Carimina Catulli with Edwin Crossley-Mercer released tomorrow

Edwin Crossley-Mercer as Don Giovanni

We've been following the creation and performance of composer Michael Linton's 17 movement song cycle Carmina Catulli with barihunk Edwin Crossley-Mercer since its nascent days. The performance of the work at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and was taped for future release, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Auguest 19th. We recommend checking out iTunes or refinersfire.us.

You can watch a trailer below the includes interviews with the performers and production team, as well as discussions of the difficulty of the pieces, the genesis of the project, and the graphic nature of Catullus' poetry.

The Making of CARMINA CATULLI from Refinersfire LLC on Vimeo.

If you want to catch Crossley-Mercey live, on August 10th, he'll be performing a song recital with accompanist Fernando Pérez at the Sala Verdi in Montevideo, Uruguay. From October 13-21 he reprises his huge success as Pollux in Rameau's Castor et Pollux at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Edwin Crossley-Mercer song recital set for release

Edwin Crossley-Mercer

We posted about Michael Linton's 17-movement song cycle Carmina Catulli late last year featuring barihunk Edwin Crossley-Mercer. The performance was at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and was taped for future release. That performance will now be available on CD and at Digital Stores on August 19th. You can watch a trailer below.

Carmina Catulli ~ Album Trailer from Refinersfire LLC on Vimeo.

If you want to catch Crossley-Mercey live, on August 10th, he'll be performing a song recital with accompanist Fernando Pérez at the Sala Verdi in Montevideo, Uruguay. From October 13-21 he reprises his huge success as Pollux in Rameau's Castor et Pollux at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Promo video released for Edwin Crossley-Mercer's NY debut

Edwin Crossley-Mercer finally makes NY debut

It's no secret that like much of the opera world has been eagerly anticipating Edwin Crossley-Mercer's long-awaited New York debut on March 3, 2014 at the Weill Concert Hall. He will be performing Carmina Catulli, a 17-movement song cycle by Michael Linton based on the poems of Catullus, the Latin poet of the late Roman Republic. The song cycle comes with the warning, "Because the poems of Catullus deal with issues of sex in a frank manner, some members of the public might find them objectionable. "

We've certainly been curious about the music for his Big Apple debut and now the following promo video is available for the recital. Let's just say that it's not exactly Schubert's Winterreise. Michael Linton’s music is notorious for its emotional ferocity and extraordinary technical difficulty. The rest of the program will include Linton's Seven Franchetti Songs, settings of poetry by the Italian-American polymath Cody Franchetti. They will be performed by tenor H. Stephen Smith. The accompanist for the concert is Jason Paul Peterson.

Tickets are on sale now at the Carnegie Hall website, but we recommend buying now as the theater only holds 268 people. If you can't make it to the show, the songs were recently recorded in Nashville, Tennessee for release around the time of the recital. We will keep you posted. 

If you're in Europe, you can catch Crossley-Mercer as Jupiter in Rameau's Platée at the Theater an der Wien from February 17-28 and again at the Opéra Comique from March 20-30. His next European recital is April 10th at the Auditorium du Musée d’Orsay.

Edwin Crossley-Mercer to make New York debut with NC-17 rating

Edwin Crossley-Mercer

French bass-barihunk Edwin Crossley-Mercer is making his long-awaited New York debut on March 3, 2014 at the Weill Concert Hall. It only seems appropriate that a singer as sexy as Crossley-Mercer would make his Big Apple debut with what amounts to an NC-17 rating. The Carnegie Hall website states, "Because the poems of Catullus deal with issues of sex in a frank manner, some members of the public might find them objectionable. "

The warning refers to Carmina Catulli, a 17-movement song cycle by Michael Linton based on the poems of Catullus, the Latin poet of the late Roman Republic. Catullus fell in love with the aristocratic Clodia Metelli who was alleged to have an insatiable sexual appetite. Although many people have found his poems about his relationship with Clodia Metelli shocking, he actually influenced many great poets including Ovid, Horace, and Virgil.

Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Camille Poul sing "La ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni: 

Michael Linton’s music is notorious for its emotional ferocity and extraordinary technical difficulty. The rest of the program will include Linton's Seven Franchetti Songs, settings of poetry by the Italian-American polymath Cody Franchetti. They will be performed by tenor H. Stephen Smith. The accompanist for the concert is Jason Paul Peterson.

Tickets do not go on sale until January 7, so check back early next year at the Carnegie Hall website.

If you can't wait until March, you catch him in recital in Moscow, Russia on December 16 or as Jupiter in Rameau's Platée at the Theater an der Wien from February 17-28.

Wanna stay warm over the holiday (make that HOT)? Order our 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar today!