Italian Bass-barihunk Alex Esposito will be making his role debut as Méphistophélès in Hector Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust at the Rome Opera. He'll be joined by soprano Veronica Simeoni as Marguerite, tenor Pavel Černoch as Faust and bass Goran Jurić as Brander. Berlioz, who was inspired to compose the piece after reading Goethe's dramatic poem Faust, referred to the piece as a "légende dramatique" (dramatic legend), rather than an opera. The piece is often performed in symphony halls rather than opera houses, due to its structure as a hybrid between an opera and a cantata. In addition to Méphistophélès' serenade "Devant la maison," "Une puce gentile" and "Voici des roses," the piece is known for Marguerite's dramatic aria "D'amour l'ardente flamme" and Faust's rapturous "Nature immense."
Performances run from December 12-23 and tickets are available online.
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Barihunk Jérôme Varnier made his role debut as Méphistophélès tonight in Gounod's Faust at Opéra Grand Avignon. There will be one additional performance on June 11th.
The cast in this new production includes Nathalie Manfrino as Marguerite, Florian Laconi as Faust and Lionel Lhote as Valentin. Tickets are available online. Varnier will repeat the role of Méphistophélès with Opera Massy on November 10 and 12, with Ludivine Gombert as Marguerite, Thomas Bettinger as Faust and fellow barihunk Régis Mengus as Valentin.
Varnier has also performed the role of Brander in the Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust, based on the same German legend.
Bass-barihunk André Courville will perform as part of Opera at Florham's "A Cornucopia of Opera and Song" on November 6th at Lenfell Hall on the campus of the College at Florham of Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Courville will perform Gounod's “Vous, qui faites l'endormie” from Faust. He performed the role of Méphistophélès in Faust while at the cademy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, where he is a resident artist. He'll be joined by soprano Mia Pafumi and tenor Piotr Buszewski.
Tickets can be ordered by calling (973) 443-8620 or on the website at www.operaatflorham.org.
André Courville
Last season Courville debuted at Carnegie Hall in the Opera Orchestra of New York's acclaimed production of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux and as Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto with the Caramoor Summer Music Festival. Courville also recently won first prize at Opera at Florham’s 2016 Violetta DuPont Competition.
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There isn't much that could've gotten us to take our eyes off of the
gorgeous, underwear clad men dancing and writing around the stage during
the Paris Opera's La Damnation de Faust, except perhaps Edwin Crossley-Mercer. The barihunk managed to stand out singing the Song of the Rat (Chanson
de Brander) in an all-star cast that included Bryn Terfel as
Mephistopheles, Jonas Kaufmann as Faust and Sophie Koch as Marguerite. You can watch a highlight of the Song of the Rat by clicking HERE.
The men of Damnation at the Paris Opera
The controversial production by director and set designer Alvis
Hermanis, which was booed by some in the audience, re-imagined Faust’s
intellectual daring in the age of Stephen Hawking and the exploration of
the Universe. Hawking appears as a silent character throughout the
opera who [spoiler alert] stands up at the end of the opera.
Ther Damnation Booty Dance at the Paris Opera
Whatever one thinks of the production, which you can currently watch on Culturebox, the singing from all of the principles is magnificent under the baton of Philippe Jordan. If you like a little skin with your opera, it might be worth watching, as there is plenty of eye candy to pass the time.
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Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Méphistophélès (left) and with the Melbourne Welsh Male Choir (right)
Teddy Tahu Rhodes, who wraps up a run as Méphistophélès today with the West Australian Opera, will join the Melbourne Welsh Male Choir next weekend. He'll be singing highlights from a number of the Broadway shows that he's been performing recently, including selections from South Pacific, Les Misérables and Sweeney Todd.
The performance will be on Sunday, November 15 at Melbourne's Elisabeth Murdoch Hall and tickets are available online. You can also visit the choir's website and learn how to pronounce Welsh, which is an adventure in itself.
The Melbourne Welsh Male Choir is a group of singers
who broke away from the Cantorian Cymraeg Choir who sing everything from African protest chants and rock songs to classical and religious music.
He'll be returning to the New Zealand Opera next season to sing Sweeney Todd.
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New Zealand's most famous barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes is adding a fifth musical show to his repertoire after successful runs in The King and I, Show Boat and South Pacific, as well as an upcoming appearance singing the title role in Sweeney Todd in Melbourne.
