Reader Submission: Austrian barihunk Matthias Störmer

Matthias Störmer (Don Giovanni center) Photos from artist website

Our latest Reader Submission is Austrian barihunk Matthias Störmer, who is a member of the ensemble at the Theater Regensburg in Bavaria. He is wrapping up a run as the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni today.

After graduating from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna in 2010, he became a member of the ensemble at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, where he sang the title role in Florian Bramböck's Der dritte Polizist.

 Matthias Störmer sings Don Giovanni's serenade:

Since joining the Theater Regensburg ensemble, he has performed Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly Leopold in Stolz's Im weißen Rössl,Testo in Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Kuligin in Janáček's Kát’a Kabanová, Melot in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto.

He studies with the legendary mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender.

In January, he will perform Papageno again, appear in two concerts and sing Bondy in Kálmán's operetta Die Herzogin von Chicago.

Introducing barihunk Roman Ruckhofer

Roman Ruckhofer in Silbersee (left)

22-year-old Austrian barihunk Roman Ruckhofer was suggested to us after he performed in Kurt Weill's Silbersee at the Theater im Palais at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.

Ruckhofer started his career as a leading performer with choirs he graduated with distinction. He started with the HIB.art.chor of Liebenau, one of Austria’s leading high school choirs, which has won numerous prizes worldwide. He was awarded a First Prize in the Youth Vocal Solo Competition with Green Guys at the Golden Gate International Choral Festival in 2015.

Since 2014, he has been studying voice at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. His repertoire ranges from sacred music to musical theater and contemporary music from the 21st century. He has already performed on international stages in Croatia, Norway, Canada and the United States. He recently was awarded a full scholarship to attend the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz in 2017.

When he's not focused on music he is busy studying law.

Daniel Schmutzhard creates sensation in The Sandman

Daniel Schmutzhard

Austrian barihunk Daniel Schmutzhard has been creating a sensation as Nathanael in composer Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini's Der Sandmann at Opera Frankfurt, which has additional performances on October 3, 8, 13 and 23. The psychologically troubled character is a difficult vocal feat, accompanied by virtuoso orchestration and powerful choruses. He also has to sing much of the role clad in his scivvies

Based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's well known story The Sandman (1815), Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini and the librettist Thomas Jonigk combined essential elements from the story with creepy, romantic motifs for their opera. Nathanael's state of being, a psychotic trip in the homelessness of one's own self, is depicted in ten scenes. To him the sinister seems, in a Freudian sense, a chimera which shines light upon the known and surpressed. Jonigk's figures are our contemporaries: they speak our language, know the feelings of self doubt.

Daniel Schmutzhard

The story of E.T.A. Hoffmann and his conflict between artistic dreams and reality is not new to opera goers, with Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann and Hindemith's Cardillac being the best known. Other adaptations include Busoni's Die Brautwahl, Alfred Thompson's The Girl with the Glass Eyes, Adolphe Adam's La poupée de Nuremberg, Walter Braunfels' Prinzessin Brambilla and Jacques Offenbach's Le roi Carotte.

The cast also includes barihunk Daniel Miroslaw, who appears as Lothar. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

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Introducing barihunks David Pichlmaier & Wolfgang Schwaiger

David Pichlmaier as Figaro in Darmstadt (right)

Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia opened at the Staatstheater Darmstadt with two barihunks rotating the role of the barber Figaro. Both German David Pichlmaier and Austrian Wolfgang Schwaiger are new to the site.

David Pichlmaier was born in Munich and began singing with the Stuttgarter Hymnuschorknaben (Boys Choir) and the Collegium Iuvenum Stuttgart. After completing his studies in Stuttgart and Weimar he was joined the Opera Studio of the Cologne Opera. He has also won numerous international singing competitions.

His career has taken him to opera houses in Bremen, Leipzig, Karlsruhe, Bonn and Dusseldorf and festivals such as the Operetta Festival Berlin or the Festival d'Haute Alsace. Since the 2008-09 season he has been an ensemble member of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, where he has performed Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute,  Ottokar in Der Freishütz, Andrey in Boris Godunov, Orpée in Orpée aux Enfers, Peter in Hansel und Gretel, Schaunard in La bohème and critically acclaimed performances in the title roles in Berg's Wozzeck and Wolfgang Rihm Jakob Lenz.

