Benjamin Appl to replace Piotr Beczala

Tenor Piotr Beczala had to cancel his August 25th Schubertiade Schwarzenberg recital due to laryngitis. Barihunk Benjamin Appl has been tapped to replace him and will perform a program of Schubert, Schumann and Grieg. Accompanist Helmut Deutsch, who was scheduled to play piano for Beczala, will perform with Appl. Tickets are available online.

Appl has other upcoming recitals on September 9th in Köln and on September 21 in Bad Kohlgrub. He then heads to Tokyo to perform Orff's Carmina Burana with soprano Olga Peretyatko and countertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić.

On September 7th, Appl will release his solo album of Bach with Concerto Köln for Sony Classical. The album includes music from the St. Matthew Passion, as well as lesser known pieces selected by Appl.

Hvorostovsky back in Met Ballo under James Levine

Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Met's Ballo (Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)

Dmitri Hvorostovsky returns to the Metropolitan opera as King Gustavo III's confidant Anckarström in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera with the Metropolitan Opera's Music Director James Levine on the podium. The all-star cast will also feature Piotr Beczala in his Met role debut as the ill-fated Gustavo, Sondra Radvanovsky as Amelia, Dolora Zajick as the fortune-teller Ulrica, and Heidi Stober as the page Oscar.

Alexey Markov

The opera opens on April 23 and runs through May 9. The David Alden revival will mark the first time that James Levine has conducted the opera at the Met in nearly 20 years.  Russian baritone Alexey Markov, who sang Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata and Robert in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta earlier this season, will sing Anckarström in the May 6 and 9 performances.

Tickets and additional performance information is available online.

After wrapping up Ballo, Hvorostovsky leaves to perform concerts in St. Petersburg, Munich, Calistoga and Yountville, California.

Opera returns to San Antonio; Hot Masetto spotted in Vienna (watch his complete La boheme)

Lucas Meachem to participate in gala for the San Antonio Opera

Earlier this year, we were saddened to report the very sudden demise of the San Antonio Opera. Just as we were preparing a post about their upcoming Don Giovanni, we learned that the Board of Directors had shut the doors due to a lack of cash flow.

We are pleased to announce that representatives for the company have announced that they have raised $500,000 to reopen the doors, scheduled a gala fundraising concert on May 23, 2013 and will announce a new 2014 season shortly. 

The $500,000 raised to date includes $228,000 from the city of San Antonio, contributions from the nine Opera Theater San Antonio board members and challenge grants from the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation and the Tobin Endowment.

The gala concert will include barihunk Lucas Meachem along with Patricia Racette, Susannah Biller, Dolora Zajick, Daniela Mack, Jay Hunter Morris, Alex Shrader and Eric Owens

Alessio Arduini

Thanks to one of our loyal readers, we have learned of a new barihunk singing at the Vienna State Opera. Alessio Arduini, a native of Desenzano del Garda, Italy has joined the roster of the company and is currently singing Masetto opposite fellow barihunk Peter Mattei in Mozart's Don Giovanni. 

 

Upcoming performances include Schaunard in Puccini's La boheme at Covent Garden in December and Silvano in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at Milan's La scala in July 2013.

There are three performance left of Don Giovanni on October 14, 17 and 20, with additional performances in March 2013. Visit the Vienna State Opera website for additional information.

You can watch Arduini as Schaunard opposite Piotr Beczala as Rodolfo and Anna Netrebko as Mimi in a performance from the Salzburg below (complete opera):

Mariusz Kwiecien's Enrico

We thought it would be fun to showcase Mariusz Kwiecien's definitive Enrico from "Lucia di Lammermoor" with two different tenors, Piotr Beczala and Giuseppe Filianoti. We'd like to know which tenor you'd prefer to hear opposite Kwiecien, so make sure to vote in our poll. You can leave comments below. (By the way, Barihunks readers voted Don Giovanni as their favorite Mozart opera by one vote over the Marriage of Figaro).

Here he is with Beczala:



Here he is with Filianoti:



Just for fun, here is the famours sextet from "Lucia di Lammermoor" taken from the Metropolitan Opera broadcast with Anna Netrebko, Giuseppe Filianoti, Mariusz Kwiecien, Ildar Abdrazakov, Colin Lee and Micaela Martens.



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