Baseball, Opera and Baritones in Ball Gowns

Vanessa Bousay aka Erik Chalfant

San Francisco's local classical music station KDFC held a contest called the "Star Spangled Sing-Off" with the winner performing the national anthem at the live simulcast of the San Francisco Opera's La Traviata at AT&T Park,  home of baseball's San Francisco Giants. Over 80,000 listeners voted for the 74 contestants and the winner was Vanessa Bousay, a character created by classically-trained baritone Erik Chalfant.

Phyllis Curtin

Chalfant, who studied with the legendary operatic soprano Phyllis Curtin, created the character of Vanessa Bousay as a tribute to the woman he dubs his "teacher, mentor and friend." He holds the Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from Boston University, School For The Arts. He is an alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, and the Britten-Pears School For Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh, England.

In San Francisco, Vanessa Bousay has appeared at Yoshi's, Martuni's Piano Lounge and a variety of fundraising galas. Her beloved charity is the Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners, benefitting the citizens of The Tenderloin. Chalfant refers to his character as "a talented songstress ... created by (a) proud San Franciscan."

The San Francisco Opera simulcast of Verdi's La Traviata from AT&T Park will be on Saturday, July 5, 2014 at 8:00 PM. You can sign up for tickets at www.sfopera.com/simulcast, or just show up at the game...um, opera. The cast of the opera also includes barihunk Hadleigh Adams as the Marquis d'Obigny. Performances at the War Memorial Opera House run through July 13 and tickets are available online.

Craig Verm up to bat in Reno and West Virginia

Craig Verm in uniform for "Casey at the Bat"

We may have to start following accompanist Karen Roethlisberger Verm's career more closely. She appears to be the accompanist of choice for barihunks. Yesterday we posted about her upcoming recital with Daniel Teadt in Pittsburgh, only to learn that on Thursday she'll be accompanying her barihunk husband Craig Verm in a program of Quilter, Finzi, Britten, and Grainger.

The free recital will be at Elbin Auditorium on the West Liberty University campus at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 21. The school is located near Wheeling, West Virginia.

Verm is currently with the Reno Philharmonic performing William Schuman's cantata "Casey at the Bat." It opened last night and there is one additional performance on Tuesday, March 19 at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are available online. We're not sure how the Pittsburgh Pirates fan will feel about him sporting a uniform from the rival San Francisco Giants, but folks in Northern California and Nevada will undoubtedly love it. We think he looks good enough in that uniform to try out for their back up middle infielder spot. On off days, he could sing the National Anthem.

Upcoming operatic appearances include Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Florentine Opera in May, Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes with Des Moines Metro Opera in June as well as Mercutio in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette also with the Des Moines Metro Opera in June.

Verm, who has appeared in our last two charity calendars,  earned his Master of Arts in Music degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and was a 2006 national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.