Wolfgang Schwaiger and Sophie Rennert sing Dunque io son from Barber of Seville:

After a successful run in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Schönbrunn Palace Theatre, Wolfgang Schwaiger joined the Köln Opernstudio. He made his first performance on September 4th, as Madama Butterfly's uncle Yakuside at the Cologne Opera. On September 26th, he will sing the role of the King in Xavier Montsalvatge's children’s opera El gato con botas (Puss in Boots) and will also perform Papageno later this season on the main stage.
 

Wolfgang Schwaiger

Other roles at Opera Köln include Bognanovitch in Die Lustige Witwe, Count Dominik in Arabella and Moralés in Carmen. 

Performances of Il barbiere di Sivigila continue on October 2, 16, 21, 27, November 6 and 21, December 4, 12, 26, January 22 and February 5, 19. For tickets and additional cast information visit the Staatstheater Darmstadt website.

Austrian barihunk Thomas Weinhappel to make debut as Hamlet

Thomas Weinhappel in Ostrava (right)

Austrian barihunk Thomas Weinhappel will sing music from Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet at a gala concert with the Ostrava Nationalorchester in the Czech Republic on September 6th. He will then debut the complete role in March and April next year at the Nationaltheater Ostrava, which is just a 3 hour drive from Vienna.

He joins an illustrious group of baritone who have sung the title role in recent years, including Sherrill Milnes, Thomas Allen, Thomas Hampson, Bo Skovhus, Simon Keenlyside, Liam Bonner, Wes Mason, and Franco Pomponi and Stéphane Degout (with their famous nude scenes).    

Thomas Weinhappel sings "Her die Hand es muß ja sein" from Johann Strauß's Zigeunerbaron: 

When Ambroise Thomas chose Shakespeare’s Hamlet as the subject of his new opera, France had been under the spell of the English bard for many years, and Ophelia had inspired romantic artists. The librettists Carré and Barbier distilled a straightforward story from Shakespeare’s abundant characters and situations. Many Anglo-Saxon critics have dismissed the opera because the libretto is so far removed from the original, despite Thomas having created a musical masterpiece. 

The opera is played out between the opposite poles of real and feigned madness, love and avenge. After the murder of his father, Hamlet opposes the marriage of his mother and his uncle, at the expense of his beloved and himself

Martin Achrainer featured on Austrian national TV

Martin Achrainer

Austrian barihunk Martin Achrainer was recently featured on Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), Austria's national public television station. He discusses his career and time at the Linz Landestheatre, where he has become a house favorite.

Watch the ORF feature on Martin Achrainer:

He returns to action at the Linz Landestheatre on September 19th, when he alternates the role of Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata with Till von Orlowsky. On September 20, he'll be singing very different music, as he will be the soloist in Hans Werner Henze's El Cimarrón – Der Weg ins Freie at the International Bruckner Festival in Linz. On October 10, he'll be one of the soloists in Bruckner's Missa solemnis with the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz.

Introducing Austrian barihunk Thomas Weinhappel

Thomas Weinhappel

Austrian barihunk Thomas Weinhappel was suggested to us by a reader who saw him in Mozart's Don Giovanni last year. We thought that we had posted about him, but were surprised to learn that we've actually not featured him before. We've now been informed that he'll be singing Papageno at the 900-seat outdoor theater Burgarena in Reinsberg, Austria where opera has been performed since 2002. Performances are on August 20 and 21. The nearby castle was built around 1000 AD to prevent attack from the Slavs.

Weinhappel began his singing career with the famed Vienna Boys’ Choir at the age of eight. As alto soloist he traveled with the Choir to the United States, South America, Canada, Germany, England and Sweden. He graduated with honors in voice from the Vienna Conservatorium and subsequently graduated magna cum laude from the Conservatorium in Vienna.

Thomas Weinhappel and Elisabeth Pratscher

Upcoming roles include Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto with Oper Klosterneuburg starring Paolo Rumetz as Rigoletto and Daniela Fally as Gilda, Papageno with Stadttheater Baden from December 18-February 7, and the title role in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, which opens March 3, 2016.

