Barihunk André Courville wins Giargiari Bel Canto Competition

Anush Avetisyan (far left) and André Courville

We're still mystified when we post about a singer and someone comments, "But can he sing?" Baritones (including a large percentage of barihunks) have been winning major singing competitions at a rate so high that this era has been dubbed the "Golden Age of Baritones." Composers like Ricky Ian Gordon have publicly marveled at the rich supply of amazing baritones and mezzos, while composer Jake Heggie is now writing most of his male leads for lower voices.

The latest barihunk to walk away with top honors is André Courville, who won the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia last night. He sang Sorge infausta una procelia from Handel's Orlando. Other barihunks in the competition were Jared Bybee, who performed O Carlo, ascolta from Verdi's Don Carlo, and Michael Adams, who performed Ô vin, dissipe la tristesse from Thomas' Hamlet.

The Oreste A. and Arturo Giargiari Bel Canto Competition was founded by Raymond F. Giargiari in memory of his father and brother, both opera fans and AVA devotees. Originally, vocal selections from the "bel canto" repertoire were performed exclusively, but over the years the competition has grown to include Italian, French, German, and English language arias from a variety of periods. Past winners include tenors James Valenti and Stephen Costello, and soprano October Opera News cover girl Angela Meade.  AVA Master Vocal Coach Danielle Orlando prepares and accompanies the singers.

The competition concert will be broadcast online today at 4pm EST/1pm PST You can listen and vote for your favorite singer online.

Matija Meić takes two prizes at Mirjam Helin Competition

Matija Meić took the top prize for Finnish song interpretation and 2nd overall for men

Even though three of the four male finalists were baritones, the top prize for a male singer at the 7th Annual Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition was awarded to tenor Beomjin Kim, who we commend for his stellar performances. However, the €3 000 prize for the best performance by a non-Finnish singer of a Finnish song went to Croatian baritone Matija Meić. Meić placed second behind Kim, followed by fellow Croatian Leon Kosavic and Ukranian Dmytro Kalmuchyn.

First prize for a female singer went to the Ukranian soprano Kateryna Kasper, who was followed by Russian soprano Ekaterina Morozova, Korean soprano Sunyoung Seo and Russian soprano Elena Guseva. 

A total of €133 000 was awarded in prizes and the laureates receive invitations to perform in Finland and abroad. The members of the Jury voted independently and did not discuss the performances during the voting procedure. In adjudicating the Final performances from all three rounds were taken into account.

Forty-six singers from around the globe took part in the Competition this year, with the jury selecting 19 for the semi-finals and eight for the final round. The chairman of the 2014 Jury was the Artistic Director of the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Jorma Silvasti. Other jurists included Franz Grundheber, Maria Guleghina, Ben Heppner, Robert Holl, Andrea Rost, Nathalie Stutzmann and Deborah Voigt.

The prize winners will perform at a concert on August 15th at Tampere Hall accompanied by the Tampere Philharmonic under the baton of Hannu Lintu.

You can listen to Majita Meić's performance HERE,  Leon Kosavic's performance HERE, and Dmytro Kalmuchyn's performance HERE.

Four more baritones compete in Mirjam Helin Competition

Four more baritones performed on the second day of the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition. Once again, all of the performances are available online.

Ukrainian baritone Dmytro Kalmuchyn sang with Tuula Hällström at the piano. He performed J.S. Bach's Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde, Schumann's Der Soldat, Rachmaninov's Notš petšalna and Mozart's Fin ch'han dal vino from Don Giovanni. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

Korean baritone Insu Hwang performed with Eunmyung Baek at the piano.  He sang Händel's Arm, arm ye brave from Judas Maccabaeus, Schumann's Ballade des Harfners, Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre and E sogno? o realtà from Verdi's Falstaff. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

British baritone Thomas Humphreys sang with Raya Kostova at the piano. He performed Händel's The trumpet shall sound from the Messiah, Schubert's Der Zwerg, Gounod's Avant de quitter ces lieux from Faust, and Rachmaninov's Ne poi, krasavitsa, pri mne. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

Russian baritone Kirill Goriunov sang with Ilmari Räikkönen at the piano. He performed Händel's Dignare, o Domine from the Dettingen Te Deum, Schubert's Frühlingsglaube, Rachmaninov's Ja opjat odinok and Verdi's O Carlo, ascolta from Don Carlo. You can watch his entire performance HERE.

