Four of the nine singers moving on to the Metropolitan Opera Grand Finals Concert on March 13th. They are Theo Hoffman, Sol Jin, Sean Michael Plumb and Brian Vu. They will be joined by Emily D’Angelo, Yelena Dyachek, Lauren Feider, Jonas Hacker and Jakub Józef Orliński.
The nine finalists will go on to sing in the Grand Finals Concert
on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. hosted by past National Council Auditions
winner Deborah Voigt. Each finalist will perform two arias with
conductor Antony Walker and the Met Orchestra. Bass-baritone Eric Owens,
a past National Council Auditions winner and National Advisor for the
Metropolitan Opera National Council, will be the guest artist and
perform during the judges’ deliberations once the auditions part of the
program is over.
At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will
receive an individual cash prize of $15,000 and career-making exposure.
The Met Auditions were crucial in introducing many of today’s best-known
stars, such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Patricia Racette, Deborah
Voigt, Nathan Gunn, and Lawrence Brownlee.
The nine finalists will have a
week of preparation with Met musical and dramatic coaches to prepare for
the Grand Finals Concert on March 13th. Tickets for the Grand Finals
Concert may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at
212-362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.
Bass-Barihunks Christian Pursell (left) and André Courville (right)
Twenty-three young opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States arrived at the Met this week to compete in the semi-final round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The closed semi-final competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition. Eleven of the 23 semi-finalists are baritones, bass-baritones or basses!
Brian Vu sings Pierrot's Tanzlied:
This year’s regional winners were chosen from nearly 1,500 singers who participated in the auditions held in 42 districts and 13 regions throughout the United States and Canada. The singers arrived yesterday for music preparations for the semi-finals competition on Sunday, March 6.
The 2016 semi-finalists include 23 aspiring opera singers representing various regions around the United States and Canada. This year, there are eight sopranos, two mezzo-sopranos, one tenor, one countertenor, seven baritones, two bass baritones, and two basses semi-finalists competing on Sunday, March 6.
Barihunks Sean Michael Plumb (left), Brian Vu (center) and Theo Hoffman (right)
The baritones include Jeff Byrnes (Great Lakes Region: Baton Rouge, LA); Alex DeSocio (Midwest Region: Wichita, KS); Hunter Enoch (Mid-South Region: Paris, TN); Theo Hoffman (Eastern Region: New York, NY); Jin Sol (Eastern Region: South Korea, currently living in Fort Lee, NJ); Sean Michael Plumb, (Gulf Coast Region: Philadelphia, PA); and Brian Vu (Southeast Region: Los Angeles, CA).
Theo Hoffman sings three songs by Jonathan Dove:
Bass-baritone semi-finalists are André Courville (Great Lakes Region: Cecilia, LA) and Christian Pursell (Central Region: Santa Cruz, CA).
Two basses round out the list: Daniel Mirosław (Eastern Region: Warsaw, Poland, currently living in New York, NY) and Anthony Robin Schneider (Middle Atlantic Region: Auckland, New Zealand, currently living in Philadelphia, PA).
The remaining semi-finalists include sopranos Tracy Cantin, Yelena Dyachek, Alison King, Lauren Feider, Felicia Moore, Kerriann Otaño, Christine Price and Ann Toomey; mezzo-sopranos Emily D’Angelo and Samantha Gossard; tenor Jonas Hacker and countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński
The BASS-barihunks Anthony Schneider (left) and Daniel Mirosław (right)
The winners of this event will go on to sing in the Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. hosted by past National Council Auditions winner Deborah Voigt. Each finalist will perform two arias with conductor Antony Walker and the Met Orchestra. Bass-baritone Eric Owens, a past National Council Auditions winner and National Advisor for the Metropolitan Opera National Council, will be the guest artist and perform during the judges’ deliberations once the auditions part of the program is over.
Daniel Mirosław sings the Catalog Aria from Don Giovanni:
At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will receive an individual cash prize of $15,000 and career-making exposure. The Met Auditions were crucial in introducing many of today’s best-known stars, such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Patricia Racette, Deborah Voigt, Nathan Gunn, and Lawrence Brownlee.
Following the semi-finals, those contestants who advance will have a week of preparation with Met musical and dramatic coaches to prepare for the Grand Finals Concert on March 13th. Tickets for the Grand Finals Concert may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.
The Region Finals for the MetOpera National Council Eastern Region will be held on Thursday, January 14th and half of the finalists are baritones or basses. Three baritones include Sol Jin, Theo Hoffman and Michael Gracco, and the three basses are Daniel Miroslaw, Joshua Arky and Onay Kose.
