Tim Murray preparing for his Merola Grand Finale (right)
Wisconsin-born barihunk Tim Murray will perform in the Grand Finale concert at the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco tonight. He'll be performing the Act III mother-son duet from Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet with Alice Chung. He also recently performed the role of Paul with Merola in the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s new opera If I Were You.
The concert is the final event in the Merola Opera Program's intensive summer training program for some of the world's most promising operatic talent. Tickets for the August 17th concert are available online.
In March, Murray made his debut with the Arizona Opera as William Dale in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night. He has already appeared three times with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City where he was part of their Resident Artist Program, performing Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto, Guy in Talbot's Everest and the Captain in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.
Harve Presnell, Edward Laurenson and Thomas Hampson
Also appearing tonight will be New Zealand born baritone Edward Laurenson, who we introduced to readers back in 2014 and featured again when he took off for the Guildhall School of Music and again when he first came to San Francisco to study.
A number of the world's greatest baritones have come through Merola, including Broadway legend and film star Harve Presnell (1957), Thomas Hampson (1980), Mark Delavan (1985), David Malis (1982, 83), John Del Carlo (1977), Lucas Meachem (2003), Allan Monk (1966), Burak Bilgili (2001), John Chest (2009), Richard Paul Fink (1983, 84), Ao Li (2010), Daniel Okulitch (2002), John Relyea (1995), Philippe Sly (2011) and Hadleigh Adams (2012).
Brandon Cedel will sing the bass role of Giovanni in Oper Frankfurt's concert performances of Verdi's Il corsaro. He'll be joined by an all-star cast that includes Dorothea Röschmann as Medora, Željko Lučić as Seid and Mario Chang as Corrado.
The performance is part of the company's series of early and middle period operas by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto is based on Lord Byron's 1814 poem The Corsair, which many believe was based on the life of the 19th century French pirate Jean Lafitte. The composer expressed interest in Byron's poem The Corsair as early as 1844 when he was planning an opera for Venice, but a suitable baritone was not available. Therefore, he completed I masnadieri for London before completing Il corsaro, which premiered in Trieste on October 25, 1848. With the exception of two other productions, the opera all but vanished from the repertory after just three performances in Trieste. It didn't appear in the U.K. until 1966 and in the U.S. until 1981. The San Diego Opera produced it in 1982 with a cast that included June Anderson, Rosalind Plowright, Alfonso Navarrete and J. Patrick Raftery.
Thomas Hampson sings "Alfin questo corsaro...Cento leggiadre vergini" from Il corsaro:
The opera is about a noble pirate who battles the Muslims, is loved by a harem maid but in turn loves another, and who finally kills himself after his true love poisons herself when she thinks he is dead.
Performances are on November 7th and 9th and tickets and additional information is available online. Cedel is currently performing Angelotti in Puccini Tosca and the Messenger in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex with Oper Frankfurt.
Thomas Hampson and David Leigh(costume sketch courtesy of Canadian Opera)
Rufus Wainwright's second opera, "Hadrian," will open on October 13th at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. The opera is about a gay relationship in ancient Rome between the Roman emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous. Daniel MacIvor's libretto was inspired by Marguerite Yourcenar's novel "Memoirs of Hadrian," which Wainwright read twenty years ago.
"Antinous and Hadrian," an opera based on the same story, was recently completed by composer Clint Borzoni and librettist Edward Ficklin, and was presented in New York in 2017 in concert form. You can hear the beautiful love scene HERE.
This is pop singer Rufus Wainwright's second attempt at opera, after "Prima Donna," which premiered at the New York City Opera in 2009, featuring barihunk Randal Turner.
Wainwright's "Hadrian" comes with an adult warning and features a musical interlude where Hadrian and Antinous make love. The cast includes the ageless barihunk Thomas Hampson as Hadrian, tenor Isaiah Bell as his lover Antinous, Karita Mattila as Plotina, bass-barihunk David Leigh as Turbo, Ambur Braid as Sabina and Ben Heppner as Dinarchus. The piece is sung in English and Latin.
The story is about Emperor Hadrian, who is devastated after his lover Antinous drowns in the Nile River. While matters of state encroach on his grief and advisers clamor for war against a radical new threat to the Empire, Hadrian slips out of time to re-encounter the vision and reality of Antinous—and learn the truth about what happened on the Nile.
There are seven performances between October 13-27 and tickets are available online.
Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor,
and pianist. His special gift of bridging the gap between the concert hall
and the world of Broadway made him one of the most glamorous and popular musical
figures of his day.
As a composer Bernstein was a controversial figure.
His large works, including the symphonies
Jeremiah
(1943),
Age of Anxiety
(1949), and
Kaddish
(1963), are not considered masterpieces. Yet
they are skillfully shaped and show his sensitivity to small changes of
musical variety. He received more praise for his Broadway musicals. The
vivid
On the Town
(1944) and
Wonderful Town
(1952) were followed by
Candide
(1956), which, though not a box-office success, is considered by many
to be Bernstein's most original score.
West Side Story
(1957) received international praise. Bernstein's music, with
its strong contrasts of violence and tenderness, determines the feeling
of the show and contributes to its special place in the history of
American musical theater.
Sir Thomas Allen sings "Dear Boy" from Candide:
In works that could be dubbed operas, his most notable roles for low male voice are the philosopher Dr. Pangloss in Candide who sings "Dear Boy" and Sam in Trouble in Tahiti who sings "There's a Law." Perhaps his most popular and frequently recorded work for baritone is "Simple Song" from Mass.
His role as an educator, in seminars at Brandeis University
(1952–1957) and in teaching duties at Tanglewood are legendary
and still watched by students today. He found an even larger audience
through television, where
his animation and distinguished simplicity had an immediate
appeal. Two
books of essays,
Joy of Music
(1959) and
Infinite Variety of Music
(1966), were direct products of television presentations.
Sebastià Peris sings "There's a Law" from Trouble in Tahiti:
Bernstein had his greatest impact as a conductor. His appearances
overseas—with or without the New York Philharmonic—brought about an
excitement approaching frenzy. These responses were due in part to
Bernstein's energy and emotion. It is generally agreed that his
readings of twentieth-century American scores showed a dedication and
authority rarely approached by other conductors of his time. His
performances and recordings also ushered in a revival of interest in the
music of Gustav Mahler.
There was some surprise when, in 1967, Bernstein resigned
as music director of the Philharmonic. But it was in keeping with his
nature and the diversity of his activities that he sought new channels
of expression. After leaving the Philharmonic Bernstein traveled
extensively, serving as guest conductor for many of the major symphonies
of the world, including the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin
Philharmonic. He became something of a fixture in those cities in the
last few decades of his life.
Theo Hoffman's amazing rendition of "Simple Song":
Bernstein also became caught up in the cultural
upheaval of the late 1960s. He angered many when he claimed all music,
other than pop, seemed old-fashioned. Politically, too, he drew
criticism. When his wife hosted a fund-raiser for the Black Panthers in 1970, charges of
anti-Semitism were leveled against Bernstein
himself. Press reports caused severe damage to his reputation. Bernstein
also brought criticism with his stance against the Vietnam War. His activism ultimately led J.
Edgar Hoover and the FBI to monitor his activities and associations.
Thomas Hampson sings "Lucky to be Me" from On the Town:
In 1971
Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers
premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It was, according
to biographer Humphrey Burton, "the closest [Bernstein] ever came
to achieving a synthesis between Broadway and the
concert hall." The huge cast performed songs in styles ranging
from
rock to blues to gospel.
Mass
debuted on Broadway later that year.
He died in New York City, on
October 14, 1990, of a heart attack brought on by emphysema and other complications.
John Adams is one of the best known and most often performed of
America's composers. Adams was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on
February 15, 1947. During his youth, growing up in Vermont and New
Hampshire, he was strongly influenced by the intellectual and cultural
institutions of New England. He received both his BA and MA degrees from
Harvard University, where he was active as a conductor, clarinetist,
and composer. His principal teachers included Leon Kirchner, David Del
Tredici and Roger Sessions.
In 1971, Adams began an active career in the San Francisco area,
teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (1972-83) and
serving as new music adviser and composer-in-residence for the San
Francisco Symphony (1978-85).
Adams coined the term “post-minimalism” starting with his piece for string septet Shaker Loops (1978). This style is characterized by greater dynamic contrasts and a more fluid and layered sound. The completion and premiere of Harmonium in 1981 was well-received by critics and the public, establishing Adams as a major American composer. He was the winner of the 2003
Pulitzer prize.
Barihunk Ryan McKinny (left) and tenor Paul Appleby in Girls of the Golden West
His latest opera, "Girls of the Golden West," premiered at the San Francisco Opera on November 21, 2017 to decidedly mixed reviews. The cast included the barihunk trio of Ryan McKinny, Elliot Madore and Davone Tines and, like many of Adams' pieces, dealt with a slice of actual history.