The preliminary round continues through August 7th with 46 singers competing to get into the semi-finals on August 9-10. The finals will be held on August 13 with the prizewinners performing on August 15th. Tickets for all rounds are available online or at the Lippupiste ticket shop. 

Henning von Schulman takes 2nd Place at Stenhammar Competition

Henning von Schulman

Baritones continued their streak of taking top prizes at international vocal competition, as Henning von Schulman, Alexander Sukhanov and Kyubong Lee took three of the seven prizes at the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition.

Swedish bass Henning von Schulman was the most consistent singer of the night and took 2nd place, finishing behind American mezzo Chrystal Williams, who brought the house down with her rendition of "Una voce poco fa" from Rossini's Barber of Seville. The Swedish bass performed Mozart's Catalog Aria from Don Giovanni and Verdi's "Ella giammai m'amo" from Don Carlos.

Korean baritone Kyubong Lee won the coveted Stenhammar Prize for the best performance of one of the Swedish composer's songs. Russian baritone Alexander Sukhonov took 4th Prize and performed "O Carlo, ascolta" from Verdi's Don Carlos and "Kogda bi zhihn...Vymnia pichaly..." from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.

Henning von Schulman, trained at OperaAkademiet in Copenhagen where he graduated in the spring of 2013. He started his singing career in the well acclaimed Swedish male chorus Orphei Drängar, and continued on to study at the Vadstena Folkhögskola and the Malmö Academy of Music.

At the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen he has performed the prison guard in Puccini's Tosca and the messenger in Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten. He also performed Masetto and the Commendatore in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Danish Opera Academy.

This Fall, von Henning will sing Walton in Bellini's I Puritani at the Tivoli Festival, as well as Henrik in Carl Nielsen's Maskerade and Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Royal Danish Opera.

Keep the Barihunk Winning Streak Alive: Vote for Jonathan Beyer Online at the Paris Opera Awards

Barihunk couple

We've given extensive coverage to the winning streak that barihunks (and baritones) are having in vocal competitions across the globe. If you've ever fantasized about being a judge in one of those competitions you now have your chance.

The Paris Opera Awards, in honor of Maria Callas, are holding an online vocal competition. One of the contestants is Jonathan Beyer, who may have the most amazing winning record of any singer in vocal competitions. We know of at least eighteen competitions where he's taken the top prize.

You can register online to vote and if you register as a premium member you'll be entered into a drawing for a deluxe trip to Paris for two or a brand new car. Once the online voting is complete, the top 100 singers with the highest ranking will compete before a panel of judges. Ten of the top 50, five female and five male, will then be announced will participate in a gala performance.    

Jonathan Beyer has selected "Ah, per sempre" from Bellini's I puritani, which was an opera in which Maria Callas had one of her most triumphant successes.

This competition is loaded with sopranos and has very few baritones, so show your support for the low voices and vote at the Paris Opera Awards website.

Baritones Continue Vocal Competition Dominance: Lattanzi, Cedel & O'Hanlon

Joseph Lattanzi sporting some Brooks Brothers clothing

We ran a post last month called "The Golden Age of Baritones is Now," in which we pointed out that baritones are dominating vocal competitions, stages and marketing campaigns like at no other time in history. The trend seems to be continuing in competitions much smaller than the Met Auditions, as well. Half of the finalists in the Palm Beach Opera’s vocal competition junior division (ages 18 to 23) were baritones. 

Brandon Cedel & Emmett O'Hanlon

The three baritones include Joseph Lattanzi, who we've previously featured on this site, Emmett O’Hanlon, and Brandon Cedel, who happens to be the other half of a barihunk couple. His partner is Jonathan Beyer, who we've been praising for his seemingly effortless ability to win vocal competitions. Apparently, it's rubbing off on Cedel. 

Other winners included soprano Danielle Adams, tenor Marco Stafani and soprano Betsy Diaz. The six finalists will be ranked and awarded $47,000 in prizes during an orchestral concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Kravis Center. For information, call 833-7888 or visit pbopera.org.

Lattanzi has put together a new website and was recently accepted into the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, one of our favorite in the country. Lattanzi will be joining two of our favorite young barihunks in Seattle, Erik Anstine and David Krohn, who are respectively playing Leporello and Don Giovanni in the current YAP production of the Mozart opera. 

Amanda Opuszysnki and Erik Anstine (©Rozarii Lynch photo)

When we posted about Joseph Lattanzi a year ago, we predicted that he might have a future on this site and apparently we were right. We would like to wish all of the finalists in the PBO junior division vocal competition the best of luck with their careers. 

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

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