Onay Kose, Sol Jin and Michael Gracco
Joshua Arky was a 2014 Regional Finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Eastern Region and won an Encouragement Award at the 2013 Auditions. He is a Master of Music candidate at the Manhattan School of Music, where he is a recipient of the President’s Award. He recently performed the roles of Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Colline in Puccini's La bohéme, and un vieillard in Bloch’s Macbeth all with the Manhattan School of Music. At the Central City Opera he performed Doctor Grenvil and Il Commissario in Verdi's La traviata, Merlin in Boismortier’s Don Quixote and the Duchess, and the Captain of the Inquisition in Man of La Mancha. In the Spring of 2016, he'll perform in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Binghampton Symphony and the Sargeant in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance with Opera Louisiane.
Theo Hoffman
Theo Hoffman has become a popular singer on this site, having first featured him during his early years at Juilliard in 2013. We also featured a wonderful and candid Q&A with him in 2014. This season he made his debut with Atlanta Opera as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème and is returning to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 2017 where he previously covered Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. This season he will sing Papagano at Juilliard, where he previously performed Le Directeur in Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias.
He is his statement for the Met Audiions: “I was born and raised in the heart of Downtown Manhattan. My parents are chefs, and they taught me to create and experiment. I sing because I believe there is nothing more visceral and truthful than music produced by the naked human voice. What this broken world needs right now is truth.”
Daniel Miroslaw in Il Turco in Italia(Photo: Ken Howard)
Daniel Mirosław is an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies student at The Juilliard School. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Lodz Academy of Music in Poland and a Master’s degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He also studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim. His Juilliard performances have included Don Geronio in Rossini's Il Turco in Italia and Collatinus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in May 2015 singing Don Fernando in Beethoven's Fidelio and the bass solo in the composer’s Mass in C major. In 2016 Mr. Mirosław will join the Oper Frankfurt’s ensemble.
Daniel Miroslaw sings Leporello's Catalog Aria:
The auditions on January 14th from noon to 5 PM and are open to the public, and are followed by a reception which all the singers are attending. More information and tickets can be found online.
We thought that we'd take a look at some of the baritones and basses who advanced in the Metropolitan Opera Regional Audtions. These singers will compete in the next round. This is list is not all-inclusive, but they are the singers who we've been following.
Edward Hanlon
Edward Hanlon, who we've featured before, was the winner of the Chicago District Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition held on October 12th at Northwestern University. He ended up taking 3rd place in the Metropolitan Opera Central Region. He's racked up a number of top prizes at other vocal competitions, as well. You can catch him as Frank in Strauss' Die Fledermaus with the Edmonton Opera from January 31- February 6.
Luis Alejandro Orozco
Mexican-American barihunk Luis Alejandro Orozco has appeared on this site before. He was a winner of the District Council's competition in Indiana.
Orozco is as graduate of the Cincinnati
Conservatory of Music and he has performed
with the Lake George Opera, Des Moines
Metro Opera, El Paso Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Lexington
Philharmonic, Florida Grand Opera and Opera Theater of St Louis. You can catch him reprise his sexy performance as El Payador in Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires with the Syracuse Opera, from January 31-February 9.
Robert Balonek
Robert Balonek was one of the winners of the Eastern District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He attended SUNY Purchase College and the Mannes School of Music where he performed with the Mannes Baroque Ensemble. In March, you can catch Balonek in a semi-staged performance of Handel's Alceste with the American Classical Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall.
Other low voice coming out of the Eastern District Auditions were Takaoki Onishi, Kyle Oliver, Scott Russell and Brian Vu.
Iain MacNeil
Iain MacNeil sings Debussy's "Ballade des femmes de Paris:
Iain MacNeil was one of the winners at the Great Lakes Region auditions. He was born and raised in Brockville, Ontario and was introduced to opera during his first year at Dalhousie University. MacNeil is currently at the University of Toronto, where he is currently completing an opera diploma. In 2013, he participated in the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival.
Andrew Bogard
We introduced Mid-Atlantic Region winner a little over a year ago. Bogard received his undergraduate degree in
vocal performance from the Julliard School, where he performed the roles
of Peter Quince in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cousin Brandon in
Hindemith’s Long Christmas Dinner. Bogard won first place in the 2014 Mario Lanza Scholarship Competition. Upcoming performances include the Maestro in Golijov''s Ainadamar at Opera Philadelphia and Alidoro in La Cenerentola at Curtis Institute of Music.