A number of his pieces have leading roles for baritones, including J. Robert Oppenheimer in Dr. Atomic, Nixon in Nixon in China and the critical roles of the captain, terrorist (Rambo) and Klinghoffer in The Death of Klinghoffer. His oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary was written for tenor, soprano, mezzo-soprano and three countertenors!
Thomas Hampson sings a selection from The Wound-Dresser:
He also wrote the Walt Whitman-inspired piece The Wound-Dresser, which
is scored for baritone voice, 2 flutes (or 2 piccolos), 2 oboes,
clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, trumpet (or piccolo tpt),
timpani, synthesizer, and strings.
Upcoming performance of operas by John Adams include Nixon in China at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg in May/June 2018 and Dr. Atomic at the Santa Fe Opera in July/August 2018 with Ryan McKinny and Daniel Okulitch.
Thomas Hampson and his son-in-law Luca Pisaroni are taking their "No Tenors Allowed" show to the Wiener Konzerthaus in Austria on April 3rd. The duo has performed the concert worldwide, including in the Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey, Germany and France. Tickets are available online.
The program includes arias and duets from opera and Broadway. Pisaroni will perform Leporello’s catalogue aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Non più andrai from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, "Sorgete… Duce di tanti eroi: from Rossini's Maometto II and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Some Enchanted Evening. Hampson will perform Gabey’s song from Bernstein's On the Town, Perfidi!...Pietà, rispetto, amore from Verdi's Macbeth, Komm, Zigány from Gräfin Mariza and "Hai già vinta la causa... Vedrò mentr’io sospiro" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. They will also team up for duets from Mozart's Don Giovanni and a medley of Broadway hits.
Hampson originally performed the "No Tenors Allowed" format with bass Samuel Ramey in the 1990's, which is available on Teldec.
We figured that since it's Thanksgiving (in the U.S.), and most people are sitting down for a big sumptuous feast, that it was a great opportunity to look at some of the best scenes in opera involving food. Giuseppe Verdi was known for using food as a plot device in many of his operas, which makes sense as eating and drinking is such a key part of everyday life and certainly can help define a character.
A number of operas and operettas feature drinking songs as part of their plot, including Bizet's Carmen, Berliozs La Damnation de Faust, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's La traviata, Smetena's The Bartered Bride, Verdi's Otello, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Rombergs The Student Prince and, of course, Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.
Here are look at some of our favorite operas features food and drink (and it's by no means an exhaustive list!)
The performance that inspired Barihunks: Mariusz Kwiecien in SF Opera's Don Giovanni
The creation of the Barihunks blog was inspired after seeing Mariusz Kwiecien shirtless on a dinner table at the San Francisco Opera in Mozart's Don Giovanni. The cast also included fellow barihunk Luca Pisaroni as Masetto and hunkentenor Charles Castronovo as Don Ottavio. A true FEAST for the eyes. Don Giovanni appears to have an appetite for everything sumptuous and tasty in life: wine, women and food. Leporello even gets in the action, as he pours out a fine Marzemino wine from northern Italy for Don Giovanni, then nibbles at a piece of pheasant ("Versa il vino! Eccellente Marzimino!").
In Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring thechildren sing with glee in Act 2 about the May Day feast: "Jelly!...Pink blancmange!...Seedy cake! Seedy cake! (with icing on)...Treacle tart!... Sausagey rolls!...Trifle in a great big bowl!...Chicken and ham!...Cheesy straws!...Marzipan!" Asked to make a speech, Albert is tongue-tied and becomes an object of pity at the feast in his honor, but after draining his lemonade glass (satirically underlined with a Tristan chord, alluding to the love potion in that opera) and having a fit of hiccups he manages a few "hip-hip, hurrahs."
Simon Keenlyside sings Hamlet's Drinking Song:
In Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet the title character sings the famous drinking song Ò vin dissipe la tristesse. In the scene, Hamlet meets up with a troupe of actors who will perform a play for the court. With them, he sings a drinking song in which he calls for wine and laughter to dispel his sadness.
One of the most famous drinking songs is Esacamillo's Votre toast from Bizet's Carmen. In the scene, the toréador enters a tavern and sings an ode to bullfighting, the roaring crowds and the glory that comes with victory.
In Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore the townspeople turn out for a prenuptial feast in anticipation of Adina and Belcore's wedding. In the scene, Dulcamara, who is selling the love elixir (which is actually wine) sings, “Weddings are all very nice. But what I like best about them is the pleasant sight of the banquet.”
Is there a more lavish and musically satisfying scene involving food and drink that Act 2 of Puccini’s La bohème set in the Cafe Momus in Paris? In the scene, Schaunard calls for Rhine wine, roast venison, custard and dressed lobster for his fellow Bohemians at the Café Momus. The scene is rich with Parisian street food: oranges, dates, hot chestnuts, nougat, whipped cream, candies, fruit tarts, coconut milk, carrots, trout and plums from Tours.
In Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel the title characters almost become the feast,
as the witch tries to fatten them up to become the meal itself.
James Maddelena as Richard Nixon
In more modern times, the most famous dinner scene is probably at the end of Act 1 of John Adams' Nixon in China. In the scene, President Nixon sings, “The world watches and listens, we must seize the hour” as he toasts his host Prime Minister Chou En-Lai before a banquet. According to the Nixon Foundationm the official menu included “spongy bamboo shoots and egg-white consommé, shark’s fin in three shreds, fried and stewed prawns, mushrooms and mustard green and steamed chicken with coconut, almond junket, pastries, fruits.”
As mentioned early, no composer featured food and drink more prominently than Giuseppe Verdi. Few people have never heard the famous duet with chorus Libiamone' lieti calici from La traviata. The lively song in Act 1 encourages the drinking of wine or other alcoholic beverages, which make "kisses warmer."
One can hardly think of food without thinking of Falstaff, who is one of the great operatic eaters and drinkers. His bill at the Garter Inn, as he recounts at the opera’s opening, is for 6 chickens, 3 turkeys, 2 pheasants, 1 anchovy and 30 bottles of sherry.
Thomas Hampson and Paoletta Marrocu in the banquet scene in Macbeth:
In Act 2 of Macbeth, Verdi calls for a “sumptuously prepared feast” for the banquet scene in which Banquo’s ghost appears to the title character. Lady Macbeth sings a drinking song before this dramatic moment, in which she encourages the guests to drink as much as possible. Not a bad idea considering what happens next!
In Verdi’s lesser known early opera Un giorno di regno, the composer uses appetite as a dramatic device to create tension, as people await for a banquet that never takes place.
Enjoy a FEAST FOR THE EYES with your very own 2017 BARIHUNKS IN BED calendar. Now on sale!!
Our beloved friends at CBC Classical just came out with a list of the 10 best dressed classical musicians, which you can view online.
Imagine our horror when we noticed that not a single stylishly attired barihunk made the list. We were told by the CBC that Ildar Abdrazakov ALMOST made the list. We certainly don't take issue with any of the ten who did make the final cut, but we thought we'd ask our readers to come up with ten of the best dressed barihunks and took less than an hour to compile this list from social media. We couldn't have compiled a better list than our readers, so here they are with a few thoughts (in no particular order).
In the photo from left to right, clockwise from the top left.
Ildar Abdrazakov - He's known to wear John Varvatos, Giorgio Armani and Diesel, and have his tuxedos made by Ermenegildo Zegna. That's style!
Nathan Gunn - The Toronto Star once wrote that he'd look as comfortable on a "fashion runway as on a musical stage." We agree.
Thomas Hampson - He's set the standard for elegance in the world of opera for years. He looks like the James Bond of opera when he steps onto a recital stage.
Alessio Arduini - He's super hot shirtless, but equally as hot in formal wear. Now that' sexy.
Cameron McPhail - This sexy Canadian showed up in tux in Fashion magazine. If you have to wear clothes in chilly Canada, you might as well as look this good!
Matthew Worth - We've seen him dressed as a soldier, a cowboy, a priest, in a tee shirt and in a tux and he's smoking hot in any outfit.
Leon Košavić first caught our eye when he walked onstage at an international singing competition. We love a guy who can sing in a white tie and tuxedo and no one pulls it off like him.
Peter Brathwaite - There is a reason that he was tapped as one of Dockers® Men of Style and appears on Men's Style Fashion. He look sexy dressed casually or formally (and everything in between).
Krešimir Stražanac - No one looks better with an open tux shirt and his gym-toned body teasing the buttons halfway down his shirt.
Jonathan Beyer - He's currently covering Thomas Hampson as Danilo in Chicago's Merry Widow. He's lost 50 pounds and looks Gold Coast, penthouse sexy in a tuxedo.
