Morgan Smith featured in Opera News

Morgan Smith (Photo © James Salzano 2014;Grooming Affan Malik)

Morgan Smith has rugged good looks, striking intelligence, charismatic stage presence and a powerful baritone of mingled velvet and steel — yet he considers himself a work in progress. “One of my biggest challenges has been thinking too much,” he says. “People say the best singers are those who are able to turn down the velocity of the wheels in their head — not to say I’m some brilliant mind, but I do have a very analytical, active mind, and I often feel I could be better at turning that off at the appropriate times.” But he notes that a singer has to earn the right to let go. “It’s so important for any artist — in order to be a vessel, in order to have the story speak through them, the technical ducks have to be in a row.”

Smith grew up in White Plains, playing cello, jazz bass and soccer (Columbia recruited him as a goalie), but a high-school production of Into the Woods opened the door to vocal studies, and by the time he had earned his Ivy League B.A., he was ready to pursue his master’s degree at Mannes. “And then what do you do after that?” he says. “You hurry up and wait for your pants to fit.” 

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Operas next great Cassandra may be Seth Carico

Seth Carico as Cassandra (photo by Bernd Uhlig)

When we think of Cassandra in opera, we immediately think of the great leading ladies of opera who have portrayed her on the stage, particularly in Berlioz's masterpiece Les Troyens. One thinks of Geraldine Ferrar, Jessye Norman, Deborah Voigt, Anna Caterina Antonacci and Janet Baker, all of whom had career defining moments in the role of King Priam's daughter and prophetess. Well, move over divas, there's a new girl in town...and it's a guy!

Barihunk Seth Carico is currently starring as Kassandra (Cassandra) in Iannis Xenkis' Oresteia at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The production has been mounted on the upper deck of its multi-story parking garage rather than on their mainstage. The premiere of the work was actually performed on a baseball field in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

The work is somewhat of a hybrid between dance and opera, with ancient Greek tradition being upheld as the chorus tells much of the story. As in other productions, the bass-baritone is expected to sing in both his natural voice and a falsettto making this an extremely difficult feat for Carico. In this production Cassandra is portrayed as one of two spirits trying to inhabit one body.

Michael Hofmeister as Athena photo by Bernd Uhlig)

The story begins at the close of the Trojan War and touches on Agamemnon’s return with Cassandra and the murder of them both by his wife, Clytemnestra. The core questions posed in the piece relate to guilt, ritual, religion and personal responsibility – or the agreeable system of social organization. The work ends with Athena’s establishment of mortal justice and her conversion of the Furies into the more benign Eumenides.

Seth Carico as Cassandra (photo by Bernd Uhlig)

The staging is by director David Hermann and set designer Christof Hetzer, who teamed up at the Deutsche Oper Berlin for Helmut Lachenmann’s The Little Match Girl. Performances continue from September 12-16 and tickets are available online.

This isn't Seth Carico's first appearance dealing with gender, regular readers will remember this post of him at the Fort Worth Opera in Mark Adamo's Lysistrata. 

Wes Mason takes on Bernie Madoff

Barihunk Wes Mason, who just finished a successful run as Curly in Oklahoma! at the Utah Festival Opera, will be turning his attention to another American tale. On September 14th, he'll be singing the role of Bernie Madoff in a workshop of composer Luna Pearl Woolf's new opera The Pillar.

The opera is based on Diana Henriques’ bestselling book The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust. The opera tells the tale Ruth Madoff, who has dedicated her whole life to her husband, a pillar of the community. When Bernie Madoff falls into disgrace, she must finally confront choices—and consequences—of truly operatic proportions. The story digs beneath the surface of this contemporary scandal to uncover a timeless meditation on loyalty, corruption, and the nature of love.

Mason will be part of a workshop at the Opera America Center Recital Hall at 330 Seventh Avenue in New York where the audience can hear selection of the opera and offer feedback.

You can RSVP and reserve your seat by clicking here or by visiting: http://tinyurl.com/ThePillarRSVP

 Wes Mason rehearsing Curly in Oklahoma!

We asked Wes about working on The Pillar and this is what he told us:

"It has been such a joy of a process rehearsing and discovering with Luna, David and everyone. When you are in a room with a top notch team of artisans that are able to share their insight and take direction from the creators of a work, you just light up with inspiration. The music, the words, and the interpretation of the other singers has moved me to tears. This is a fascinating work so far. Workshops are a real gift."

Upcoming performances include Ford in Nicoai's The Merry Wives of Windsor at Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Stanley in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at Kentucky Opera, Jonathan Reed in Dove's Siren Song with Hawaii Opera and the title role of Hamlet in the Ambroise Thomas classic at the Fort Worth Opera Festival.

Dallas Opera's Upcoming Barihunky Season

Craig Verm

The Dallas Opera is under new leadership this season, but fortunately some of our favorite barihunks are still on the roster.

The season is kicking off with one of Italy's best exports, bass-barihunk Mirco Palazzi who debuted with the company in 2010 as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni. That performance was also his U.S. debut and the cast for that John Pascoe production featured three barihunks, with Paulo Szot as the Don and Ben Wager as Masetto.

We're thrilled that Dallas is bring him back to sing Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in an all-star cast that features Joshua Hopkins, Nicole Car,  Emily Fons, Diana Montague and Kevin Langan. Performances will run from October 24 through November 9th.

