(Properly) Introducing Bass-Barihunk Marko Mimica

Marko Mimica (photos by Simon Pauly & Foto Piccinni)

Our post about Simon Keenlyside's New Year's Eve concert at the Royal Opera House of Muscat prompted a reader to remind us that we've never properly featured Croatian Bass-Barihunk Marko Mimica. We only featured him briefly when he was in the finals of the Cardiff Singer of the World in 2013 and he certainly deserves his own post. Mimica will be performing Mustafa in Rossini's  L’italiana in Algeri at the Royal Opera House of Muscat on February 9 and 12.

His next performance will be from January 21-29 as Banquo in Verdi's Macbeth at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. He'll reprise the role at the Teatro Regio in Torino from June 22-July 1. In the interim, he'll perform Alfonso in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia in Valencia, Oroveso in Bellini's Norma in Verona and Lord Sydney in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims in Verona.

Marko Mimica performs Rossini's La Calunnia at the Cardiff competition:

Mimica was a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin from 2011-16, where he performed the title role in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Raimondo in Donizetti's  Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Basilio in Rossini's Il barbiere di Sivigilia, Talbot  in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Pater Lorenzo in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Tschelio in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Pistola in Verdi's Falstaff, Banquo in Verdi's Macbeth, Oroveso in Bellini's Norma and Ferrando in Verdi's Il Trovatore.

Mimica graduated from the Academy of Music in Zagreb, Croatia and was a participant in the 2011 Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project. In 2008, Mimica made his professional debut at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. He continued to perform regularly in Zagreb until 2011, where he performed Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola, Kochubey in Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa and Padre Guardiano in Verdi's La forza del destino.

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Barihunk trio in Paris Opera's Barber of Seville

Alessio Arduini

Last month we posted about the Opéra national de Paris' barihunk quartet in Mozart's Don Giovanni, which featured Artur Ruciñski in the title role, Alessio Arduini as Leporello, Fernando Radó as Masetto and Alexander Tsymbalyuk as the Commendatore.

Pietro Di Bianco as Thoas at the Paris Opera (left)

It fairly common to see barihunk trios and, occasionally quartets, in Don Giovanni, but Rossini's Barber of a Seville is a different matter. Leave it to the Opéra national de Paris to assemble three of opera's hottest barihunks for their all-star Barber of a Seville featuring Lawrence Brownlee as Almaviva and Pretty Yende as Rossini. They have brought back Alessio Arduini as Figaro, Ildar Abdrazakov as Basilio and Pietro Di Bianco as Fiorello to fill the low voice roles.

The production opens on February 2 and runs through March 4. Tickets are available online.

 Ildar Abdrazakov sings La Calunnia from the Barber of Seville:

Alessio Arduini's current schedule included two roles in Puccini's La bohème, as he takes on Marcello in La bohème in Vienna beginning November 7, 2015 and Schaunard at The Met beginning April 5, 2016. He will rotate Schaunard with two other barihunks, as Alexey Lavrov opens the opera on November 23 and David Pershall takes over on January 6.

Ildar Abdrazakov is currently at The Met singing Henry VIII in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. In December, he'll sing the title role in Verdi's Attila at the Marinsky Theater.

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Barihunks competing in Operalia finals

Edward Parks, Bongani Justice Kubheka & Tobias Greenhalgh

Three baritones, including two barihunks familiar to readers of this site have advanced the finals of Plácido Domingo's Operalia Competition, which is being held in London this year. Edward Parks and Tobias Greenhalgh, both of the U.S., have been featured on our site before. South African Bongani Justice Kubheka is new to our site.

Edward Parks and Tobias Greenhalgh have both opted to sing Rossini's Largo al factotum from Il barbiere di Siviglia, while Bongani Justice Kubheka has chosen to sing La calunnia from the same opera.

Other finalists include tenor Julien Behr (France); soprano Andrea Carroll (USA); soprano Lise Davidsen (Norway); tenor Ioan Hotea (Romania); soprano Kiandra Howarth (Australia); soprano Noluvuyiso Mpofu (South Africa); soprano Hyesang Park (South Korea); and tenor Darren Pene Pati (New Zealand). In addition to vying for the competition’s main prizes, Carroll, Hotea, Howawrth, Park and Pati will also compete for Operalia’s Zarzuela prize.