If you want to enjoy sexy men (slightly more undressed) for the entire year, then check out our 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar! On sale for just 3 more weeks.
If you haven't checked out Thomas Hampson's Distance Learning Master Classes from the Manahattan School of Music they are worth watching. These classes are closed to the public and only be accessible online. The 2014 master class is being broadcast at 4 PM EST/1 PM PST today at http://dl.msmnyc.edu/live.
One baritone was featured last year, Kurt Kanazawa singing Bernstein's "Lonely Town" from On the Town. You can watch the entire 2013 master class here:
Thomas Hampson and his son-in-law Luca Pisaroni are taking their "No Tenors Allowed" show to the Czach Republic and Slovakia. The duo will perform their popular show on Wednesday, December 4th in Bratislava and again on Monday, December 9th in Prague.
The program includes arias and duets from opera and Broadway. Pisaroni will perform Leporello’s catalogue aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Mephistopheles’ serenade from Gounod's Faust, "Sorgete… Duce di tanti eroi: from Rossini's Maometto II and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Some Enchanted Evening. Hampson will perform Gabey’s song from Bernstein's On the Town, Iago's Credo from Verdi's Otello, "Vision fugitive" from Massenet's Hérodiade and "Hai già vinta la causa... Vedrò mentr’io sospiro" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. They will also team up for duets from Verdi's Don Carlo, Bellini's I Puritani and Donizetti's Don Pasquale.
Hampson originally performed the "No Tenors Allowed" format with bass Samuel Ramey in the 1990's, which is available on Teldec.
Hampson's next operatic performance is in Verdi's La traviata at the Bavarian State Opera opposite Ailyn Pérez and Charles Castronovo. The show opens on December 31st. Luca Pisaroni's next operatic performance is as Mozart's Figaro at the Vienna State Opera opening January 9th.
Time is running out to order your 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar. Order yours today by clicking the Lulu button below. Get into the giving spirit now...and remember that every penny of profit goes to benefit young artists.
Are you celebrating National Opera Week? Nearly 100 opera companies, schools and
organizations across the nation are celebrating the event, which began on October 25 and runs through Sunday, November 3, 2013. The goal is to expose more people to the art form by
offering free, accessible events in local communities. Activities include flash opera events, open houses,
online activities, lecture/demonstrations and community performances.
National Opera Week
is coordinated by OPERA America, the national service organization for
opera, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Thomas Hampson, who serves as the program's Honorary Chairman said, "There is something quite
magical about a night at the opera. Those of you who
already love the world of opera: bring your friends, bring your family.
Those of you who are not quite sure you want to explore the world of
opera: I promise you, you do. You will love it."
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was born in Roncole in the former duchy of Parma, he first
studied music in the neighboring town of Busseto. Then, upon being
rejected in 1832, because of his age, by the Milan Conservatory, he
became a pupil of the Milanese composer Vincenzo Lavigna. He returned to
Busseto in 1833 as conductor of the Philharmonic Society.
Thomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey sings "Provero che degno" from Un giorno di regno:
At the age of 25 Verdi again went to Milan. His first opera, Oberto, was produced at La Scala with some success in 1839. His next work, the comic opera Un giorno di regno
(King for a Day, 1840), was a failure, and Verdi, lamenting also the
recent deaths of his wife and two children, decided to give up
composing. After more than a year, however, the director of La Scala
succeeded in inducing him to write Nabucco (1842). The opera
created a sensation; its subject matter dealt with the Babylonian
captivity of the Jews, and the Italian public regarded it as a symbol of
the struggle against Austrian rule in northern Italy. I Lombardi (1843) and Ernani (1844), both great successes, followed, but of the next ten productions only Macbeth (1847) and Luisa Miller (1849) have survived in the permanent operatic repertory. Verdi's three following works, Rigoletto (1851), Il Trovatore (1853), and La Traviata (1853), brought him international fame and remain among the most popular of all operas.
Christian Van Horn Banco's sings "Come dal ciel precipita" from Macbeth:
Operas written in the middle of Verdi's career, including Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball, 1859), La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny, 1862), and Don Carlo
(1867), exhibit a greater mastery of musical characterization and a
greater emphasis on the role of the orchestra than his earlier works. Aïda
(1871), also of this period and probably Verdi's most popular opera,
was commissioned by the khedive of Egypt to celebrate the opening of the
Suez Canal; it was first performed in Cairo. Three years later, Verdi
composed his most important non-operatic work, the Requiem Mass in
memory of the Italian novelist Alessandro Manzoni. Verdi's other
non-operatic compositions include the dramatic cantata Inno delle nazioni (Hymn of the Nations, 1862) and the String Quartet in E minor (1873).
