Introducing bass-barihunk Hans Tashjian

Hans Tashjian

No sooner did our post go up about the barihunk duo in Sarasota Opera's La bohème when we received a message about Hans Tashjian, a bass in their young artist program. He'll be part of the program for both the fall and winter and will be perform with the chorus for Verdi's Aida, Beethoven's Fidelio, and Verdi's La Battaglia di Legnano.

I'm currently in Sarasota for the fall season with Sarasota Opera.  I'll be returning as a young artist again this upcoming winter season.  I'll also be the bass soloist in the Bach Magnificat at The Cathedral of St John the Divine's Christmas Concert in NYC

Hans Tashjian

Hans Tashjian graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a Masters from the Manhattan School of Music. While in school, he performed Baron Ochs in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, Plagio in the American premiere of I Due Figaro, Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Truffaldin in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, and Pooh-Bah in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado. He has also appeared as Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust with the New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Seneca in Monteverdi's L’Incoronazione di Poppea with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, a soloist with the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh and performed with the Bach Music Festival of Canada.   

On December 12th, he'll appear as the bass soloist with the Cathedral Church of Saint John Devine for their Cathedral Christmas Concert. The concert will include Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat and carols by Benjamin Britten, John Rutter and Gregg Smith.

More information about the Sarasota Opera season is available online.

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Interview with Lee Poulis

Lee Poulis as Zurga in Sarasota Opera's 2013 production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers

Lee Poulis is performing Zurga in Bizet's Pearl Fishers at the Sarasota Opera through March 22nd. Below is an interview that appeared on the Sarasota Opera blog. The link to the entire interview is at the end of this post. Tickets are available online. 


Q.  What drew you to become a singer?  Was there a specific “Aha!” moment of clarity?

A.  I actually began in music as a trumpet player in the 4th grade.  Pretty soon I realized I enjoyed hearing the trumpet being played in an orchestra rather than in the band, which was where I played.  I began listening to the classical station and heard some opera in the mix.  I was immediately drawn to it and wanted to hear and know more about it.  I began renting opera videos from Blockbuster at the age of 12 and saw my first opera at the Metropolitan Opera in that same year.  As years passed and I buried myself in recordings and videos from the public library, I could sing along with many of the operas while reading the libretto.  I also did my first Pavarotti impression pretty early on, handkerchief and all.  When I was 15 after some long-term nudging from my parents, who knew nothing about opera but apparently had an ear, I sang for my high school chorus teacher.  The rest is history.

Q.  What are you looking forward to most about performing this particular role?

A.  I like that I’m playing the leader of everyone else in the opera.  Sounds like a lot of power.  So far it’s one fishing village, but I hope to expand my sphere of influence as soon and as widely as possible and take over all of Sri Lanka, where this opera takes place.

Q.  Is there something unique about your process when preparing a role for performance?

A.  I don’t know if it’s unique, but it’s how I do it!  It’s a process of singing through, translating, feeling, putting myself in the character’s shoes, singing it through with a pianist, working on it with my voice teacher, and raising the stakes dramatically and vocally wherever it’s called for in the story and the music.  Almost all of these facets of preparation are occurring all the time and in no particular order from day one of my role preparation until the last performance is over and sometimes beyond that too!

Read the entire interview at the Sarasota Opera blog. 

Emerging Barihunk: Kyle Guglielmo

Kyle Guglielmo (Photo: Dave Brown)

Kyle Guglielmo is new to this site and is another sign that the barihunk bench is deep. He'll be performing on Sunday, September 23 at the Emerging Artist Operatic Showcase at Christ and St. Stephen's Church in New York City at 3 PM. Guglielmo will be joined by soprano Jodi Burns and tenor Adam Ulrich in selections by Mozart, Bellini, Puccini, Donizetti, Rossini, Gounod, Richard Rodgers and Frank Loesser. The event is free to the public.

According to his website, on November 10, Guglielmo will be premiering Daron Hagen's opera Little Nemo in Slumberland with the Sarasota Opera. Based on Winsor McCay's 1905-1914 newspaper comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland recounts the adventures of a boy over the course of two nights on a quest to save Slumberland from the Evil Emperor Sol who wants it to be bright all night and day.  Nemo's adventures along the way include encounters with a crystal enchantress, menacing giants, a floating bed, a balloon ride, and a palace that turns upside down.

Lee Poulis as Enrico (Photo by Rod Millington/Sarasota Opera)

Sometimes the sexiest pictures don't show any skin at all. This photo of Lee Poulis as Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at Sarasota is a great example of someone cutting a sexy figure in a period costume with lots of fabric.

The production opened on February 18th, but there are additional performances on February 23, 26 and March 2, 7, 9, 17 and 23. Visit the Sarasota Opera website for ticket information.

The sextet from Lucia at the Met with barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien and Anna Netrebko:

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"There's something about that bad boy that's so hard to resist."

Lee Poulis as Belcore (L)

Lee Poulis who is honing his formidable operatic skills at the Theater Bonn in Germany is back in the United States and performing the title role in the current production of Don Giovanni at the Sarasota Opera. We think Sarasota might have him a bit over-costumed after we saw this picture of him performing in L'elisir d'amore in Germany (although he looks pretty hot in leather).

There is a performance tonight and three more in March. Check out the Sarasota Opera website for additional details.

Christina Pier as Donna Anna & Lee Poulis as "bad boy" Don Giovanni

Check out the video of Poulis and his castmates discussing the opera. We particularly loved soprano Christina Pier's assessment of the title character, which pretty much sums up our fascination with the role, as well. 

"There's something about that bad boy

that's so hard to resist."

We also found a couple of other barihunks on the Sarasota Opera website that we're going to have to keep and eye on. Grant Clarke is the Marcello in their current production of La Boheme and Bradley Smoak performs Francis Nurse in Robert Ward's The Crucible, both of which run through March 19. Smoak we actually spotted as Zuniga with the Palm Beach Opera last April, where he was a bit revealing in some tight white pants.

Grant Clarke

Bradley Smoak

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