Gyula Orendt will will be replaced by fellow barihunk Edward Nelson in Ópera de Oviedo's upcoming performances of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. He'll be joined by Andrew Foster-Williams as Golaud, Anne-Catherine Gillet as Mélisande, Maxim Kuzmin-Karavaev as Arkel, Yulia Mennibaeva as Geneviève and Eleonora de la Peña as Yniold. The opera runs from January 28-February 3.
Edward Nelson and Ingeborg Gilebo in the Tower Scene from Pellées:
Nelson made his European debut at the Norwegian National Opera on April 7th as a replacement in the title role of the same opera. The performance was the first time that the company had performed the opera.
Pelléas et Mélisande was the composer’s only opera and is based
on the Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck’s play of the same name.
The story is about lost love and forbidden relationships.
Thomas Weinhappel and Sam Robert-Smith from the 2018 Barihunks Calendar/Photo Book
ONLY 18 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for
purchase HERE.
In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book
this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the
calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think.
Barihunk Edward Nelson looking sexy onstage and offstage
Barihunk Edward Nelson is heading up an all-star cast of singers for an Oktoberfest celebration at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall on October 3rd. The American singer will be joined by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and opera stars soprano Julie Adams, mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack and tenor David Blalock.
Bavarian-born associate conductor Christian Reif will lead the orchestra in its first ever Oktoberfest, complete with German food and beer, as well as a polka dance party. Nelson will perform “Fin ch'han dal vino” from Mozart's Don Giovanni and Ambroise Thomas' "Ô vin, dissipe la tristesse" from Hamlet, both of which have themes around drinking wine.
Other selections on the program include Lumbye's Champagne Gallop, Johann Strauss, Jr.'s Champagne Polka, Romberg's “Drinking Song" and "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from Verdi's La traviata
Tickets and additional information is available online.
Barihunk Eddie Nelson will perform at the historic Bernard Maybeck Studio in a special fundraiser for the West Edge Opera. He'll be joined by accompanist Ronny Michael Greenberg, both of whom have close associations with the San Francisco, having participated in the Merola Opera Program and the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Program.
The performance will be Sunday, May 21st at 3 p.m. with light refreshments, champagne and wine being served. The concert will include music by Duparc mélodies and excerpts from Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet, in which Nelson will sing the title role at West Edge Opera's Summer Festival.
The historic Maybeck Studio for the Performing Arts was built in 1914
by Bernard Maybeck, the architect of San Francisco's iconic Palace of
Fine Arts. Joseph R. Nixon commissioned the building as a live-in studio for his daughter Milda’s piano teacher, Alma Schmidt Kennedy.
The studio boasts beautiful acoustics and a long history of hosting
world-class performances and recordings. Performances have been hosted
there for over 100 years. The house includes two of Maybeck's favorite
architectual devices, the Gothic tracery "S" patterns along the balcony
and the Japanese-like split eaves on the gables.
Admission to this event is available with a donation of $175 per person, of which $145 is tax deductible. Click HERE to reserve a seat.
Malte Roesner, who appears with the West Edge Summer Festival
In addition to Edward Nelson's Hamlet, the West Edge Opera Summer season will also include the U.S. debut of German bass-barihunk Malte Roesner in Soler's The Chastity Tree. This is Spanish composer Vicente Martín y Soler's most famous work and is also known by its original title L'arbore di Diana.
Librettist Lorenzo da Ponte created a story from a legend that tells the tale of how Diana, the
Greek god of chastity, falls in love with the shepherd Endymion. The
plot —halfway between pastoral literature and erotic comedy also praises
the political openness of the Archduke Joseph II of Austria.
Tickets and additional information on the West Edge Opera Summer Festival are available online. Roesner is also scheduled to sing a concert of music by Soler and his contemporaries featuring soprano Aurora Perry and tenor Samuel Levine. Details will be announced shortly.
American barihunk Edward Nelson will make his European debut at the Norwegian National Opera on April 7th in the title role of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande.
Pelléas et Mélisande was the composer’s only opera and is based on the Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck’s play of the same name. The story is about lost love and forbidden relationships.
Remarkably, this will be the first time that the opera has ever been performed at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet. The new production will be directed by Australian Simon Stone, who takes the audience into a closed, tightly-controlled world of dark family secrets, deep chasms, and light, young love.
There are six performances, which run until April. 30th. Ingeborg Gillebo will sing Mélisande every night except opening night, when the role will be sung by Susanna Hurrell. Paul Gay will sing Golaud. Tickets are available online.