Jarrett Ott
Also advancing from the Mid-Atlantic Region is Jarrett Ott. He is finishing up his Master’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music where he has performed Argante in Handel’s Rinaldo, Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Gregor Mittenhoffer in Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers, Valentin in Gounod’s Faust, Harašta in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and Le Mari in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias. This season he will also perform Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen with Mikael Eliasen at various venues, as well as perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with the Riverside Symphonia. At Curtis he will sing roles in Poulenc's Dialogues des carmélites and Rossini's La Cenerentola. You can listen to some sound clip HERE.
Samuel James Dewese
Samuel James Dewese advanced in the Midwest Region. Dewese is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he performed Mercurio in Cavalli's La Calisto, Anselmo in Man of La Mancha, and Mr. Gedge in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring. In July of 2011, Dewese originated the role of Jackson the Slave in 1787: We the People with Creative Dramatics Workshop. He was named the Joann Damman Memorial Scholarship winner by the Bel Canto Foundation of Chicago in April 2010 and April 2011, as well as the recipient of the Golden Lyre Foundation Award from the University of Illinois School of Music in May 2011.
Steven Eddy
Indiana University graduate Steven Eddy advanced in Northwest Region Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions. Eddy attended one of our Barihunks lunches while performing in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos at the Fort Worth Opera Festival (which is where he got that great shirt!). He returns to the Festival this year singing the role of Ponchel in Kevin Puts’
Pulitzer-Prize winning opera Silent Night.
Andrew Craig Brown
Andrew Craig Brown advanced in the Western Regionals in Los Angeles. He graduated from the Yale School of Music where he performed in productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni, Stravinsky's Le Rossignol, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Cosi fan Tutte. He has recorded the role of Il Duca Ramiro in Donizetti's Maria Padilla with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Patrick Murray
Patrick Murray also advanced at the Western Regionals in Los Angeles. Murray graduated from the University of Southern California before being a granted a Fulbright Scholarship, which allowed him to study in Vienna, Austria. He recently spent the winter as a Studio Artist with the Sarasota Opera and is being mentored by fellow barihunk Luca Pisaroni. You can listen to him sing HERE.
Jeff Williams
Pennsylvania native Jeffrey Williams, was one of our reader submissions last year, and he just advanced in the Nashville Auditions. Following a summer at the Russian Opera Workshop at the
Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia he sworked with fellow
barihunk Tom Krause at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and in
Sachrang, Germany. Williams has portrayed Lord Ruthven in Marschner’s Der Vampyr, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, Prince Yeletsky in Pique Dame, the title role in Rachmaninoff’s Aleko, the title role in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Rabonnier (La rondine), Le Commissaire (Orphée), Jack Point (Yeomen of the Guard), Superintendent Budd (Albert Herring), Strephon (Iolanthe) and Marchese d’Obigny (La Traviata), as well as opera chorus work with the Washington National Opera, the Baltimore Opera, and Florida Grand Opera.
Twenty singers, including seven baritones, who won regional competitions around the United States arrived in New York yesterday to begin rehearsals for the semi-finals of the
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The Met Auditions, this
year celebrating their 60th anniversary, are a major stepping stone to a career as an opera singer and were crucial in introducing many of today's best-known stars, such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Samuel Ramey, Deborah Voigt, and Dolora Zajick.
We were thrilled that over a third of the semi-finalists are baritones, who we will be rooting for. They include: Matthew Anchel, bass (Eastern Region; New York, NY); Brandon Cedel, bass-baritone (Middle Atlantic Region; Edward Nelson, baritone (Mid-South Region; Los Angeles, CA); Musa Ngqungwana, bass-baritone (Middle Atlantic Region; Richard Ollarsaba, bass-baritone (Upper Midwest Region; Tempe, AZ); Thomas Richards, bass-baritone (Central Region; Burnsville, MN); and, Efrain Solis, baritone (Western Region; Santa Ana, CA).
The semi-finalists will rehearse with
the company's music staff for two days in preparation for the
Semi-Finals competition on Sunday, March 3. The winners of that event
will go on to sing in the Grand Finals Concert accompanied by the Met
Orchestra on March 10 at 3 p.m. The finalists will have a week of
preparation with Met musical and dramatic coaches to prepare for the
Concert, which is open to the public.
Tickets for the Grand Finals
Concert may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online atwww.metopera.org.