On October 30th, bass-barihunk Greer Grimsley will make his company debut opposite the Salome of Deborah Voigt in Richard Strauss' masterpiece. The production in being directed by the queen mother of barihunks, Francesca Zambello.

That production will be followed by a double-bill of Catalani's rarely performed opera La Wally and the world premiere of Joby Talbot's Everest. We did an extensive feature on Everest, which featured barihunk calendar model Craig Verm.

Jonathan Beyer, Steven LaBrie and Alexander Vinogradov (L-R)

In March, the company brings another barihunk trio to the stage, when they present Puccini's La boheme with Alexander Vinogradov, Jonathan Beyer and Steven LaBrie.  We featured Alexander Vinogradov back in 2009 when we identified him as an emerging talent to watch.

The season wraps up with Tchaikovsky's Iolanta. Tickets and additional cast information is available on the Dallas Opera website. 

Chris Carr to perform concert in honor of WWI centenary

Chris Carr

After a successful run as Billy Bigelow in Carousel at the Glimmerglass Festival, Iowa native Chris Carr returns to his home state for a recital called "Remembering WWI and its Meaning in Music." 2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of WWI, where over 16 million people across the globe lost their lives.  It was the first real instance of total war, where entire nations were pitted against each other; millions of men fought on land, at sea and in the air; modern weaponry caused mass casualties and civilian populations suffered hardships and came under threat of enemy attack.

The recital will be held on September 14th at the University Center in Quasqueton, Iowa.

In the first half he will be performing George Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad, Alban Berg's 4 Gesänge, Op.2, Britten's War Requiem arias, 3 French poplar songs, Korngold's Pierrots Tanzlied and the Soliloquy. After intermission, he will perform Léo Chauliac & Charles Trenet Que reste-t-il de nos amours, Les Feuilles mortes (Autumn Leaves) and Sous le ciel de Paris, made famous by Edith Piaf and Yves Montand.

Upcoming performances include The Polar Express with the Phoenix Symphony on November 30th, The Pilot in The Little Prince at the Washington National Opera in December, and Eugene Onegin with the Arizona Opera in February 2015.

Seán Boylan wins Northern Ireland Opera’s Festival of Voice

Seán Boylan

Irish barihunk Seán Boylan has won the 2014 Northern Ireland Opera’s Festival of Voice held in the historic village of Glenarm in County Antrim. The competition, is limited to singers aged 18-27 who were born in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. He is studying for his third year of his music degree at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Boylan has won a number of awards for his singing throughout Ireland and was a John McCormack Society scholar, as well as being named a ‘Rising Star’ of the Royal Dublin Society.

In opera, he has played the roles of Ben in Menotti's The Telephone, and Tancredi in Monteverdi's Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, as well as the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni and scenes from his Magic Flute.

Boylan has performed throughout the U.K., including a recital at St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, the Clifden Arts Festival, the Drogheda International Classical Music Series, the Abbey Theatre, the Convention Centre, Dublin, the National Concert Hall, Dublin, the home of the Irish President and at the Léran music festival.

A talented pianist and organist (who studied under renowned pianist John O'Conor), Boylan has been the subject of several television and radio broadcasts in Ireland.

You can read in interview with Seán Boylan HERE.

Introducing barihunk Shannon De Vine

Shannon De Vine

Meet barihunk Shannon De Vine, who will be singing Claudio in the revival of Franco Faccio's Amleto (Hamlet) with Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Baltimore Concert Opera. The opera has not been performed since 1871 and this will be its U.S. premiere.

De Vine earned his Master's Degree from the Juilliard School, where he performed the roles of Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Silvio in I Pagliacci. In 2007, he took 3rd Prize at the Licia Albanese – Puccini Foundation Awards, was a semi-finalist in the Marseille International Voice Competition in France, the International Voice Competition of Francisco Vinas in Barcelona, finalist in the Opera National de Paris de la Bastille International Voice Competition, winner of the MacAllister Awards, the Rosa Ponselle International Voice Competition and winner of the Verdi Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival.

Last season, he was seen as Gerard in Giordano's Andrea Chenier with the Opera Orchestra of NY, Iago in Verdi's Otello at the Il Teatro Verdi and Ceccho del Vecchio in Wagner’s Rienzi at Avery Fisher Hall. He made his Houston Grand Opera debut as Morales in Bizet's Carmen, where he also sang Riolobo in Catan's Florencia en las Amazonas, Top in Copland’s The Tender Land and Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

Ivo Rizzi sings Claudio's aria from Faccio's Amleto:

In 1865, Verdi’s contemporary Franco Faccio wrote an opera about Shakespeare’s melancholic Danish prince, to a libretto by Arrigo Boito. Conceived as an anti-Verdi/pro-Wagner manifesto for the “music of the future,” Amleto was originally a critical and audience success, but setbacks at the 1871 La Scala revival propelled it into obscurity, where it languished for more than a century.

Since 2002, Maestro Anthony Barrese has painstakingly reconstructed the score of the opera based on historical documents and microfilm held by the Ricordi Archives. BCO will present the American premiere of this lost operatic treasure in collaboration with Opera Southwest, conducted by Maestro Barrese himself. Celebrated American tenor Alex Richardson will sing the title role, and soprano Abla Hamza will sing Hamlet’s doomed love Ophelia (Ofelia).

Performance in Baltimore are on October 2 and 5 and tickets are available online. Performances in Albuquerque are on October 26, 31 and November 2 and tickets are available online.