Watch Erwin Schrott & Stéphane Degout on the big screenErwin

Erwin Schrott

You'll be able to watch two of the most acclaimed barihunks in the world, when they appear together on the big screen in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro from the Royal Opera House in London. The worldwide broadcast to theaters on October 5th stars Stéphane Degout as Count Almaviva and Erwin Schrott as Figaro. The cast also includes Ellie Dehn as the Countess, Kate Lindsey as Cherubino and Anita Hartig as Susanna. You can find a theater near you HERE.

David McVicar directs the live performance under the baton of conductor Ivor Bolton. 

 

The acclaimed production sets the action in a French château in 1830 on the eve of revolution, amplifying the opera’s undercurrents of class tension. The entire household is drawn into the notoriously complex plot, which covers all shades of human emotion: from spirited playfulness to deep despair but affection and fidelity prevail in this most warm-hearted of operas.

Also, make sure to check out the feature on barihunks in Classic FM, which includes some of the top singers in the world, including Erwin Schrott.  

The 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar is now on sale and available online. For the past four years, the calendar has raised money for young artist programs and young artist projects. Proceeds from this year's calendar will fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (FAB), which will fund baritone and bass cash prizes at song competitions, commission music for baritones and basses, and be used to fund other projects featuring low male voices.

 ORDER YOUR 2016 BARIHUNKS CHARITY CALENDAR TODAY!

 

Ryan Kuster in Weber rarity "Euryanthe"

Ryan Kuster as Escamillo at Virginia Opera

Bard SummerScape 2014 is presenting Carl Maria von Weber's rarely performed Euryanthe with barihunk Ryan Kuster as Lysiart. There will be five performances running from July 25-August 3. Revivals of the complete opera are rare, especially in the United States, where it has not been seen since the Metropolitan Opera’s 1914 staging 100 years ago. A check on Opera Critic showed the last fully staged performance at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2010. Oper Frankfurt will present the opera next April with Erika Sunnegardh, Eric Cutler, Heidi Melton and James Rutherford.   

Ryan Kuster, who was part of the prestigious Merola Opera Program and Adler Fellows in San Francisco, has become an audience favorite on the West Coast.  In 2012, he made his symphonic debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic singing the role of Masetto in their highly acclaimed production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, directed by Christopher Alden and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. At the San Francisco Opera he has performed the Mandarin in Puccini's Turandot, Astolfo in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen (for families), Count Ceprano in Verdi's Rigoletto, the 4th Noble in Wagner's Lohengrin,  Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca.

The rest of the cast, which will be directed by Kevin Newbury,  includes Ellie Dehn as Euryanthe, William Burden as her fiancé Adolar, Wendy Bryn Harmer as Euryanthe’s rival Eglantine and Peter Volpe as King Ludwig. Performances will be at the beautiful Frank Gehry-designed Sosnoff Theater at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.T Tickets are available online.

Weber's greatest single success was probably his 1821 opera Der Freischütz. With his next opera, Weber wanted to break new ground. So in Euryanthe the spoken dialogue disappeared, replaced by continuous music. However, even the composer's great music couldn't save the opera from a ridiculous libretto, which has attributed to its relative obscurity. Perhaps the most well-known music from the opera is its overture, which is often performed by orchestras. It uses material from the opera, including Adolar's rebuttal of Lysiart and his second act romance.

Pisaroni's Change of Character in Houston

Luca Pisaroni joins Adriana Kucerove (L) & Ellie Dehn (R) for a curtain call at HGO

In an age when most opera companies are cutting back performances, it was refreshing to see that the Houston Grand Opera had to add a performance of the Marriage of Figaro. Of course, this was the debut of barihunk Luca Pisaroni in the role of Count Almaviva, so we can understand the buzz. Pisaroni has made the other baritone role in the opera, that of Figaro, virtually a calling card role. He's sung it all over the world, including recent perfromances in Vienna, San Francisco, Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Salzburg and Madrid. He turned over the role to the talented Patrick Carfizzi for the run in Houston.

Performances run through April 30 and you can click HERE for additional cast and performance information. 

Here is Pisaroni singing Figaro's aria "Aprite un po quegli occhi" in Amsterdam.



We couldn't find a video of Pisaroni singing the Count's aria "Hai gia vinta la causa," but here is his father-in-law Thomas Hampson performing the aria in Salzburg. How would you like to be sitting around the piano at one of their family get togethers?



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