You may recognize Weinhappel as the singer performing Schubert's Winterreise in Michael Haneke's award-winning film The Piano Teacher, which won three  Palme d'Or Awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

He has appeared throughout Europe, including performances at the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Baden State Theatre Bregenz, Neue Oper Wien, Vienna Burgtheater and Stadttheater Bern. His repertory includes the Mozart roles of Don Giovanni, Guglielmo, Papageno and Count Almavivia, as well as Count Danilo in Lehar's The Merry Widow and Master Ford in Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Georg Nigl stars in Stuttgart's hit opera "Jakob Lenz"

Georg Nigl as Jakob Lenz

One of the hits of Oper Stuttgart's season has been Wolfgang Rihm's one act chamber opera Jakob Lenz starring Georg Nigl. It has one more performance on December 12th, which is completely sold out. Lenz, who along with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, formed the “Sturm und Drang” (Storm and Stress) movement in German literature which made German authors the cultural leaders of Europe during the 18th century.

The opera is based on the novella "Lenz" by Georg Büchner which deals with an incident in the life of the German poet. The source of Büchner's material comes from the diaries of the social reformer and priest Johann Friedrich Oberlin, which detail the activities of his house guest, who was clearly suffering from mental illness at the time.  The suicidal poet stayed with Oberlin in a small village in the Vosges Mountains near the German-French border in the hope of recovering from his depression. 

Georg Nigl as Jakob Lenz

Büchner's opening pages describing the mountain landscape and hinting at Lenz's inner state with the single sentence "he did not feel at all tired, only it sometimes annoyed him that he could not walk on his hands instead of his feet" are reduced to a stage direction, but the rest of the libretto roughly follows Büchner's outline. A key element of the libretto deals with his trauma around the death of a small child whom was he was unable to resuscitate.

The opera was first performed at the Hamburg Staatsoper in 1979 with the late English baritone Richard Salter in the title role. It has subsequently been performed at the Wiener Festwochen with Georg Nigl, Teatro Comunale di Bolgna with Tomas Möwes and the English National Opera with Andrew Shore. 

Watch a preview with Georg Nigl from Stuttgart:

Watch the entire opera with Tomas Möwes from Bologna:

 

At the end of Lenz's life he lived with Goethe's brother-in-law, Johann Georg Schlosser, where he lived in poverty.  After years of increasingly poor physical health and debilitating mental problems, Lenz died on the streets of Moscow 1792.

Austrian baritone George Nigl began his singing career with the famed Vienna Boy's Choir. He went on to study as a baritone and an actor, performing with the Vienna Burgtheater. He has gone on to sing at many of the major opera houses in Europe, including La Scala in Milan, Staatsoper Unter den linden in Berlin, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Bolshoi in Moscow, the Festival Aix-en-Provence, the Salzburg Festival and the Wiener Festwochen.

A number of contemporary composers have written works for him, including Pascal Dusapin, Wolfgang Rihm, Friedrich Cerha, Georg Friedrich Haas, Olga Neuwirth, Salvatore Sciarrino, Wolfgang Mitterer, and Peter Eötvös. 

Michael Scarcelle, Vittorio Prato and Ernesto Petti

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Günther Groissböck singing Heinrich in Amsterdam & Berlin

Günther Groissböck as Heinrich in Lohengrin

The role of Heinrich in Wagner's Lohengrin is beginning to fill Austrian bass-barihunk Günther Groissböck's schedule. Earlier this year, he had a successful run in the role at the Vienna State Opera in April and he previously performed it in Tokyo. On November 10th, he'll sing seven performances of the role at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, before reprising the role in Berlin in April 2015.

 Günther Groissböck as Heinrich in Berlin:

He'll be joined in Amsterdam by Nikolai Schukoff as Lohengrin and Yevgeny Nikitin as Telramund, both of whom are making their company debuts. Juliane Banse will sing Elsa and Michaela Schuster is taking on Ortrud. Performances run from November 10-29 and tickets are available online.

In Berlin, the all-star cast includes Klaus Florian Vogt as Lohengrin, Waltraud Meier as Ortrud and Anja Harteros as Elsa. Tickets are available online. Ring Cycle fanatics will be thrilled to know that Groissböck will sing Hunding and Fasolt in the Munich Ring in February and March.

