Reader Submission: Ed Ballard

Ed Ballard

Ed Ballard, our latest reader submission, is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The London born singer is a former chorister who went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and later received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Philosphy in History from Clare College, Cambridge.

He has performed numerous choral works throughout the U.K. including Bach's St Matthew Passion, Handel's Messiah, Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, Fauré's Reqiuem, Duruflé's Reqiuem and Howells Reqiuem, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Theresiennemesse, Finzi's In Terra Pax and Stainer's Crucifixion.

His operatic roles include Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Edinburgh and Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte in Cambridge, Death in Holst’s Savitri and Louis in The Wandering Scholar at the Grimeborn Opera Festival, Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Dartington International Summer School and Mother/Brother in Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins in Cambridge  with the Carmen Elektra Underground Opera.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Barihunk Paulo Szot Live in Theaters Worldwide Tomorrow

Paulo Szot as Don Giovanni at the Dallas Opera

The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Massenet’s Manon will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world on Saturday, April 7 as part of The Met: Live in HD series. Barihunk Paulo Szot sings Manon’s cousin Lescaut in the performance.

Anna Netrebko will make her Met role debut as the tragic heroine Manon in the production directed by Laurent Pelly. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will conduct the opera for the first time at the Met, and tenor Piotr Beczala makes his role debut as the ardent Chevalier des Grieux. The Met: Live in HD presentation of Manon will be hosted by soprano Natalie Dessay.

Visit the Met's website for more information on The Met: Live in HD series, now seen in more than 1,700 movie theaters in 54 countries around the world..

Szot starred as Kovalyov in the 2010 Met premiere of Shostakovich’s The Nose and returned last season as a sexy Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen. He won a 2008 Tony Award for his portrayal of Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Peter Brathwaite signs recording deal as part of Amore

Peter Brathwaite as he appears as the April feature in the Barihunks calendar

British barihunk Peter Brathwaite is one of our featured singers for the month of April in our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar, so it seems appropriate to announce his latest success.

Amore

Brathwaite is part of a new opera quartet called Amore, which has signed up with Warner Brothers Records. Their debut album entitled "Stand Together" is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom on May 28 and is available for pre-order on Amazon. Tracks include Abide With Me, Nella Fantasia, Ave Maria, the Flower duet, Cantique De Jean Racine, Amazing Grace, Here's To The Heroes, the Bacarolle, Jerusalem, Nimrod (We Will Stand Together) and the Brindisi (which you can sample below).

The group goes on tour this summer, with a concert on June 29 at Russell Watson's Jubilee Proms in Buckinghamshire. In August, they will be in Scarborough and Saffron Walden. Check out their website for additional information. You can also follow the quartet on Twitter at @weareamore  or on Facebook.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Reader Submission: Dmitry Zuev

Dmitry Zuev

We don't get many emails from Russia, so we perked up when we saw an email suggesting we check out the guy singing the title role in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" at the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre in Moscow.

Zuev was born in Russia and studied at the famous Moscow State Conservatory. His repertoire includes Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Gryaznoi in The Tsar's Bride (Rimsky-Korsakov), Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), Marcello in La boheme (Puccini), the title role in Yevgeny Onegin (Tchaikovsky) and others. He has performed in Israel, Spain, Great Britain, Italy, Estonia and Azerbaijan.

The next performance of Eugene Onegin is on Thursday, April 5th.

We'll keep an eye on this singer as his career progresses. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any video, but here is another famous Russian, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, singing Eugene Onegin.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Breaking News: Michael Weyandt wins Trueman Art Song Competition

Michael Weyandt

Barihunks continue to leave the competition in the dust at vocal competitions around the world. The two top winners at the Mary Trueman Art Song Vocal Competition in New York City were both barihunks.

Michael Weyandt won top honors and Malcolm Merriweather won an encouragement award (along with mezzo Rosalie Sullivan).  As winner, Weyandt will be featured in his own recital with accompanist Thomas Muraco in 2013. The talented singer can next be seen performing Handel's "Almira" with operamission from May 26-31.

