David Adam Moore featured in The Examiner

David Adam Moore from the 2012 Barihunks calendar (photo Moses Jones)

Barihunk David Adam Moore received an extensive feature in the Southeast Texas issue of The Examiner, which you can read below.

Moore can next be heard on January 15th with the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing Prior Walter in Eötvös' "Angels in America."The all-star cast also includes Brian Asawa, Measha Brueggergosman and Julia Migenes. Tickets are available online. In February and March, he'll be featured as Stanley Kowalski in Andre Previn's Streetcar Named Desire with Virginia Opera. On April 5th, he'll be featured in the same role with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The musical journey of Southeast Texas native  

David Adam Moore

From youth, people struggle to find their place in the world. They long to find their path, the road that leads them to the future. Students strive to decide what direction they want their lives to take. Once decided, obstacles in the path can cause people to choose to fork and leave completely the path they thought they wanted to follow, changing the course of their futures. Vidor native David Adam Moore faced obstacles and veered onto a path that would ultimately lead him to be a highly sought after operatic baritone.

The life of a performer, a life spent traveling, city to city, country to country, across continents, is a difficult yet rewarding one, according to Moore. He was raised in Vidor, born into a family with a musical background.

“I started making music from childhood because my family are all country and western musicians going back like five or six generations,” Moore said. “I think my grandfather, John Shirley Moore, actually had his own radio show as a teenager and started playing professionally locally in the nightclub scene from the time he was a teenager. My dad, John ‘Bubba’ Moore started working the nightclub scene in Southeast Texas when he was 13. Most of my aunts and uncles and my cousins play music…Most of them are nightclub musicians but some have played on the national level. My dad toured with Tracy Byrd for 15 years or so. So, I was around people making music.”

David Adam Moore pays homage to Leonard Bernstein

Moore said his interest was in electronic music, which had gained popularity at the time. He listened to bands like The Cure, The Smiths and Depeche Mode. He worked with synthesizers and learned about the technical side of music. He also started listening to classical music on KVLU while in high school. Moore said, at that time, he planned to go to college to study theology and possibly linguistics. A talent show at Vidor High School lead him to become a member of the choir, altering his course though he did not know it at the time. [Continue reading HERE]

Britain Begins Celebrating Britten on BBC

Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Billy Budd at Opera Australia

BBC Radio 3 will begin a yearlong celebration of the life of Benjamin Britten on January 26th with a broadcast of the English National Opera’s 2012 production of Billy Budd starring Benedict Nelson. That broadcast will be followed on June 7th with Peter Grimes, live from the Aldeburgh Festival, and Gloriana, live from the Royal Opera House, on June 29th. The Aldeburgh Festival was founded by Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears in 1948.

Each opera broadcast will be introduced by a BBC Radio 3 Opera Guide, which will be available to download for free from the station’s website after the performance. 

Todd Boyce debuts Germont père in La traviata

Todd Boyce in Britten's Albert Herring (left)

We featured Todd Boyce in our sidebar yesterday as our daily video clip singing "Di Provenza" from Verdi's La traviata. We're big fans of his and loved hearing him debut this role. We've always been partial to younger Germont père's, as Violetta is a young courtesan and it fits the story more accurately.

Boyce is part of the Luzerner Theater ensemble where he'll also be singing Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola, Eumete in Monteverdi's Il Ritorno D'Ulisse in Patria and Niceros in Bruno Maderna's Satyricon.

His Germont père debuts tonight, so we thought we'd feature his sound clip of Di Provenza one more time. Tickets are available online.

Seph Stanek puts on some clothes for Yeoman

Seph Stanek in Naked Boys Singing

Seph Stanek, who has been appearing in Naked Boys Singing at the Kirk Theater, is going to put on some clothes and join the cast of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. He'll be performing the Headsman in The Yeomen of the Guard, which runs from January 18-20. Tickets are available online.

The buff singer, actually trained to sing opera but has done virtually everything in his young career, including appearing on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, performing with the all-male classical-crossover quartet Figaro, and performing with Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Trisha Yearwood, Carol Channing, Debbie Reynolds, Brooke Shields, and Sandi Patty.

His opera credits include Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with Spartanburg Opera, the Baron in Verdi's La traviata with Lyrique-en-mer, the Notary in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Furman Opera and a soldier in the Met's Aida. He also was a lead singer during the American and International tour of "Twelve Irish Tenors."

Enjoy Seph Stanek singing Rubber Ducky in his rub a dub dub tub:

 

Cast Change: Alex Lawrence to close Pagliacci in Zurich

Alex Lawrence

Barihunk Alex Lawrence, who also happens to the be the son-in-law of barihunk Rod Gilfry, is stepping in as Silvio in the closing night performance of Pagliacci at the Opernhaus Zürich. The performance will be on Saturday, January 12 at 7 PM and also features Elena Moșuc as Nedda, Zoran Todorovich as Canio and Lucio Gallo as Tonio.

Tickets are available online. 

Lawrence scored a huge success as Sam in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti in Zurich last November. 

"Marty in the Morning" has some fun with barihunks

Richard Suart

Gilbert and Sullivan specialists Richard Suart and Steven Page appeared on the popular Irish radio show "Marty in the Morning" this morning. Although "The Gondoliers" was the topic, it eventually turned into a fun discussion about barihunks.  A phenomenon that they described as a bunch of "well-endowed baritones who attend gymnasiums...who are almost exclusively Americans."

The topic apparently didn't come up by accident, as Marty said his notes stated "ask about barihunks" highlighted in yellow marker. We felt bad that the two "avid watchers" of the site have never appeared on it, so we thought a post was only appropriate.

Steven Page

The segment includes some fun clips from Gilbert & Sullivan, including "From the sunny Spanish shore."

The two men are performing "The Gondoliers" at the National Concert Hall in Dublin on Thursday, January 10th. Tickets are available online. 

You can listen to the show online. The conversation starts around the 2:39 mark with the two comic performers. Welcome to Barihunks, lads.

"The flowers that bloom in the Spring" sung by Marie McLaughlin as Yum Yum, Richard Suart as Ko-Ko, Anthony Rolfe Johnson as Nanki-Poo, Anne Howells as Pitti-Sing, 

and Richard van Allan as Pooh-Bah

Hot New Photo of Markus Werba and Dichterliebe

Markus Werba from his website

 We're looking forward to Markus Werba's appearance as the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Torino opening on February 15th. In the meantime, we'd thought we'd share his performance of Schubert's Dichterliebe with pianist Gary Matthewman. We also thought it was a good excuse to share one of hot new pictures from his website.