Malte Roesner to star in Mansfield Park (in his own translation)

Malte Roesner in For a Look or a Touch (left) and from the Barihunks photo shoot (right)

Jonathan Dove's 18-scene chamber opera Mansfield Park will open on December 5th at the Staatstheater Braunschweig with barihunk Malte Roesner as Edmund Bertram. Roesner also translated the libretto from English into German, which he also recently did with Jake Heggie's Holocaust themed opera For a Look or a Touch.

Mansfield Park is based on the 1814 novel by Jane Austen. It's the story of Fanny Price, a Cinderella-like heroine, who quietly negotiates her way through the moral perils of early nineteenth century high society, from landscape gardening and amateur theatricals to balls and arranged marriages, and wins the hand of the man she has loved all her life. Edmund Bertram is the lead character of the novel. He intends to be a clergyman is known for his kindness and generosity towards Fanny, distinguishing him from the rest of his family, who tend to exploit her good nature and mock her less privileged upbringing.

The opera had it's debut in 2011 at the Heritage Opera in the U.K. and it's American debut in February of this year at the Peabody Conservatory Chamber Opera. Milda Tubelytė will sing the role of Fanny. Performances in Braunschweig will run through March 2016 and tickets and additional cast information is available online. 

You can check out audio of Malte Roesner on his website by clicking HERE. He's also prominently featured in our new 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar. All of the proceeds are going to fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (FAB), which will promote new music for low voices, assist artists financially and fund a baritone prize at a competition to be named in January. Order your copy by clicking on the LULU button below.

Malte Roesner and Marco Vassalli in the Barihunks Calendar

Malte Roesner singing, translating and modeling

Malte Roesner from the 2016 Barihunks Calendar photo shoot

Malte Roesner, who recently decided to move to Vienna and pursue and independent career after being a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheatre Braunschweig since 2006, has been invited back to the company next season. He will be featured in the revival of Werner Egk's Peer Gynt and in the new production of Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park. In the latter, he will be singing the male lead Edmund in his own translation.

Roesner, who is German but born in America, has become a recognized translator of opera from German to English. He recently starred in Jake Heggie's Holocaust themed opera For a Look or a Touch, for which he also did the translation. He's currently singing Silvano in Verdi's Un ballo on maschera, which has four performances remaining through July 22.  Other roles in Braunschweig this season included Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and Belcore in L’elisir d’amore.

Malte Roesner from the 2016 Barihunks Calendar photo shoot

In addition to most of the major baritone Mozart roles, his operatic repertoire includes Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Pasquale in Haydn’s Orlando Paladino, Ping in Puccini's Turandot, Schaunard in Puccini's La Bohème and Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Dr. Falke in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Paolo in Simone Boccanegra, Heerrufer in Lohengrin, Masaniello in the German premiere of Carlos Gomes’ Salvator Rosa and in the world premiere of the operatic version of Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle. In the opening-production of the 14th Munich Biennial for Modern Music Theater 2014 he sang Marco Polo in Marco Nikodijevic’s Vivier. Ein Nachtprotokoll.

Roesner, who has done some modeling in the past, also took some time out this month to be photographed for the upcoming Barihunks Charity Calendar. We thought that we'd share two of the photos from the shoot.