Jonas Kaufmann & Dmitri Hvorostovsky sing "Solenne in quest'ora" from La forza del destino:
In his 70s, Verdi produced the supreme expression of his genius, Otello (1887), composed to a libretto skillfully adapted by the Italian composer and librettist Arrigo Boito from the Shakespearean tragedy Othello. This was followed by Verdi's last opera, Falstaff (1893), also adapted by Boito from Shakespeare, and generally considered one of the greatest of all comic operas.
In general, Verdi's works are most noted for their emotional
intensity, tuneful melodies, and dramatic characterizations. He
transformed the Italian opera, with its traditional set pieces,
old-fashioned librettos, and emphasis on vocal displays, into a unified
musical and dramatic entity. His operas are among those most frequently
produced in the world today.
We don't review recordings, DVDs or performances, as our goal is simply to promote the barihunks that we love. But there are two new recordings that might be of interest to readers and they both feature Thomas Hampson.
Back in April, we posted about Luca Pisaroni singing Paolo Albiani to Thomas Hampson's portryal of the Doge Simon Boccanegra in Vienna. Also in the cast is fellow barihunk Carlo Colombara as the Genoese nobleman Fiesco. The Decca recording was made from live concert performances in Vienna. If the twists and turns of this family plot aren't complicated
enough on stage for you, Pisaroni is Hampson's son-in-law in real life.
At the complete other end of the spectrum is a new crossover album called Great Voices Sing John Denver, featuring some of the biggest names in opera. The album is of interest to our readers that they've included some of the most popular barihunks in the business, including Rod Gilfry, René Pape, Thomas Hampson and Nathan Gunn.
The album also features Plácido Domingo, Daniel Montenegro, Denyce Graves, Patricia Racette, Shenyang, Danielle de Niese and Dolora Zajick, Matthew Polenzani and Placido Domingo, Jr. 89-year-old Milt Okun, who produced all of John Denver’s recordings and won 16 Grammy awards in his career, produced the CD. We particularly enjoyed Rod Gilfry singing This Old Guitar.
It's time for another teaming up of the father-in-law/son-in-law duo of Thomas Hampson and Luca Pisaroni. A little over a year ago, we ran highlights from their concert in Heidleberg, Germany (unfortunately, they have been taken down!). This time the duo will be performing in Busseto, the home of the great composer Giuseppe Verdi.
Samuel Ramey & Thomas Hampson sing Il rival salvar tu dei... Suoni la tromba from I Puritani:
The program is not an all-Verdi, as one might expect. It includes Madamina, il catalogo è questo
from Mozart's Don
Giovanni,
Hai già vinta la causa from Mozart'sLe
nozze di Figaro, Vous qui faites l’endormie from Gounod's Faust, Vision fugitive from Massenet'sHérodiade, La calunnia from Rossini's Il
barbiere di Siviglia, andSorgete… Duce di tanti eroi from Rossini's Maometto
II. But there will be plenty of Verdi, including the thrilling "Restate" duet from Don
Carlo, the Credo from Otello, andPerfidi… Pietà, rispetto, amore from Macbeth. They will close the official program with the crowd-pleasing duet from Bellini's I Puritani "Il rival salvar…Suoni la tromba."
Thomas Hampson sings "Perfidi… Pietà, rispetto, amore" from Macbeth
The concert is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Verdi. It will be held on June 16th at the Teatro All'Aperto in Busseto. Tickets are available by calling +39 0524.91753 or emailing biglietteriaeventi@comune.busseto.pr.it.
We are not aware of any live broadcasts of the performance, but will update our readers if we learn of one.
Über-barihunk Thomas Hampson has been named to the Gramophone Hall of Fame, along with fellow singers Montserrat Caballé, Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Leontyne Price, Bryn Terfel and Fritz Wunderlich.
The Gramophone Hall of Fame celebrates
those performers, producers, engineers and label executives whose
contributions to classical music recording, whether through artistic
excellence, innovation or imagination, have proved the most influential
and inspiring.
For a complete list of both the 2013 inductees and a list of everyone previously inducted, please visit the Gramophone website.
