Cameron McPhail's beefy Rape of Lucretia

Cameron McPhail in The Rape of Lucretia at Yale

We recently included Cameron McPhail in a post about the nine baritones performing in the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions at Merkin Hall in New York City on November 18 and 19. After the post went up, we were told about some sexy pictures of him as Tarquinius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at Yale during the 2011-12 season. 

Of course, we had to find them and provide a better introduction to this fast rising Canadian baritone, who holds both an Artist Diploma in Voice and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from The University of British Columbia. He spent the 2011-12 season completing his Masters of Music at the Yale Opera Studio where he studied with American bass Richard Cross.

A 2014 winner of the George London Foundation Competition, McPhail joined the Canadian Opera Company for the 2012-13 season as a member of the Ensemble Studio where he made his company debut as the Premiere Officer in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites. During the 2013-14 season he returned to Canadian Opera Company with mainstage appearances as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, and Silvano in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.

He just finished four performances of Orff's Carmina Burana with the Florida Orchestra under the baton of Danail Rachev. He returns to his native Canada on December 5th for Handel's Messiah with the Edmonton Symphony. On February 25, 2015, he'll create the role of Reverend Colgate in a world premiere concert staging of Gregory Vajda’s comic opera Georgia Bottoms with the Huntsville Symphony. The opera about the modern South, is based on the national best-seller by Alabama author Mark Childress.

If you want to enjoy 19 of opera's sexiest and most talented singers all year, make sure to order your own copy of the 2015 Barihunks Calendar by clicking below.

Catching up with Damien Pass in France

Damien Pass

When we last featured Aussie barihunk Damien Pass in 2007, he had recently graduated from Oberlin, had won and Encouragement Award from the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition and was starting to get small roles in places like Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera North and the Music Academy of the West. Somehow we lost track of him until we received an email recently asking why he wasn't included in our poll of sexiest Aussie barihunks.

We're pleased to announce that we found him in France, where he's been singing smaller roles at the Paris Opera.  He's performed Don Inigo (L’heure Espagnole, Ravel), Frank Maurrant (Street Scene, Weill), Lucas (Les Troqueurs, Dauvergne), and the Marquese (Mirandolina, Martinů) with the Atelier Lyrique at the Paris Opera.

Damien Pass sings Aaron Copland's "At the River":

In September 2001, Pass made his Parisian recital debut with the Fesival les journées romantiques with a program that included Aaron Copland, Franz Liszt, Cole Porter, Franz Schubert and Henri Duparc.

He's also made his mark outside of France, singing the title role in Handel’s Saul with the Britten-Pears Orchestra conducted by Richard Egarr in Aldeburgh.

 Damien Pass sings Aaron Copland's "Long Time Ago":

Pass will next be seen March 15th at the Palais Garnier in a program of Massenet with the Paris Opera Orchestra. A week later he'll be part of a concert of music by Franz Schubert, Hugo Wolf et Richard Wagner at the Goethe Institute in Paris. We'll try to keep better tabs on this promising young talent in the future.

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