can vote for their favorite singers. Make sure to check out the Paris Awards website and cast your vote.
The site is in French, but many pages are translatable to other
languages by clicking on the flags on the top right of the page.
Pietro di Bianco as Leporello in Paris:
Born in 1983, Pietro Di Bianco studied piano at the
Conservatoire Giuseppe Martucci of Salerno, where he graduated in 2004. He
studied chamber music at the Accademia nazionale de Santa Cecilia and won
several national competitions. He was hired as a piano accompanist at the music
conservatories in Salerno and Potenza. He then took up singing at the conservatory in Aquila
and graduated in 2009. He worked with the great soprano Renata Scotto at the
opera in Santa Cecilia and with the legendary baritone Renato Bruson in Sienna.
He was a finalist at the 62nd Concours européen Associazione lirica
concertistica Italiana at the Teatro de Como. He is currently honing his skills with the Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaiwanska.
He recently received critical acclaim for his performance as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra National de Paris in a cast that featured fellow barihunk Damian Pass as Masetto.
We recently introduced Italian barihunk Pietro Di Bianco to readers and mentioned that he's performing Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Atelier Lyrique with fellow barihunk Damian Pass, who is singing Masetto. Performances run from March 22-29, but we just received photos from the dress rehearsals, which we wanted to share. Additional information is available online.
Di Bianco will reprise the role of Leporello on July 5 and 7 at the Anthéa Antipolis Théâtre d'Antibes. Pass will be is singing Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Opera of Toulon from May 20-27.
We're not sure how Italian bass-barihunk Pietro di Bianco escaped our eagle eyes or slipped by our readers in Europe, but we're thrilled to add him to our site. With his runway model looks and voice to match, we have a feeling that he'll be a regular on this site.
He's currently getting ready to open as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra National de Paris in a cast that features fellow barihunk Damian Pass as Masetto. Performance run from March 22-29 and additional information is available online. He will reprise the role of Leporello on July 5 and 7 at the Anthéa Antipolis Théâtre d'Antibes.
Born in 1983, Pietro Di Bianco studied piano at the
Conservatoire Giuseppe Martucci of Salerno, where he graduated in 2004. He
studied chamber music at the Accademia nazionale de Santa Cecilia and won
several national competitions. He was hired as a piano accompanist at the music
conservatories in Salerno and Potenza.
He then took up singing at the conservatory in Aquila
and graduated in 2009. He worked with the great soprano Renata Scotto at the
opera in Santa Cecilia and with the legendary baritone Renato Bruson in Sienna.
He was a finalist at the 62nd Concours européen Associazione lirica
concertistica Italiana at the Teatro de Como. He is currently honing his skills with the Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaiwanska.
Pietro Di Bianco
Di Bianco performed concerts throughout Rome, while
also appearing at the Palau de la Música di Valencia as Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Collatinus in Benjamin
Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Théâtre de l'Athénée, Fauré's Requiem
with the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in Rome, Don Alvaro in
Rossini’s Il Viaggo in Reims at the
Teatro Rossini and the Pharaoh in Rossini’s Mose
in Egitto at the Teatro Municipal Giuseppe Verdi.
In October 2012, he joined the roster of the Atelier
Lyrique. Upcoming performances include Alidoro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Sofia Opera and Beaupertuis inNino
Rota’sIl
cappello di paglia di Firenze in Bari,Italy.
