Dan Kempson named Donald Gramm Memorial Award winner

American barihunk Dan Kempson has been awarded the Donald Gramm Memorial Award by the Santa Fe Opera named in honor of the internationally acclaimed American bass-baritone who appeared numerous times with the Santa Fe Opera. Kempson was given the award for his outstanding contribution as a baritone during his summer with the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Singer Program.

The famed apprentice program received 968 applications this year and only 43 singers were chosen to perform with the Santa Fe Opera during its 57th season. Kempson was the cover for Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, performed Le Notaire​  and was the cover for Baron Grog in Offenbach's The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein and performed Father Flynn from Douglas Cuomo's Doubt in the Apprentice Scenes Showcase where they performed the final scene from Act 1.

The Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Singer Program provides young artists the opportunity to work and perform with some of the most respected conductors, directors and singers in the classical music world. The apprentices form the backbone of the season’s five operas as members of the chorus and in supporting roles. They receive coaching, lessons in diction, period music style, and performance with faculty from The Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music, San Francisco Opera, and Manhattan School of Music, as well as master classes by artists such as Harry Bicket, Christine Brewer, and Joyce DiDonato.

Andre' Courville's farewell featured on local TV

Andre' Courville

Barihunk Andre' Courville was featured on his local TV station KATC in Lafayette, Louisiana. The segment bids him farewell as he leaves his role as music director and organist at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Lafayette to be a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

Earlier this year Courville took second-place in the Metropolitan Opera National Council’s Gulf Coast regional auditions. He sang “Sorge infausta,” the magician Zoroastro’s aria from Handel’s “Orlando” and Mephistopheles' aria from Gounod’s “Faust.” This summer he was a member of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers where he sang Marquis d’Obigny in Verdi's La Traviata and music from Don Giovanni and The Bartered Bride at the Apprentice Scenes Programs.



You can catch Andre' Courville one last time at the Lady of Fatima Catholic Church on Thursday, August 29th at 6:30, when he will be presenting a free concert.

Marc Callahan in 1950s Elixir of Love; Britten up next

Marc Callahan and his admirers

Sexy American barihunk Marc Callahan just opened a six week run as Belcore in an English language version of Donizetti's The Elixir of Love at the Kings Head Theatre in London. Director Valentina Ceschi set the opera at a glamorous 1950s garden party at the height of Hollywood’s Golden Age, with a new English libretto by Verity Bargate Award-winner Thomas Eccleshare.

The opera has two casts, so check online for cast information and tickets. 

The former Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist continued his studies in France and has excelled in French repertoire ranging from the French baroque's André Cardinal Destouches to Jacques Offenbach's whimsical operettas. In recent years, his career has been centered in the U.K.

After the English language Elixir, he takes on some true English opera as Sid in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring at Opera North. Performances will run from May 15-25.

Reader Submissions: Nate Jones and Kyle Albertson

Nate Jones

There are few things that we enjoy more than our "Reader Submission" feature. Over the years, we've been introduced to some of the most amazing talent and absolute eye candy from across the globe. We've had submissions come from as far away as Belarus and Indonesia, from boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, ex-lovers, men and women ranging from teenagers to people who reminisce about having seen Gina Cigna (look her up!) and even a number of proud moms. Gotta love those proud moms!

Our latest reader submissions are Nate Jones and Kyle Albertson.

Nate Jones is  a 25-year-old lyric baritone who is a third-year student at Duke Divinity School. He's graduating in May with a Masters Degree. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Duke in 2009 and has been studying voice primarily with Elizabeth Linnartz.

Below are two videos from Nate Jones' Graduate Recital from 3/24/12 at Duke University

In 2009, he won the Schloss-Mirabell competition in Salzburg, where he performed a concert of Schumann and Mozart in the Mozart Festival, while also playing Figaro. He also has won the National Association for the Teaching of Singing (NATS) competition at the state and regional levels. He won a full scholarship to the American Singers Opera Project, where he played Don Alfonso in "Cosi fan Tutte," and studied voice with Sherrill Milnes' ex-wife, Nancy Stokes-Milnes.

Jones originally planned on going into doctoral work in theology/philosophy but has recently decided to go into opera full-time and plans on auditioning for some young artist programs.

Jones has been active with Long Leaf Opera in North Carolina, most recently singing Clay in Chandler Carter's "Strange Fruit" and Valentine in Joel Feigin's "The Twelfth Night." He also played the title role in "Sweeney Todd" at Duke.

Kyle Anderson

When we recently posted about the winners at the Gerda Lissner International Singing Competition we sure heard about the prize winners who we omitted (including one of our longtime favorites Dan Kempson). One singer who is new to us and who took a second place cash award is Kyle Albertson.

Albertson is a former participant in the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program. He has gone on to sing   Leporello in Don Giovanni, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut,  Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China. Blitch in Susannah, Mephistopheles in Faust, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, and the Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffman.

Current and upcoming engagements include covering the roles of Bretigny in Manon, Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and the Jailer in Dialogues des carmélites at the Metropolitan Opera.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Erik Anstine's CAMI site

Erik Anstine

Erik Anstine, who appeared in our charity calendar has a beautiful new listing on the Columbia Management (CAMI) site, which we wanted to share with readers. Here is the text:

Praised for the beauty of his voice and the vitality of his performances, American basso Erik Anstine is making a name for himself on opera and concert stages in North America and Europe.

This summer, Mr. Anstine is a member of The Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program. He will cover the Archbishop in Szymanowski’s “Król Roger” and Sciarrone in “Tosca”.

In the 2012-13 season, Mr. Anstine joins the ensemble of Opernhaus Zürich where he will perform Bartolo in “Le nozze di Figaro”, Biterolf in “Tannhäuser” , Zweiter Soldat in “Salome”, Anfisa in the premiere of Eötvös’ “Drei Schwestern”, and Hausknecht / Wächter in a new production of “Lady Macbeth of Mtensk”.

As a member of Los Angeles Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program for the 2011-12 season, Mr. Anstine appeared as the Captain in “Eugene Onegin”, Frère Jean in “Romßo et Juliette”, and Der Tod in Viktor Ullman’s “Der Kaiser von Atlantas” under the baton of James Conlon as part of the company’s on-going Recovered Voices series. Mr. Anstine made his Seattle Opera main stage debut in 2011 as the Second Priest in “Die Zauberflöte”. As a member of Seattle Opera’s young artist program, Mr. Anstine was heard as Leoprello in “Don Giovanni”, Don Alfonso in “Così fan tutte” and Truffaldino in “Ariadne auf Naxos”. He was a participant in the 2010 Castleton Festival where he sang the Notary in “Gianni Schicchi” and stepped in at the last minute to perform Peachum in John Gay’s “A Beggar’s Opera”.

Erik Anstine was the Grand Prize Winner of the Orpheus Vocal Competition and a participant in Thomas Quasthoff’s “Das Lied” competition in Berlin in 2009. He was also a two-time Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Erik Anstine was graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Music degree, and from Indiana University with a Master of Music degree. During his studies at Northwestern University, Mr. Anstine studied abroad for one year at the Royal Academy of Music in London.