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Günther Groissböck virile and youthful Ochs in Salzburg Rosenkavalier

Günther Groissböck and Sophie Koch
(© Salzburger Festspiele / Monika Rittershaus)

The Salzburg Festival just opened Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier with an all-star cast that includes barihunk Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau. A trio of superstar women join him in the opulent production, as Krassimira Stoyanova sings the Feldmarschallin, Sophie Koch plays Octavian and Mojca Erdmann sings Sophie. For the first time in the history of the Salzburg Festival, Der Rosenkavalier will be performed without any cuts with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst.

The production, which is set in pre-1914 Vienna, was staged by the formidable team of director Harry Kupfer and his designers, Hans Schavernoch and Yan Tax.

Groissböck was singled out in early reviews for portraying a virile and more energetic Ochs than is traditionally seen. The character is often portrayed as a happy and somewhat buffoonish oaf. He's certainly the sexiest Baron Ochs that we've ever seen.

Günther Groissböck, Sophie Koch & Krassimira Stoyanova
(© Salzburger Festspiele / Monika Rittershaus)

Performances of Der Rosenkavalier continue from August 5th through the 23rd.

If you can't make it to Salzburg, the opera will be recorded by ORF in cooperation with UNITEL, NHK and Bayerischen Rundfunk and broadcast on August 18th at 10:20 PM on ORF2 and on Bayerischen Rundfunk on August 21st at 10:45 PM.

Photos from Martin Achrainer's "Le Grand Macabre"

Martin Achrainer in "Le Grand Macabre" in Vienna

Back in August we mentioned that Austrian barihunk Martin Achrainer was going to appear in Györgi Ligeti's masterpiece "Le Grand Macabre" at the Neue Oper Wien.  The opera has opened to rave reviews and, lo and behold, we once again find Achrainer showing off his amazing physique.

Le Grand Macabre is György Ligeti’s only opera and is based on the theater piece La Balade du Grand Macabre by Belgian author Michel de Ghelderode. Ligeti wrote the libretto with Michael Meschke setting the work in the near-apocalyptic Breughelland (a reference to Dutch painter Pieter Breughel). Although the opera has become popular in Europe, it took 26 years before it had its successful premiere in the United States at the San Francisco Opera.  That 2004 performance starred Willard White as Nekrozar and barihunk Joshua Bloom as the Black Politician. The New York Philharmonic performed the piece with Eric Owens as Nekrozarin 2010.

More shirtless shots of Martin Achrainer from "Le Grand Macabre"

There are performances remaining on October 6 and 7. Visit the Neue Oper Wien website for additional information or tickets. After he wraps up in Vienna, Achrainer will perform a concert entitled "Mir bleiben alle treu" ("I remain faithful to all") at the Casino Kitzbühel in Austria on October 14.

Two Barihunks Make Met Role Debuts This Week

Thomas Hampson & Nadja Michael in Chicago's Macbeth

Two barihunks are making their Met role debuts on March 15th. American Thomas Hampson will take on the title role in Verdi's Macbeth and Austrian Günther Groissböck will debut as the vengeful Banquo in the same opera. Also appearing in the revival will be the thrilling soprano Nadja Michael as the bloodthirsty Lady Macbeth.

Günther Groissböck

Macbeth will be Hampson’s fifth Verdi role at the Met, where he has also sung Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Rodrigo in Don Carlo, the title role in Simon Boccanegra, and Don Carlo in Ernani. Next season, he will make his Met role debut as Iago in Verdi’s Otello.

Thomas Hampson sings Macbeth's "Pieta, Rispetto, Amore" from Zurich:

The March 15th opening performance of Macbeth will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performances on March 20, 24, and 29. The March 15 performance will also be streamed live on the Met’s website. The March 24 matinee will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network. 

Günther Groissböck  sings "In diesen heil'gen Hallen" from Die Zauberflote:

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Markus Werba & Alex Esposito in Fenice's "Le Nozze di Figaro"

Markus Werba & Alex Esposito opening at La Fenice this week

They better have the sprinklers ready at La Fenice, because the famous theater is going to be on fire later this week. Luckily, not like the fires of 1774, 1836 and 1996, which literally burned the theater to the ground. This time the heat will be coming from Austrian barihunk Markus Werba as Count Almaviva and Italian barihunk Alex Esposito in their revival of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro."

