David Adam Moore stars in West Coast premiere of Soldier Songs

David Adam Moore

Barihunk David Adam Moore will reprise the role of the Soldier in David T. Little's "Soldier Songs," which he created at the 2008 premiere at Le Poisson Rouge in New York. The Ford Theatres and LA Opera Off Grand, in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects, will present the West Coast premiere of the piece on October 13th.

The monodrama for baritone and chamber orchestra is a groundbreaking multimedia piece that combines elements of theatre, opera, rock-infused concert music and film. The piece contrasts the perceptions and realities of war from the soldier's perspective.

David Adam Moore

The score for Soldier Songs was commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, which premiered a concert version of the work in 2006. Soldier Songs received a fully staged workshop production sold to standing room capacity by Beth Morrison Projects in New York in 2008 at Le Poisson Rouge. Beth Morrison Projects produced the premiere of the full production at The International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut in June 2011 and was remounted during the inaugural PROTOTYPE Festival.

Tickets are priced at $35, 55 and 75. Tickets and information about parking are available by visiting FordTheatres.org or by calling (323) 461-3673.

Reader Submission: Brandon Coleman

Brandon Coleman

We've had two readers suggest that we add Brandon Coleman to the site and from the looks of that six-pack, he seems way overdue. He's currently performing the role of the Mandarin in Puccini's Turandot at the Opera Company of Middlebury in Vermont. Performances run through June 6th.

In 2011, he made his international debut as a guest artist singing the role of Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflote with the Tuscia Opera Festival under the baton of Maestro Stefano Vignati. 

This season, he's been featured in The Beth Morrison Projects' The Difficulty of Crossing a Field National Tour, Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust with Tri-Cities Opera and Porgy & Bess at Syracuse Opera. Upcoming performances included Bartolo in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with Kentucky Opera from May 20-24, 2016 and Ferrando in Verdi's Il Trovatore with the Hawaii Opera Theatre.

Previously he's appeared as Jesus in The Seven Last Words, Raimondo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Fred in Smokey Joe's Cafe, Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca, Ibn Hakia in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, and Parsons in Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen.

Coleman, who is based in Washington, D.C., received his Bachelors of Music degree from the University of Hartford Hartt School of Music.

Christopher Burchett in new David Lang opera

Christopher Burchett

Christopher Burchett, who has managed to appear on this site in his underwear more than virtually any other barihunk, will be more fully clothed for his next appearance. On Sunday, September 28th, he'll be portraying Andrew in David Lang‘s The Difficulty of Crossing a Field at Roulette in Brooklyn.

The opera is based on an 1888 Ambrose Bierce story of the same name. It's about a slave owner in the pre-civil war American South who walks across his field and disappears, in plain view of his family, his neighbors and his slaves, forever altering the relationships among them. Everyone around him has his or her own view of what that disappearance means, of why it had to happen, and of what will happen now that there is a ‘hole’ where a man used to be.

The Difficulty of Crossing a Field is intended to cross between opera and theater worlds, mixing arias with spoken text, emotional melodies with intense drama. It is written for 5 principals and a small chorus, and the accompaniment is for string quartet on stage, both as the “orchestra” and as part of the set. Ultimately, it is an opera in which the damage done by slavery leaks from the physical to the metaphysical world.

The opera is presented by Beth Morrison Projects and tickets are available online.