Nelson, who just finished his two-year stint at the prestigious Adler Fellow Program under the auspices of the San Francisco Opera, will perform the title role of Hamlet with West Edge Opera in Ambroise Thomas' opera from August 5-19. Fellow barihunk Kenneth Kellogg will appear as the ghost.
Barihunks Régis Mengus and Edward Nelson will be making their role debuts as Hamlet on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean in 2017.
Mengus will perform the role with Opéra de Lausanne from February 5-12 with Lisette Oropesa as his Ophelia. Amazingly, this will be the first time that the masterpiece by the French composer Ambroise Thomas will be performed in Lausanne. The opera was co-produced with the Opéra de Marseille, who presented this production last Fall with Jean-François Lapointe in the title role.
Mengus, who came from a blue collar family with little exposure to the
arts, was drawn to music as a young boy. He started piano lesson at the
age of six, but joined the boys choir Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois two years later after realizing that
singing was his true passion. Shortly after joining the group, he rose
to the coveted role of soloist with the boys choir (and became an internet sensation).
In October 2013, he won both the First Prize and the Audience
Award at the International Competition of Singing in Vivonne. In March
2014, he won First Prize, the Audience Award, and a Special Award at the
International Competition of Bordeaux.
From December 24-31, one can hear Mengus at the Opéra de Tours as Gustave de Pottenstein in Franz Lehàr's Das Land des Lächelns (Le Pays du Sourire).
Géraldine Chauvet & Jean Francois Lapointe perform Hamlet
Mengus, who came from a blue collar family with little exposure to the
arts, was drawn to music as a young boy. He started piano lesson at the
age of six, but joined the boys choir Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois two years later after realizing that
singing was his true passion. Shortly after joining the group, he rose
to the coveted role of soloist with the boys choir (and became an internet sensation).
In October 2013, he won both the First Prize and the Audience
Award at the International Competition of Singing in Vivonne. In March
2014, he won First Prize, the Audience Award, and a Special Award at the
International Competition of Bordeaux.
From December 24-31, one can hear Mengus at the Opéra de Tours as Gustave de Pottenstein in Franz Lehàr's Das Land des Lächelns (Le Pays du Sourire).
Edward Nelson (left) and Régis Mengus(right)
Edward Nelson, who just finished his two-year stint at the prestigious
Adler Fellow Program under the auspices of the San Francisco Opera, will
perform the role of Hamlet with West Edge Opera across
the San Francisco Bay. His Ophelia will be Emma McNairy, who created a
sensation with her Lulu with the company. The opera will be performed at
the abandoned train station in West Oakland, which has become a popular
destination for opera goers. Parts of the movie RENT were filmed at the
site. Performances will be part of their August festival, which also
includes Vicente Martin y Soler's The Chastity Tree and Libby Larsen's Frankenstein. Rumor has it that a major U.S. debut by a barihunk will be part of the festival. Details coming!
Nelson received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He was a national semifinalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the 2014 Naumburg International Voice Competition, First Prize winner of the 2014 Corbett Opera Competition at CCM, and a winner in the 2013 Opera Columbus and 2014 Mildred Miller International Voice Competition.
Nelson sang a number of roles this season at the San Francisco Opera, including Fleville in Giordano's Andrea Chénier, Eunuch/Stone in Dream of the Red Chamber,
Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, and Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
On February 4th, Nelson will perform the world premiere of a new arrangement of Clint Borzoni's aria "Two Nooses" from his opera When Adonis Calls, arrangedfor baritone, viola, cello and piano. Tickets are now on sale. On April 21 and 23, he will perform the Steward in Jonathan Dove's Flight with Opera Omaha, and from June 15-24, Schaunard in Puccini's La boheme at the Cincinnati Opera.
ORDER YOUR 2017 BARIHUNKS IN BED CALENDAR TODAY TO ENSURE THAT IT ARRIVES BEFORE THE NEW YEAR!!!
Brent Michael Smith, Jerome Varnier and Brad Baron
The 2016 Class of the Adler Fellows in San Francisco
The Adler Fellowship Program, which operates under the auspices of the San Francisco Opera, has turned out some of the greatest singers in the world, including Patricia Racette, Ruth Ann Swenson, Dolora Zajic, Deborah Voigt, Heidi Melton, Brian Asawa and Stuart Skelton. The program is a two-year fellowship that provides gifted singers to develop their craft with the best coaches in the world and to perform on the main stage of the San Francisco Opera.
