Gay Composers Featured in NY and SF

Blier & Blumberg's "Manning the Canon"

The always brilliant and informative Steven Blier  has put together a program of song entitled "Manning the Canon: Songs of Gay Life" with his New York Festival of Song. The genesis of the concert is fascinating, as Blier first conceived of the idea twenty-two years ago and it didn't come to life until he mentioned it to barihunk Jesse Blumberg.

Blumberg, who is a favorite of this site, also runs the Five Boroughs Music Festival, as well as performing as a singer. Blumberg and Blier decided to put together the program last year, but a family emergency forced the singer to cancel. Another favorite of this site, fellow barihunk Matthew Worth, stepped in and took over the program.

Jesse Blumberg & Matt Worth

Last night Blumberg, Blier and Worth reprised the program along with tenor Scott Murphree and bass Matt Boehler. The program inlcuded Marc Blitzstein’s “Purest Kind of a Guy," Christopher Berg’s "Is It Dirty?," Lutvak and Campbell's "Exit Right," Schubert's quartet for four male voices “Auflösung," Tchaikovsky’s “At the Ball," Poulenc’s “Montparnasse," Griffes’s “Evening Song,” John Wallowich’s  “Bruce.” Bolcom’s “Piano Walk” and “I’ll Be By,” Camille Saint Saëns’s “Si vous n’avez rien à me dire,”  Benjamin Britten’s “Night covers up the rigid land,” Manuel de Falla’s “Polo," Cy Coleman's "Tennis Duet,"  Chris DeBlasio’s “Walt Whitman in 1989,”Bernstein's “To What You Said,” and Cole Porter's "You're the Top."

There is one more performance of "Manning the Canon" on December 2 and tickets are available HERE. 

Here is an article from Capital New York about the concert, which also raises the (somewhat ridiculous) question of whether a straight singer like Blumberg can sing "gay music." The answer appears to be what we all should know already: Music is a universal language.

Blumberg is not new to gay themed music, as he premiered Ricky Ian Gordon's "Green Sneakers," which we featured on this site.

Barihunk Randal Turner Sporting Our Favorite Tee Shirt

Fans of Gordon's in the San Francisco Bay Area can hear the amazingly talented barihunk Randal Turner perform his "Four Poems by Dorothy Parker." Turner's program, which features America's greatest living composers, also features music by four gay composers, Glen Roven, Clint Borzoni, Jake Heggie and Gordon.

Borzoni, who studied with David Del Tredici and Lee Hoiby, has written a piece for Randal Turner that is based on Walt Whitman and is dedicated to the gay teens who have recently committed suicide. The program also features another piece written for Turner, Julia Schwartz's "Don Juan at 40" based on a from Histories of Desire by Ron Butlin.

Tickets for the Randal Turner concert are available HERE.

Aussie Football Meets Opera

  Barihunks Jud Arthur and Teddy Tahu Rhodes with North Melbourne vice-captain Drew Petrie. (Picture: Manuela Cifra Source: Herald Sun)

 

 

From the Melbourne Herald-Sun:


By Loretta Hall

MATCH fitness is the secret to success for footy players and opera singers alike.

To prove the point, Opera Australia singers Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Jud Arthur teamed with North Melbourne's Drew Petrie at Arden St this week - and traded tips about staying in shape.

"They have to be in good nick to belt out their tunes," the Kangaroos vice-captain says. "And they need abdominal muscle strength for that."

Petrie was impressed with Arthur's ball-kicking ability.

The singer, performing in Opera Australia's Rigoletto as Monterone, once enjoyed a professional rugby career in New Zealand and only rediscovered his love of song while recovering from injury.

Rhodes, playing the lead role in The Marriage of Figaro, has the physique of an AFL footy player and whenever he performs in the same city as Arthur, they train and run together.

But Arthur admitted their gym regimen was nowhere near as stringent as that of Petrie, who works out six days a week.

Is Petrie into opera? Not as yet but the Kangaroo hopes to "get along for a bit of a listen" this week.

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Send us your listing of Handel's Messiah to Barihunks@gmail.com

John Chest Wows Audience and Judges

Dreamy John Chest

John Chest was clearly the audience favorite a the 2010 Stella Maris International Vocal Competition and almost walked away with the judges top prize, as well. The blonde barihunk walked away with the €15,000 audience favorite prize money and a test contract with Deutsche Grammophon. 

Chest sang a broad range of music throughout the competition, topping it off with a stunning rendition of "Look, through the port" from Britten's "Billy Budd." He also performed "Dunque io son" from the Barber with fellow Merola participant Daniella Mack, Rigoletto in the quartet from Verdi's opera, "Auf dem flusse" from Schubert's "Winterreise," "Lord God of Abraham" from Mendelssohn's "Elijah," the Pierrot-Lied from Korngold’s "Die tote Stadt" and the famous Largo from Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia."

Singers in the competition must be nominated by one of the top opera eight opera companies in the world. Chest was nominated by the Bavarian State Opera and his partner in the Barber duet, Daniella Mack, was nominated by the San Francisco Opera, where Chest was part of the prestigious Merola Opera Program. 

Our source at the competition wrote, "Chest looked every bit as good as he sounded. This guy has true star quality."

John Chest: Future Billy Budd?

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Remember to email us your listing of Handel's Messiah at Barihunks@gmail.com

Erwin Schrott Switches Teams

A Decca Promotional Shot of Erwin Schrott

Barihunk Erwin Schrott aka "Hot Schrott" is switching his recording label from Decca to Sony Classical.

The Uruguayan singer has signed an “exclusive, long-term agreement” with Sony Classical and will release his first CD in April 2011. The recording will feature music from his native South America, and include tangos by Astor Piazzolla, Pablo Ziegler and Juan Carlos Coblan, as well as songs from Argentina and Brazil.

Next year will feature a heavy dose of Mozart, as he sings Leporello and Figaro at Salzburg, Don Giovanni in Berlin and the Count in Vienna.

Keep in mind that we're still posting Messiah's where barihunks are performing. Send us your listing to Barihunks@gmail.com.

John Relyea's Messiah

John Relyea will perform Handel's Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on December 16, 18, 19, 20, and 21. For additional concert infornation and tickets visit the TSO website.

Barihunks will be posting concert information for upcoming Messiah's throughout the holiday season. If you know of a barihunk performing the Messiah, please send your listing to Barihunks@gmail.com.

Kwiecien sings "Vedrò, mentr'io sospiro"

 

Mariusz Kwiecien sings the Count's aria "Vedrò, mentr'io sospiro" from Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro." This was recorded at the Reate Festival outside of Rome in 2010.
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Upcoming Messiah's

Jesse Blumberg

• The University Musical Society Choral Union will perform the Messiah on December 4, 5 and 8 at the Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor with Jesse Blumberg. Visit the UMS website for details and tickets. 

Keith Phares

• TONIGHT Keith Phares performs the Messiah on Saturday, November 27 with the Kansas City Symphony at the Community of Christ Auditorium in Independence, Missouri. Visit the Kansas City Symphony website for details and tickets. 

Randal Turner

• The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performs the Messiah on December 18 at Clowes Memorial Hall with Randal Turner. Visit their website for tickets and performance information. 

Tyler Duncan

• If you want to hear a Messiah the way Handel wrote it and performed it, then check out the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, which is featuring Tyler Duncan. Performances are December 3, 4, 5 and 7 throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit their website for performance and ticket information.