Barihunks star in Lyric Opera of Chicago's "Rising Stars" Concert

Patrick Guetti, Emmett O'Hanlon and Takaoki Onishi

The Lyric Opera of Chicago will showcase their amazing young artists on Saturday, April 7th at the Lyric Opera House in their annual "Rising Stars" concert. Featured in the concert is a trio of singers who have been featured on Barihunks, including baritones Emmett O'Hanlon and Takaoki Onishi, along with bass Patrick Guetti. The three singers are also concluding their tenure with the company's Ryan Opera Center, a training program for young artists.

After leaving the program, Guetti has performances with Wolf Trap Opera as Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto and Bernstein's Songfest; Takaoki Onishi will perform Tchaikovsky's Iolanta with the Russian National Orchestra at Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and, Emmett O'Hanlon will wrap up a run as Wagner in Gounod's Faust at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Lyric tenor star of the future, Josh Lovell

The concert will feature music by Tchaikovsky, Offenbach, Massenet, Mozart, Verdi, Handel, Bernstein, Puccini and Rossini. Other artists include the gifted young lyric tenor Josh Lovell (keep your eyes and ears on this one!); sopranos Whitney Morrison, Diana Newman and Ann Toomey; mezzo-soprano Lindsay Metzger; contralto Lauren Decker; tenors Alec Carlson and Mario Rojas; and, bass-baritone Alan Higgs.

The concert will also be recorded for broadcast on 98.7WFMT the following day, Sunday, April 8, at 6 PM CST.

Reader Submission: Corey Crider

Corey Crider

Our latest Reader Submission is Corey Crider, who is singing Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte at Sarasota Opera through March 12th. On April 23rd, he opens a run as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in a cast that includes some of opera's finest young artists, including Zanda Svede in the title role, Janai Brugger as Micaela and Rafael Davila as Don Jose.

Corey Crider sings "Is not his word like a fire?" from Mendelsohn's Elijah

Crider is an alumnus of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center and recently returned to the company as Malatesta in Don Pasquale. In the 2014-15 season Corey debuted the title role of Sweeney Todd with Madison Opera, sang Marcello in La bohème with Opera on the James, Scarpia in Tosca with the New Philharmonic, Escamillo in La tragédie de Carmen with Opera Naples, the Sacristan in Tosca with the Detroit Symphony, and Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love with Finger Lakes Opera.

Corey Crider sings "Urna fatale" from Verdi's La forza del destino:

Crider is a two-time national semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, Corey took fourth prize in the Florida Grand Opera Young Patronesses of the Opera Voice Competition.

Evan Boyer featured in free outdoor concert in Chicago

Evan Boyer

Evan Boyer will be part of an all-star operatic cast at a free outdoor concert at Chicago's Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on Saturday, September 7, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is being presented by the Lyric Opera of Chicago. If you can't be there, the concert will be broadcast live on carried live on 98.7WFMT and wfmt.com, which is available online.  

Boyer will be joined by conductor Ward Stare, soprano Ana María Martínez, soprano Albina Shagimuratova, hunkentenor James Valenti, as well as members of the Ryan Opera Center.

Music will include selections from Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Wagner’s Lohengrin, Verdi’s Otello, Verdi’s Il trovatore and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

Hear the Ryan Opera Center Singers Online

Barihunk Paul La Rosa

Fans of this site know that our dedication to supporting young singers runs deep. We encourage readers to donate to young artist programs and our annual charity calendar benefits young artists. One of the best programs in the country is the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and now you can hear their amazing singers even if you're not anywhere near the Windy City.

The Ryan Opera Center is performing a Rising Stars Concert that will be broadcast in the Chicago area on 98.7 WFMT and streamed online at www.wfmt.com on Sunday, April 1st 4 p.m. CST. If you're in the Chicago area, the concert is on Saturday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m CST at the Ardis Krainik Theatre of the Civic Opera House, but tickets are only available to Lyric Opera donors of $75 and above. You can (and should) donate at the Lyric Opera website.

Members of the 2012 Ryan Opera Center

One of this site's most popular young artists, Paul La Rosa, will be featured in the concert along with fellow baritones and basses Joseph Lim, Paul Scholten, David Govertsen and Evan Boyer. Other singers include sopranos Emily Birsan, Kiri Deonarine, and Jennifer Jakob (sopranos); mezzos Emily Fons and Cecelia Hall; and tenors René Barbera, Bernard Holcomb, and James Kryshak. The singers will be performing works by Adams, Bellini, Berlioz, Bernstein, Bizet, Delibes, Donizetti, Gounod, Mozart, Puccini, Rachmaninov, Rossini, Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi.

Participants in the program have performed principal and supporting roles during Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 57th season. They also served as understudies for major and minor roles throughout the season.

Another member of the program is Will Liverman who we recently predicted would win the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Unfortunately, the judges disagreed, but he is destined for a major career.

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