If you love great baritone singing, make sure to tune in your radio or go online to WFMT, Chicago's public radio station. The next three Saturday's will feature a bevvy of our favorite singers including three in this week's broadcast of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. The opera will feature the ageless barihunk Thomas Hampson in the title role alongside the riveting Ferruccio Furlanetto as Fiesco and rising superstar Quinn Kelsey as Paolo. Amelia will be sung by Krassimira Stoyanova and Adorno by Frank Lopardo.
Hampson is currently starring in Verdi's La traviata at the Wiener Staatsoper.
Craig Verm
The following week barihunk Craig Verm can be heard as Albert in Massenet's Werther, in a cast that includes tenor sensation Matthew Polenzani in the title role and Sophie Koch as Charlotte. Verm opens as Ned Keene in Britten's Peter Grimes at the Des Moines Metro Opera on June 22nd.
On June 1st, Italian sex symbol Ildebrando D'Arcangelo takes on the very un-barihunk title role in Donizetti's Don Pasquale opposite the Norina of Marlis Petersen. D'Arcangelo is currently performing the role of Selim in Rossini's comic masterpiece Il turco in Italia at Barcelona's beautiful Gran Theatre del Liceu.
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo
Future broadcasts include Richard Strauss' Elektra, Humperdinck's Hansel & Gretel, Puccini's La boheme, Wagner's Die Meistersinger, Verdi's Rigoletto and Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire with an all-star cast featuring barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and soprano Renée Fleming.
Luca Pisaroni will sing Paolo Albiani and Thomas Hampson will sing the title role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra in Vienna this weekend. The concert performances of the opera will be recorded for future release on Decca. If the twists and turns of this family plot aren't complicated enough on stage for you, Pisaroni is Hampson's son-in-law in real life. We're not sure if Hampson checks for poison when Pisaroni is over for dinner.
Carlo Colombara sings Fiesco's "Suona ogni labbro il mio nome" with Thomas Hampson:
The all-star cast also includes Kristine Opolais, Carlo Colombara and Joseph Calleja. The performances on April 13 and 17 with the Vienna Symphony will be conducted by Massimo Zanetti at the Vienna Konzerthaus.
The great composer Samuel Barber died on this day in 1981 and we figured it was appropriate to commemorate him. After all, he gave us some of the most beautiful music ever written for baritone (as well as other voices).
Samuel Barber's music, masterfully crafted and built on romantic
structures and sensibilities, is at once lyrical, rhythmically complex,
and harmonically rich. He was born on March 9, 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania and died on January 23, 1981.
Barber wrote his first piece at age 7 and attempted his first opera at
age 10. At the age of 14 he entered the Curtis Institute, where he
studied voice, piano, and composition. Later, he studied conducting with
Fritz Reiner.
Giorgio Tozzi sings "For ev'ry love there is a last farewell" from Vanessa:
Samuel Barber wrote numerous songs set to some of the world's greatest poets, including James Joyce, Matthew Arnold, Rainer Maria Rilke, A.E. Housman, James Agee and James Stephens. Some of Barber’s greatest music stemmed from these poetic inspirations, including the Hermit Songs, Knoxville: Summer of 1915, the three powerful James Joyce settings and Rilke's texts for Mélodies passagères. His writing is lyrical with expressive
and nuanced shadings and a keen connection to the text. Songs like "Sure on this shining night" have become standards on song recital programs.
Thomas Hampson sings "Un cygne" from Mélodies passagères:
At Curtis, Barber met Gian Carlo Menotti with whom
he would form a lifelong personal and professional relationship.
Menotti supplied libretti for Barber's operas Vanessa (for which Barber won the Pulitzer) and A Hand of Bridge.
Barber's music was championed by a remarkable range of renowned
artists, musicians, and conductors including Vladimir Horowitz, John
Browning, Martha Graham, Arturo Toscanini, Dmitri Mitropoulos, Jennie
Tourel, Thomas Hampson, Gerald Finley and Eleanor Steber. His Antony and Cleopatra was commissioned to open the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966.
Gerald Finley sings "St. Ida's Vision":
Barber
was the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the American
Prix de Rome, two Pulitzers, and election to the American Academy of
Arts and Letters. His intensely lyrical Adagio for Strings has
become one of the most recognizable and beloved compositions, both in
concerts and films ("Platoon," "The Elephant Man," "El Norte,"
"Lorenzo's Oil").