It's also turned out a number of barihunks who have gone on to world-class careers, including John Relyea, Hadleigh Adams, Philippe Sly, Ryan Kuster, Efraín Solís, Mel Ulrich, Lucas Meachem, Joshua Bloom, Kenneth Kellogg, Austin Kness, Daniel Sumegi and Eugene Brancoveanu. The 2016 class featured some amazing low voices and some favorites of Barihunks readers, including baritone Edward Nelson, bass Anthony Reed, bass-baritone Brad Walker and bass-baritone Matthew Stump.
Julie Adams and Brad Walker in a selection from Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah":
On December 2nd, the latter four joined soprano Julie Adams, soprano Amina Edris, mezzo Zanda Švēde, soprano Toni Marie Palmertree, mezzo Nian Wang and tenor Pene Pete for the Adler Fellows annual showcase called "The Future is Now" at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. We thought that we'd share some of the highlights with readers.
Baritone Edward Nelson sings Billy Budd's "Look, through the port...":
This season at the San Francisco opera, Edward Nelson performed Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's comedy Don Pasquale, Fléville in Giordano's Andrea Chenier and the Eunuch/Stone in the world premiere of Dream of the Red Chamber. The previous season, he created the role of John Buckley in Marco Tutino's Two Women with the company. His 2017 engagements include the Steward in Jonathan Dove's Flight with Opera Omaha, Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème at Cincinnati Opera and the title role in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet with West Edge Opera.
Anthony Reed sings "Wie schön ist doch die Musik" from Die schweigsame Frau:
Bass Anthony Reed, who has appeared in our Barihunks charity calendar, is currently singing the King in the San Francisco Opera's production of Verdi's Aida. Other roles with the company include various roles in Hector Berlioz's epic Les Troyens, the Speaker in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Hans Schwartz in Wagner's Die Miestersinger von Nürnberg, Doctor Primus in Gordon Getty's Usher House, the Mayor in Janacek's Jenufa and Schmidt in Giordano's Andrea Chenier. You can check out his website HERE.
Brad Walker sings Hai già vinta la causa!":
Bass-baritone Brad Walker made his debut with the San Francisco Opera this summer as Zuniga in Bizet's Carmen. At the Yale Opera, he sang the title role in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Colline in Puccini's La bohème and Don Magnifico in Rossini's La Cenerentola. On December 16, he'll be giving a free concert at the Peace Lutheran Church in Lake Zurich, Illinois, performing opera, lieder, jazz and musical theater. You can check out his website HERE.
Matthew Stump sings "Die Frist ist um" from The Flying Dutchman:
Bass-baritone Matthew Stump made his San Francisco Opera debut as a Trojan Soldier in Hector Berlioz's Les Troyensin 2015. He has appeared with the company as Hans Folz in Wagner's Die Miestersinger von Nürnberg, the Monk in Verdi's Don Carlo and the Foreman in Janacek's Jenufa.
Time is running out to order your 2017 Barihunks in Bed calendar.
Lucas Meachem in Marriage of Figaro (left) and showing off his "guns" in Dresden
Barihunk Lucas Meachem has won the San Francisco Opera inaugural "Emerging Star of the Year" competition. The competition was made possible
by The Emerging Stars Fund, established through a three-year,
multi-million dollar gift from San Francisco Opera sponsors Jan Shrem and Maria
Manetti Shrem. Meachem will be awarded $10,000. The goal of the Emerging Stars Fund is to engage the community in
the thrill of experiencing artists on the cusp of greatness, and to
build awareness among the broader opera-going public of San Francisco
Opera's leadership in nurturing and showcasing new talent.
Meachem is a former participant in the Merola Opera Program and Adler Fellows, both programs associated closely with the development of young artists at the company. He has appeared with San Francisco Opera in the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Mozart's Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Mozart's Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and Fritz/Frank in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt.
Lucas Meachem sings "Sois immobile" from Rossini's William Tell:
He returns to the company this year as Doctor Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, which he performs on September 28 and October 2, 12, and 15. He will rotate the role with another emerging artist from the company, barihunk Edward Nelson, who also has been part of the Merola Opera Program and is a current Adler Fellow. Nelson performs on October 4 and 7. Tickets and cast information is available online. The voting was conducted online and through social media. Other singers who were considered included soprano Malin Byström, mezzo Sasha Cooke, soprano Leah
Crocetto, tenor Michael Fabiano, tenor Brian Jagde,
mezzo Daniela Mack, baritone Brian Mulligan, tenor Alek Shrader and soprano Heidi Stober.
