Four baritones in today's 1st round of Mirjam Helin Competition

There are four baritones performing in the preliminary round of the Mirjam Helin International singing competition, including one of our favorites, American John Brancy. He'll be joined by
Hansung Yoo of Korea, Shi Zong of China and Björn Bürger of Germany.

Brancy, who was joined by Ilmari Räikkönen at the piano sang J.S. Bach's Mache dich mein Herze rein from the St. Matthew Passion, Schubert's Nachtstück, Rachmaninov's V moltšani notši tainoi and Thomas' Ô vin, dissipe la tristesse from Hamlet. You can watch his performance HERE.

Korean Hansung Yoo, who was joined by Imari Räikkönen at the piano sang Duparc's Chanson triste, J.S. Bach's Großer Herr und starker König from the Christmas Oratorio, Schumann's Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden and Gounod's Oh sainte médaille... Avant de quitter ces lieux from Faust. You can watch his performance HERE.

Björn Bürger, of Germany was joined by Ilmo Ranta at the piano, and performed Mozart's Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from the Magic Flute, Schubert's Auf der Bruck, Händel's Why do the nations from the Messiah and Schumann's Ich grolle nicht. You can watch his performance HERE.

Chinese bass Shi Zong was accompanied by Ilmari Räikkönen at the piano and sang J.S. Bach's Quia fecit mihi magna from the Magnificat, Verdi's Di due figli vivea padre beato from Il trovatore, Schubert's Erstarrung and Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre. You can watch his performance HERE.

The preliminary round continues through August 7th with 46 singers competing to get into the semi-finals on August 9-10. The finals will be held on August 13 with the prizewinners performing on August 15th. Tickets for all rounds are available online or at the Lippupiste ticket shop. 

Introducing two barihunks in Antheil double-bill

Theater Lübeck and Kong Seok Choi

Two young artists, who are both new to this site, will be featured in a double-bill of operas by George Antheil at the Theater Lübeck. Korean bass-barihunk Kong Seok Choi and German bass-barihunk Christian Henneberg will be featured in The Brothers and Venus in Africa, running from June 5-19. 

Kong Seok Choi studied singing at the Yonsei University, the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. He was a winner or finalist in numerous international vocal competitions, including the Richard Lewis Singing Competition, Blyth-Buesst Singing Competition London and the Giordano International Singing Competition.

He has performed as a Priest and as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute in Seoul, King René in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Bartolo and Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in London. He is a member of the Opernelitestudios des Theater Lübeck. He performs the role of the ex-soldier Ran in The Brothers and the Innkeeper in Venus in Africa.

Christian Henneberg

28-year-old Christian Henneberg studied at the Saxon State School of Music and with his father Matthias Henneberg. He performed with the children's choir of the Dresden State Opera where he also appeared as the young Gottfried in Wagner's Lohengrin. He also studied oboe and piano.

As a member of the choir of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, he has toured the Bodensee Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Handel Festival in Halle and to Brazil.

In 2010, he furthered his studies at the Folkwang University in Essen with the noted bass Jan-Hendrik Rootering. As an ensemble member at the Dortmund Opera he has performed the Prince in Kurt Schwertsik's Eisberg nach Sizilien, Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville and three roles in the German premiere of Marc-Anthony Turnage's Anna -Nicole. He performs the male lead of Charles in Venus in Africa.

The Brothers is one of three one-act operas that Antheil composed in 1954. The opera is the retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, set not long after World War II in a middle-class American kitchen. Venus in Africa, is one of Antheil's later operas. It's a comedy about the visit of two young lovers (Charles and Yvonne) to Tunisia where Charles asks an ancient statue of Venus to teach him about love.

Jongmin Park wins two awards in Neue Stimmen competition; Watch the entire concert here

Jongmin Park

The low voices continue to dominate major international singing competitions, as South Korean bass Jongmin Park took second prize in the Neue Stimmen Vocal Competition. The prize comes with 10,000 Euros and the opportunity to sing in the prize-winners concert in Berlin in March 2014. Park also won an additional 500 Euros for capturing the Audience Favorite Award. Had there been a best hair competition, we're pretty certain that he would have won that as well.

Park sang "La calunnia" from Rossini's Barber of Seville and "Schweig, schweig" from Weber's Der Freischütz. The 15,000 Euro first prize was won by Ukranian soprano Olga Bezsmertna, who sang "Depuis le jour" from Charpentier's Louise and "Dove sono" from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro.

Although the awards were announced last month, we're just getting a video of the concert, which you can watch in its entirety here:

Park was born in Seoul and studied singing in his hometown at the Korea National University of Arts with Hans Choi. He is currently a member of the ensemble at the Hamburg State Opera, where his roles have included Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto, Il Re in Verdi's Aida, Sagrestano in Puccini's Tosca, Bonzo in Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Avosmediano in Palestrina by Pfitzner and Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni.

In November 2011, he had a major success in his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Colline in Puccini's La Bohème. Future seasons will see Mr. Park return to the Hamburg State Opera in leading roles such as Colline, Masetto, Truffaldino in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, and Wagner in Gounod's Faust, as well as concert performances in Hamburg and Seoul.

Park has received numerous prizes and awards in his career, including first prize for male voices at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Birgit Nilsson Prize for Wagner singing at Plàcido Domingo's Operalia and first prize and the Audience Prize at the inaugural Stella Maris international vocal competition.

You can support young artists like Park, by purchasing our 2013 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Every penny of profit goes to support young artists and young artist programs. Buy yours today:

New Barihunk: Tae Joong Yang

Tae Joong Yang

Korean born barihunk Tae Joong Yang first came to international attention after performing in the Neue Stimmen competition in Germany. He is another one of our reader submissions from Germany.

Yang resides in Germany, but is a member of the ensemble at the Vienna State Opera in Austria. Yang continued his studies in Germany with Siegfried Lorenz at the Berlin University of the Arts. He has performed in throughout Europe and the Far East.  In 2007, he won first prize in Plácido Domingo’s famous OPERALIA competition in Paris.

He made his critically acclaimed debut with the Vienna State Opera as Figaro  in Rossini's "Barber of Seville. " As a member of the ensemble he has also performed Schaunard (La Bohème), Christian (Un ballo in maschera), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Silvio (Pagliacci), Marullo (Rigoletto), Belcore (L’elisir d’amore) und Alessio (La sonnambula).

His video of "Largo al factotum" has received almost 200,000 hits on YouTube. 





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