He'll be heading the cast of Frank Wildhorn
and Leslie Bricusse's Jekyll and Hyde on the upcoming tour of the show with Opera Australia. This is the first professional Australian production since a short-lived run in 1997.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes will be joined by musical theater stars
Jemma Rix as Lucy and Lucy Maunder as Emma, his two
romantic interests.
Rhodes sings This is the Moment:
Jekyll and Hyde will open in Melbourne in December before moving to Sydney in March 2016. Before the show opens, he'll perform Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust in Adelaide from August 22-29 and in Perth from October 29-November 7. The latter show also includes fellow barihunk Sam Dundas as Valentin.
Kevin Thompson is back as Mèphistophélés in Gounod's Faust, this time with the West Bay Opera in Palo Alto, California. He previously performed the role at the Fundación Teatro Nacional Sucre in Ecuador to great acclaim. The 6'5" American casts a towering and imposing figure as the demon and brings a booming bass to match.
In the current production, imagined by director Ragnar Conde, the action takes place in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future,
with survivors living among the scrapped, dysfunctional detritus of
abandoned power plants.
Kevin Thompson sings Agnus Dei from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis:
There are three more performances at the Lucie Stern Theatre, including Sunday, May 24, Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.
This summer, Thompson heads to the Santa Fe Opera, where he will appear as a Jew in Richard Strauss' Salome and cover Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto.
Our post this morning about AVA graduate John Viscardi performing Valentin in Gounod's Faust with the Michigan Opera, prompted almost an immediate reply from a Philadelphia opera fanatic who informed us that current AVA student André Courville will be performing bass role of Méphistophélès. He'll be performing the role from April 25-May 9 at the Helen Corning Warden Theater in Philadelphia, Centennial Hall in Haverford and Central Bucks East H.S. in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Additional information can be found online.
If you can't wait until April, you catch the Louisiana native as the bass soloist in Bach's Mass in B minor with
Vox Ama Deus a the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia form March 2-April 3.
At Barihunks, we find baritones to be sexy and seductive, like Douglas Williams. Could a face like this be a villain?
The beautiful, funny and gifted mezzo-soprano Kate Jackman penned a list of the "Top 10 Worst Opera Villains" for the wonderful blog Operagasm. Of course any list about villains will invariably include some baritones, as many composers consider it the perfect voice for devils, killers, rapists and evil husbands. In fact, six of her ten villains are baritones or basses. (For the record, we think the baritone voice is sexy, sultry, seductive and virile).
Falk Struckmann as Kaspar in Vienna
Her baritone and bass villains include Kaspar from Der Freischutz, of whom she writes:
I get it. You don’t want to go to hell. Understandable.
But tricking some poor, love-sick sap into shooting his beloved Agathe, just so you can get three more miserable years on Earth seems excessive. And how did that plan work out for you? She’s alive, everyone else is happy, and you are burning in a fiery pit for all eternity. Good game.
Barihunk Kyle Ketelsen as Nick Shadow in London
Nick Shadow from The Rake's Progress:
The Shadow Master. The Puppeteer. You pull the strings of poor, feckless Tom. You give him money, loose women, a bearded wife (that’s right, BEARDED), and a magic bread maker, and in doing so make him penniless, loveless, hopeless, and eventually lifeless (as in DEAD). You evoke ruin, disaster, and shame from the second you appear until the instant you sink back into the depths of Hades. You, sir, are a scoundrel.
Barihunk Marco Vratogna as Iago with Carlo Ventre as Otello in Frankfurt
Iago from Otello:
Much like the same-named, cartoon parrot in Disney’s Aladdin, you perch on Otello’s shoulder and spew deceit.
I get that you hate Otello and want him to suffer, but was it really worth going through this whole elaborate plan? Couldn’t you just off the guy and be done with it? And, honestly, what did Desdemona ever do to you? Why does she have to be collateral damage? You had to know that you were not going to walk away from this without facing the consequences.
But you didn’t care, did you? You are just a hateful little worm, aren’t you?
Stephen Costello as Faust) with barihunk Greer Grimsley asMéphistophélès in San Diego
Mephistopheles from Faust:
ATTENTION TENORS: OMG DO NOT ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE DEVIL!
Really, just don’t even talk to him. It’s not worth it and you will regret it in the long haul.
Take the story of Faust as a cautionary tale: He’s old; he has a lot of regrets. Suddenly, Mephistopheles appears and promises to make him young and virile in exchange for his soul. Stupid Faust agrees, and four acts later he is being dragged down into perdition.