Weyandt performs Peter Maxwell Davis' Eight Songs for a Mad King, with the 

Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble:

Weyandt performed Bellini's "Ma rendi pur contento," Schubert's "Das Zugenglocklein," Brahms' "Unbewegte laue Luft," Debussy's "Trois Ballades de Francois Villon, no. 2.," Poulenc's "Sanglots," and Ives' "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven." His accompanist was Jennifer Peterson.

Malcolm Merriweather

Merriweather performed Richard Strauss' "Lob des Leidens," Rossini's "L'ultimo ricordo," Hahn's "A Chloris," Mahler's "Wer hat dies Leidsein erdacht?," Ives' "He is there!" and Ralph Vaughan Williams' "I got me flowers" (from Five Mystical Songs). His accompanist was Alden Gatt.

Malcolm Merriweather singing "Easter" from Five Mystical Songsin 2010:

All finalists who participated will receive free admission into future ASPS workshops and master classes for the next year where each will have the opportunity to work closely with master class guest artist on the ASPS Advisory Board.

The competition is sponsored by the Art Song Preservation Society of New York.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Reader Submission: Waltteri Torikka

Waltteri Torikka (Photo by Kurt Rodahl Hoppe)

Our latest reader submission is Finnish baritone Waltteri Torikka, who is wrapping up a run as Don Giovanni at the Royal Danish Opera Academy today. Torikka won the Finnish national “Lappeenrannan laulukilpailut” song competition in 2010 and received the “HSBC Laureates” prize at the prestigious  Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2009. 

Torikka has performed with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg. In 2009, he made his debut at the Finnish National Opera as Herastuomari in Leevi Madetoja's “The Ostrobothnians.” Other roles he has performed include “Il Re di Scozia” in Handel's “Ariodante,” Vorotov in Ville Raasakka's “Kohtalokkaat Oppitunnit” and Masetto in Mozart's “Don Giovanni.” Next year, he is scheduled to appear at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Torikka is apprentice artist in the Finnish National Opera 2012-13.

We'll be keeping an eye on this young talent.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Erik Anstine's CAMI site

Erik Anstine

Erik Anstine, who appeared in our charity calendar has a beautiful new listing on the Columbia Management (CAMI) site, which we wanted to share with readers. Here is the text:

Praised for the beauty of his voice and the vitality of his performances, American basso Erik Anstine is making a name for himself on opera and concert stages in North America and Europe.

This summer, Mr. Anstine is a member of The Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program. He will cover the Archbishop in Szymanowski’s “Król Roger” and Sciarrone in “Tosca”.

In the 2012-13 season, Mr. Anstine joins the ensemble of Opernhaus Zürich where he will perform Bartolo in “Le nozze di Figaro”, Biterolf in “Tannhäuser” , Zweiter Soldat in “Salome”, Anfisa in the premiere of Eötvös’ “Drei Schwestern”, and Hausknecht / Wächter in a new production of “Lady Macbeth of Mtensk”.

As a member of Los Angeles Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program for the 2011-12 season, Mr. Anstine appeared as the Captain in “Eugene Onegin”, Frère Jean in “Romßo et Juliette”, and Der Tod in Viktor Ullman’s “Der Kaiser von Atlantas” under the baton of James Conlon as part of the company’s on-going Recovered Voices series. Mr. Anstine made his Seattle Opera main stage debut in 2011 as the Second Priest in “Die Zauberflöte”. As a member of Seattle Opera’s young artist program, Mr. Anstine was heard as Leoprello in “Don Giovanni”, Don Alfonso in “Così fan tutte” and Truffaldino in “Ariadne auf Naxos”. He was a participant in the 2010 Castleton Festival where he sang the Notary in “Gianni Schicchi” and stepped in at the last minute to perform Peachum in John Gay’s “A Beggar’s Opera”.

Erik Anstine was the Grand Prize Winner of the Orpheus Vocal Competition and a participant in Thomas Quasthoff’s “Das Lied” competition in Berlin in 2009. He was also a two-time Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Erik Anstine was graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Music degree, and from Indiana University with a Master of Music degree. During his studies at Northwestern University, Mr. Anstine studied abroad for one year at the Royal Academy of Music in London.