Dmitri Hvorostovsky cancels Enescu Festival recital

Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Iago at the Vienna State Opera in 2013

Barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky has pulled out of his September 22 recital at the Georges Enesco Festival "due to medical problems." The announcement comes just days after the Vienna State Opera announced that Marco Cario would be replacing the Siberian singer as Ankarström in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. Hvorostovsky’s recital will be taken over by soprano Kristine Opolais.

Hvorostovsky was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the summer of 2015 and subsequently cancelled concerts in Kaliningrad, Minsk and Vienna, as well as performances in the Met's  production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He made a brief return for a concert in Toronto and appeared at the Met Gala.

That leaves a September 26th recital at the Russian Federation in Moscow as the only remaining item on his calendar.

Rare barihunk trio in Puccini's Tosca

Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Marco Vratogna and Douglas Williams

Puccini operas aren't known for great baritone roles, like Verdi or Wagner, and certainly not a lot of great barihunk roles. Gianni Schicchi is a dying old man, Michele is an old barge operator, Jack Rance is the law and order town sheriff with his eye on the girl, Scarpia is usually played as a lecherous old police chief and The Bonze is usually a despicable old relative.

The only Puccini opera where we regularly get one and sometimes two barihunks is La bohème where the young Parisians often include a sexy Marcello and lower-voice Colline. So imagine our delight when we learned that the online broadcast of the composer's Tosca would include the barihunk trio of Marco Vratogna as Scarpia, Alexander Tsymbalyuk as Cesare Angelotti and Douglas Williams as Sciarrone. We've always liked the idea of a younger Scarpia, as it adds some sexual tension to the Act II "seduction" scene with Tosca.

The trio will join Kristine Opolais as Tosca and Marcelo Alvarez as Mario Cavaradossi for the Berlin Philharmonic's fifth visit to the Easter Festival of the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden.

The performance will be on Arte TV for free starting on April 17th.

Nathan Gunn and Anna Netrebko to debut in Ring Cycle

Nathan Gunn to take on shirtless Wotan

Metropolitan Opera diva and reigning empress of the singing world, Anna Netrebko, announced yesterday that she will debut as the iconic Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, closing the latter half of the Met’s 2018-19 season. Other cast members will include James Valenti as Siegfried and Kristine Opolais as Sieglinde. Nathan Gunn, will make his role debut as operas most famous patriarch, portraying a very chiseled Wotan. 


While the general design for Die Walküre has not yet been released, sources close to Peter Gelb have leaked that Nathan Gunn will be shirtless for the majority of the production, regardless if his character is on stage. Die Walküre will be directed by Rolando Villazon.

Her debut as Brünnhilde will come just three years after her maiden voyage into the Wagnerian repertoire, as Elsa in Lohengrin (coming this May in Dresden), Netrebko says that she will be ready to tackle this mogul of the rep. "Elsa is much lighter, but it is still Wagner. She and Brünnhilde are sisters in a way...you just have to know how to use your voice and feel comfortable with the production."

Anna Netrebko to debut as Brünnhilde

Walküre co-star Nathan Gunn has attested to Netrebko's Germanic prowess, having been viewing rehearsals over Skype. He reportedly wants to give himself enough time to become familiar with Netrebko's approach to Wagner so that he may scale down his execution to match. Dresden has teased that it will stage Lohengrin to the backdrop of Disney's Frozen in order to attract younger audiences.
 With role debuts of Norma and Aida on the way, sources close to the soprano say that after her acclaimed, if not successful Lady Macbeth, she feels confident that audiences will love her in almost anything. Of course, accompanying the buzz that followed yesterday’s announcement came speculation as to what could possibly follow such a mammoth undertaking in her catapulting career. 

YouTube comments under various repostings of her Act I aria from Macbeth mused at everything from a return to ingénue roles, to rumors of her role debut as Isolde opening the 2019-20 season at the Royal Opera.  Covent Garden has declined to comment, but friends of the soprano have, for now, attempted to dispel the rumor, hinting that after her 11 performance run as Brunnhilde, the soprano plans to step away from the Wagnerian rep for at least 7 months to preserve her voice.


[HAPPY APRIL FOOLS' DAY...and kudos to barihunk Zachary Luchetti for the text]

Laurence Meikle pulls an Opolais in Germany

Laurence Meikle in last night's La bohème in Wiemar (right)

Australian barihunk was a last minute replacement last night in Puccini's La bohème at the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar. The singer is no stranger to the opera having performed four roles: Marcello, Schaunard, Benoit and Alcindoro. What's amazing is that he's scheduled to sing Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto tonight at the Theater Nordhausen.

The story is reminiscent of soprano Kristine Opolais, who stepped into the Met's La bohème a night on April 5, 2014 a night after having performed Madama Butterfly. What makes Meikle's back-to-back performances so amazing is that it's not in the same opera house, but 90 minutes down the road.

When he's done with Rigoletto, he heads back to Wiemar to take on Baron Douphol in Verdi's La traviata beginning on January 24. 

Hampson, Pisaroni, Colombara lead all-star performance and recording of Simon Boccanegra

Thomas Hampson (left) & Luca Pisaroni (right)

Luca Pisaroni will sing Paolo Albiani and Thomas Hampson will sing the title role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra in Vienna this weekend.  The concert performances of the opera will be recorded for future release on Decca.  If the twists and turns of this family plot aren't complicated enough on stage for you, Pisaroni is Hampson's son-in-law in real life. We're not sure if Hampson checks for poison when Pisaroni is over for dinner.

Carlo Colombara sings Fiesco's "Suona ogni labbro il mio nome" with Thomas Hampson:

The all-star cast also includes Kristine Opolais, Carlo Colombara and Joseph Calleja. The performances on April 13 and 17 with the Vienna Symphony will be conducted by Massimo Zanetti at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Tickets are available online.