Mephistopheles is just about as bad and scary as they come. Watch the Church Scene in the middle of the night and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Lado Ataneli as Barnaba and Violeta Urmana as Gioconda in the stunning Pizzi production
Barnaba from La Gioconda:
Gentlemen, take note. When a lady tells you she is not interested in your advances, you should: a) Move on. Fish in the sea blah blah blah
OR
b) Attempt to woo her with the standard flattery, flowers, dinner, etc. She may eventually develop romantic feelings for you.
When a lady tells you she is not interested, you should NOT:
a) Denounce her blind, elderly mother as a witch in front of the entire town.
b) Drown said elderly mother in the Venetian canals.
Your lady will not love you for it and may just stab herself in the gut to get away from you.
And her #1 evil villain is, of course, Scarpia (who we have actually found to be quite sexy in some productions, which adds a whole different element to the seduction scene):
María José Siri as Tosca and Claudio Sgura as Scarpia at the Savonlinna Festival
Scarpia from Tosca Congratulations, Scarpia. You are the nastiest of the nasty characters in Opera.
Nobody likes you. Everyone was happy to see you die.
Why?
Well, let’s recap: You arrested a painter and had him tortured where his lover, a singer, could hear his screams. You then attempted to seduce the singer, like she’d be in any kind of mood for nookie when her lover is being tortured in the next room… and she could hear
his screams. You made her promise to give herself to you in exchange for his life, and then had him executed anyway.
Seriously, dude. If anyone deserved to get stabbed in the chest by a vengeful soprano, it’s you.
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You can watch an interview with John Reylea from the local ABC affiliate in San Francisco by clicking HERE. The Canadian barihunk is performing as Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust at the San Francisco Opera, which runs through July 1st.
The dominant force on San Francisco's stage Saturday was unquestionably the tall, mahogany-voiced John Relyea, as Mephistopheles. With his suave demeanor, gestures and sardonic wit, he channeled a chillingly duplicitous devil with a wicked sense of humor.
We're going to celebrate Kyle Ketelsen's birthday with the closest image we have of him in his birthday suit. The world's hottest Méphistophélès will be performing the role again this fall at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He'll be sharing the stage with the amazing young tenor Joseph Kaiser and fellow barihunk Lucas Meachem as Valentin.
We're looking to many more years of Kyle Ketelsen, who is just hitting his prime as a singer.
I have to admit to being smitten with our last post, Massimiliano Gagliardo. Him singing with Kwiecien in Krakow has to rival any of the hot Giovanni-Leporello combinations involving Schrott, Maltman, Keenlyside, Gilfry and d'Arcangelo that we've seen in recent years. Gagliardo made me realize that there are an abundance of hot, young barihunks singing in and around Italy who this site has missed.
So, imagine my joy when my in-box had a photo of Vittorio Prato this morning? Prato was singing the role of Wagner in Faust to the Mephistopheles of fellow barihunk Erwin Schrott in Valencia. This tall, handsome stud actually studied piano and harpsichord, but his vocal studies in Verona with the great bass-baritone Ivo Vinco, husband of the blazing mezzo Fiorenza Cossotto, led him to a career in opera.
Prato won the “Mattia Battistini” International Competition and took second prize at the International Competition of Sacred Music in Rome. This led to a number of engagements including the title role of Monteverdi's Orfeo, Masetto in Don Giovanni and Gugliemo in Cosi.
It's also interesting how the opera Faust is becoming a vehicle for casting barihunks, as witnessed by the recent performance at Minnesota Opera with Kyle Ketelsen and Lucas Meachem, and the eagerly awaited triumvirate of Austin Kness, John Relyea and Brian Mulligan at the San Francisco Opera in the summer of 2010.
Having watched more performances of Don Giovanni that I can count, I've never seen one where the title character eagerly awaits his decent into hell. However, if the devil looked like Kyle Ketelsen it might seem like a lifetime at Club Med.
Ketelsen will be playing Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust at the Minnesota Opera oppostite fellow barihunk Lucas Meachem, who is playing Valentin. Although we rarely discuss tenors on this site, Faust is played by the wonderful singer Paul Groves. This should be a delightful production. It plays from January 24 through February 1 at the Ordway Center in St. Paul. For more information visit .
What the hell, a trip to Hades doesn't sound so bad in Minneapolis in January, especially if Ketelsen is brandishing his pitchfork.