Other finalists include: Michael Brandenburg, tenor (Central Region;
Austin, IN);
Hershey, PA); Tracy Cox, soprano (Western Region; Dallas, TX); William Davenport, tenor (Middle Atlantic Region; Rockville, MD); Hye Jung Lee, soprano
(Gulf Coast Region; Seoul, South Korea); Juan José de León, tenor (Great
Lakes Region; Corpus Christi, TX); Christopher Lowrey, countertenor
(New England Region; Johnston, RI); Sydney Mancasola, soprano (New
England Region; Redding, CA); Felicia Moore, soprano (Eastern Region;
Princeton, NJ); Port Elizabeth, South Africa);
Rebecca Pedersen, soprano (Rocky Mountain Region; Bountiful, UT); Jessica Strong, soprano (Northwest
Region; Winnipeg, Manitoba); Karen Vuong, soprano (Eastern Region; Los
Angeles, CA); Benjamin Werley, tenor (Midwest Region; Pittsburgh, PA); and,
Melinda Whittington, soprano (Southeast Region; Charlotte, NC).
We suspect that barihunk Rhys Lloyd Talbot is at the top of the world after advancing from the Iowa District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions to the Upper Midwest Regional competition in St. Paul on Saturday, February 2nd. Talbot was joined by soprano Aviva Fortunata in advancing to the next round.
Talbot, a native of Cedar Falls, Iowa received $1,250 for winning the Joan Bunke Memorial Award. He is a student of John Hines at the University of Northern Iowa.
CLOSEOUT SALE ON 2013 BARIHUNKS CALENDAR: 15% off until January 31
Eleven months after winning the 2012 George London Foundation Competition, Brandon Cedel has won the Middle Atlantic Metropolitan Opera Regional Council Auditions at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. Cedel sang Henry Purcell's "Arise ye subterranean winds" from the Tempest and Aleko's Cavatina by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Also competing in tonight's competition was barihunk Matthew Morris. Both Morris and Cedel appeared in our 2012 calendar.
Brandon Cedel can next be seen performing the role of William Dale in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's production of Kevin Puts' "Silent Night." Performances run from February 8-17 and the cast includes barihunks Liam Bonner, Craig Irvin, Gabriel Preisser and Troy Cook. Tickets are available online.
Fans of barihunks and Bach in Montréal were in luck this week when the internationally acclaimed Austrian barihunk Markus Werba teamed up with Canadian sensation and Met Auditions winner Philippe Sly for a riveting rendition of Bach's "St. John's passion." Our source in Montréal told us that Sly's voice filled the space with "a full, lush sound that radiated to the rafters." To top things off, Canadian barihunk Tyler Duncan was also in the cast.
We've followed Sly's career since he started creating a sensation during the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions Competition. Opera aficionados are already hailing him as the next great baritone sensation. We've had the pleasure of hearing him in recital and performance and the early praise is well-deserved. He will be featured in a solo recital on June 1, 2012 at the Shenkman Arts Cenre in Ottawa. We're telling you about it now, because tickets are bound to sell fast. You can visit the Shenkman website for tickets and concert information.
We've posted Sly's rendition of Schubert's "Der Erlkönig" before, but we think it's worth posting again, as it rivals the greatest versions that have ever been performed (and he's in his early 20's!):
Markus Werba heads to the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris this December to sing Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" in a cast that features the brilliant soprano Sandrine Piau as Pamina. Click HERE for tickets or additional performance information.
Here is Werba as Papageno from a 2003 production at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari with a cast that also featured Piau:
Tyler Duncan can next be heard in an eclectic program of music inspired by water with The Jefferey Concerts in London, Ontario. Joined by soprano Martha Guth and Duncan's wife, accompanist Erika Switzer, the trio will perform works by Schubert, Fauré, Joni Mitchell and Stan Rogers. Visit their website for additional information.
Tyler Duncan
Duncan then heads off to Boston to join the Handel & Haydn Society for their annual dose of the Messiah.
Contact us at barihunks@gmail.com
If you're thinking about a holiday gift, don't forget to purchase our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. All proceeds are going to benefit young artists, so buy your calendar now and support our future generation of singers.
In celebration of Ernest Chausson's birthday we thought that you'd enjoy hearing the great Gerard Souzay and current heartthrob and Met Auditions finalist Phillipe Sly offer their versions of the beautiful song Le temps des lilas.
Just for fun, here is countertenor Philippe Jaroussky with his beautiful version of the same song.