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sing "Dover Beach":
For more information about Samuel Barber's songs, visit Thomas Hampson's Hampsong site dedicated to promoting the art of the American song.
Perhaps his greatest piece is Knoxville: Summer of 1915, which was written for Eleanor Steber and performed here by Leontyne Price.
The ageless American barihunk Thomas Hampson launched the 2012-13 season of the Orchestre de la Suisse
Romande singing music by the composer with whom he is perhaps most
closely associated: Gustav Mahler. The performance of "Das Lied von der Erde" is now available online and we figured it was a beautiful way to the start the week, so we posted it below.
Hampson and tenor Paul
Groves performed the piece under Music and Artistic director Neeme
Järvi, for two concerts in September in Geneva’s Victoria Hall.
This unique and transcendent “song-symphony,” featuring texts of
Chinese poetry translated into German, with additional texts by Mahler
himself, explores nothing less than the meaning of life, from the
innocent joys of youth to the inevitable parting from this world. True
to the work’s inspiration, Mahler infuses the orchestral sound with many
evocative Eastern touches.
Hampson recorded “Das Lied” in 1995 with
Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and again in
2007 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.
Hampson is currently performing the title role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at the Lyric Opera of Chicago through November 9th. As and added treat, the Fiesco is the great Italian Verdi specialist Ferrucio Furlanetto and Paolo is the rising Verdi baritone star Quinn Kelsey. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.
Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor,
and pianist. His special gift of bridging the gap between the concert hall
and the world of Broadway made him one of the most glamorous and popular musical
figures of his day.
Thomas Hampson sings "Lonely Town":
As a composer Bernstein was a controversial figure.
His large works, including the symphonies
Jeremiah
(1943),
Age of Anxiety
(1949), and
Kaddish
(1963), are not considered masterpieces. Yet
they are skillfully shaped and show his sensitivity to small changes of
musical variety. He received more praise for his Broadway musicals. The
vivid
On the Town
(1944) and
Wonderful Town
(1952) were followed by
Candide
(1956), which, though not a box-office success, is considered by many
to be Bernstein's most original score.
West Side Story
(1957) received international praise. Bernstein's music, with
its strong contrasts of violence and tenderness, determines the feeling
of the show and contributes to its special place in the history of
American musical theater.
His role as an educator, in seminars at Brandeis University
(1952–1957) and in teaching duties at Tanglewood are legendary and still watched by students today. He found an even larger audience through television, where
his animation and distinguished simplicity had an immediate appeal. Two
books of essays,
Joy of Music
(1959) and
Infinite Variety of Music
(1966), were direct products of television presentations.
Thomas Hampson sings "Lucky to be me":
Bernstein had his greatest impact as a conductor. His appearances
overseas—with or without the New York Philharmonic—brought about an
excitement approaching frenzy. These responses were due in part to
Bernstein's energy and emotion. It is generally agreed that his
readings of twentieth-century American scores showed a dedication and
authority rarely approached by other conductors of his time. His
performances and recordings also ushered in a revival of interest in the
music of Gustav Mahler.
There was some surprise when, in 1967, Bernstein resigned
as music director of the Philharmonic. But it was in keeping with his
nature and the diversity of his activities that he sought new channels
of expression. After leaving the Philharmonic Bernstein traveled
extensively, serving as guest conductor for many of the major symphonies
of the world, including the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin
Philharmonic. He became something of a fixture in those cities in the
last few decades of his life.
Sherrill Milnes sings "Maria":
Bernstein also became caught up in the cultural
upheaval of the late 1960s. He angered many when he claimed all music,
other than pop, seemed old-fashioned. Politically, too, he drew
criticism. When his wife hosted a fund-raiser for the Black Panthers in 1970, charges of
anti-Semitism were leveled against Bernstein
himself. Press reports caused severe damage to his reputation. Bernstein
also brought criticism with his stance against the Vietnam War. His activism ultimately led J.
Edgar Hoover and the FBI to monitor his activities and associations.
Jubilant Sykes sings Sanctus/Agnus Dei from "Mass"
In 1971
Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers
premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It was, according
to biographer Humphrey Burton, "the closest [Bernstein] ever came
to achieving a synthesis between Broadway and the
concert hall." The huge cast performed songs in styles ranging
from
rock to blues to gospel.
Mass
debuted on Broadway later that year.
He died in New York City, on
October 14, 1990, of a heart attack brought on by emphysema and other complications.