Sunday evening's Gala concert will feature Plácido Domingo conducting the orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Operalia will award two $30,000 first prizes, two $20,000 second prizes, and two $10,000 third prizes, with one male and one female singer receiving prizes in each category. In addition, one man and woman will each receive a $15,000 Birgit Nilsson prize for his or her performance of an aria by Richard Strauss or Richard Wagner. One male and one female singer will also be awarded the $10,000 Zarzuela prize, which is meant to encourage singers to work in the art form. There is also an Audience Prize.

Past Operalia winners have included Ainhoa Arteta, Nina Stemme, Brian Asawa, José Cura, Elizabeth Futral, Eric Owens, Erwin Schrott, Joyce DiDonato, Rolando Villazon, Joseph Calleja, Susanna Phillips, Ailyn Perez, Olga Peretyatko and Sonya Yoncheva.

Rossini Festival a veritable Barihunk Festival

Alex Esposito

The internationally-acclaimed Rossini Opera Festival is kicking off on Sunday, August 10th with the vocally challenging Armida. The piece is best known in opera circles for requiring six tenors and two basses, with a trio for three tenors in Act 3. In between booking tenors, they managed to bring in a quartet of barihunks to perform in the Festival.

Alex Esposito sings Rossini's "Cade dal ciglio" from Mosè in Egitto:

On August 11, the Festival features Il barbiere di Siviglia with bass-barihunk Alex Esposito as Basilio, giving fans the chance to hear him showcase the aria La Calunnia about the spreading of vicious gossip. Although we think of Esposito for his definitive portrayals of Mozart's leading men, he has actually sung far more Rossini. He has 13 Rossini roles in 12 operas to his credit, including Alidoro in La cenerentola, Mustafà in L'italiana in Algeri, Selim in Il turco in Italia, Mahomet II in Le siège de Corinthe, Fernando Villabella in La gazza ladra, Moses and the Pharaoh in both versions of Mosè in Egitto, Assur in Semiramide, Orbazzano in Tancredi, Lord Sidney and Don Profondo in Il viaggio a Reims and Polidoro in Zelmira.

Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore

The opera also features Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore as Fiorello, who is new to this site. The 30-year-old singer studied at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan where he made his debut as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in 2010. He was first invited to the Rossini Festival in 2011 when he sang in Il Viaggio a Reims under Alberto Zedda.

Performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia are on August 11, 14, 17 and 20.

Marko Mimica

On August 13 and 16 the Festival will present Il Viaggio a Reims, with Marko Mimica as Lord Sidney. Opera aficionados will recall that he made waves earlier this year as one of the top five finalists in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He is currently a principle artist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he is singing the High Priest of Baal in Verdi's Nabucco, Pistola in Verdi's Falstaff, and Mr. Bosun in David Alden's production of Britten's Billy Budd.

The Festival will also be performing Aureliano in Palmira on August 12, 15, 18 and 22. Tickets for all performances are available online. 

Mirco Palazzi

 Mirco Palazzi sings "All'invito generoso" from Rossini's Maometto II:

Another of our favorite singers will be featured in Petite Messe solennelle on August 21, when Mirco Palazzi sings the bass part of the vocal quartet under the baton of Alberto Zedda. He will continue singing Rossini after the Festival, as he heads to Edinburgh on August 26 to sing Gualtiero in William Tell. He'll be joined by soprano Angela Meade as Matilde and John Osborn as Arnold. Tickets are available online.

Luca Pisaroni sings "La Calunnia" (and some fun facts)

Luca Pisaroni

We can't think of a better way to start the New Year than with Luca Pisaroni singing Rossini's "La calunnia" from "Il barbiere di Siviglia." 

Once again, Mozart will figure prominently on the Italian barihunk's schedule in 2011. He performs "Le nozze di Figaro" in Vienna in February and Houston in April. In July, he plays Leporello opposite fellow barihunk Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in Baden Baden.

Here are a few fun facts that you may not know about this gifted singer:

• The Italian singer was actually born in Venezuela
• He studied with the great Italian Verdi specialist Carlo Bergonzi
• Pisaroni grew up in Verdi's hometown of Busseto, yet is known as a Mozart specialist
• Doesn't plan on tackling Verdi until he's 40 (he's 35 now)
• He admits to being scared of singing the title role in Don Giovanni
• He has a dachshund named Tristan
• He was inspired to become a singer after hearing Luciano Pavarotti sing "Nessun dorma."

Send us your hot tips, barihunk schedules or photos to Barihunks@gmail.com