The two singers will share the stage in the first cast run of the opera beginning this Friday, October 14 and running through October 22. Visit the La Fenice website for additional cast and performance information. Here are Werba and Esposito singing some Mozart.

Werba singing Nozze:



Esposito singing Leporello in Don Giovanni:



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Markus Werba sings Schumann's Faust

Markus Werba & Robert Schumann

We posted a clip of Markus Werba in April 2008 dubbed "Goethe-dammerung," which featured him singing from Schumann's underperformed "Scenes from Goethe's Faust." The original clip was deleted by the YouTube user, but a new clip has emerged and we feel that it's worth watching, so we're reposting it with a little bit of history about the piece (excerpted from Wikipedia). You can also hear some very different interpretations by Bryn Terfel, Herman Prey and Christian Gerhaher at the Robert Schumann site. 

Written between 1844 and 1853, Szenen aus Goethes Faust (Scenes from Goethe's Faust) has been described as the height of composer Robert Schumann’s accomplishments in the realm of dramatic music.

Schumann's work on what he labeled an oratorio began just over a decade after Goethe’s completion of Part Two of the dramatic poem Faust in 1832, the year of Goethe's death. Many contemporary readers of Faust found Goethe's epic poem daunting and difficult to grasp. Goethe himself declared only Mozart fit to write the music for Faust (though Mozart died in 1791, almost 20 years prior to the completion of Part One of Faust).

Schumann explained the weight of the task before him in an 1845 letter to Felix Mendelssohn: "[A]ny composer would not only be judged by his treatment of one of the seminal and most-widely acclaimed works in German literature, but would also be setting himself up to be compared to Mozart."

Yet despite Schumann's expressed reservations about the work, it has been labeled Schumann's "magnum opus." Schumann opens wide "a manifold musical world" that coherently draws together elements of "lied, horror opera, grand opera, oratorio, and church music."

Schumann's music suggests the struggle between good and evil at the heart of Goethe's work, as well as Faust's tumultuous search for enlightenment and peace. Schumann's restless orchestration brings to the fore Faust's delusions upon hearing of a new world being created and its rapturous promise of an everlasting present.

Although often overlooked within Schumann's impressive oeuvre, Szenen aus Goethes Faust has been deemed among Schumann's most moving works, and a pinnacle of his quintessential Romantic concern with the extra-musical and literary potential of musical expression.



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Happy Birthday, Philip Glass: Watch the complete opera Kepler here

OK, we have a birthday theme going on this week. An email message quickly showed up in our email box after we posted the birthday tribute to Franz Schubert reminding us that it is also Philip Glass' birthday. We're big fans of Philip Glass, so we're going to try something new to Barihunks and post the entire performance of his opera Kepler with the Austrian barihunk Martin Achrainer. This performance is from the 2009 production at the Landestheater Linz.

We can't think of a better way to celebrate his modern master's birthday.

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Markus Werba's "Largo al factotum"

Markus Werba singing the Barber in Vienna

 We tend to feature Markus Werba" singing Mozart, since he's built a career on singing Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte," the title role in Don Giovanni," Guglielmo in "Cosi fan tutte," the title role in "Le Nozze di Figaro" and Nardo in "La Finta Giardiniera." 

But the Austrian barihunk also sings everything from Cavalli to 20th century composers. If anyone has video or photos of his Billy Budd, we'd love to post it on this site.

Here he is singing a spirited "Largo al factotum" in Rossini's "Barber of Seville."





Werba is back singing Mozart in Ancona this month where he will portray Guglielmo in Pier Luigi Pizzi's acclaimed "Cosi fan tutte."

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Rescheduled Markus Werba Recital on BBC

Popular Austrian Barihunk Markus Werba

Brits were greatly disappointed last April when Iceland's ash cloud caused the cancellation of Austrian barihunk Markus Werba's Wigmore Hall BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert. The program of Schubert and Brahms lieder with accompanist Gary Matthewman finally was heard the other night and is now available for free on BBC radio for Werba fans across the globe to hear.

You can click HERE to listen to the recital, which starts at about the 3:00 mark.

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