Metropolitan Opera diva and reigning empress of the singing world, Anna Netrebko, announced yesterday that she will debut as the iconic Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, closing the latter half of the Met’s 2018-19 season. Other cast members will include James Valenti as Siegfried and Kristine Opolais as Sieglinde. Nathan Gunn, will make his role debut as operas most famous patriarch, portraying a very chiseled Wotan.
While the general design for Die Walküre has not yet been released, sources
close to Peter Gelb have leaked that Nathan Gunn will be shirtless for
the majority of the production, regardless if his character is on stage.
Die Walküre will be directed by Rolando Villazon.
Her debut as Brünnhilde will come just three years after her maiden voyage into the Wagnerian repertoire, as Elsa in Lohengrin (coming this May in Dresden), Netrebko says that she will be ready to tackle this mogul of the rep. "Elsa is much lighter, but it is still Wagner. She and Brünnhilde are sisters in a way...you just have to know how to use your voice and feel comfortable with the production."
Anna Netrebko to debut as Brünnhilde
Walküre co-star Nathan Gunn has attested to Netrebko's Germanic prowess, having been viewing rehearsals over Skype. He reportedly wants to give himself enough time to become familiar with Netrebko's approach to Wagner so that he may scale down his execution to match. Dresden has teased that it will stage Lohengrin to the backdrop of Disney's Frozen in order to attract younger audiences. With role debuts of Norma and Aida on the way, sources close to the soprano say that after her acclaimed, if not successful Lady Macbeth, she feels confident that audiences will love her in almost anything. Of course, accompanying the buzz that followed yesterday’s announcement came speculation as to what could possibly follow such a mammoth undertaking in her catapulting career.
YouTube comments under various repostings of her Act I aria from Macbeth mused at everything from a return to ingénue roles, to rumors of her role debut as Isolde opening the 2019-20 season at the Royal Opera. Covent Garden has declined to comment, but friends of the soprano have, for now, attempted to dispel the rumor, hinting that after her 11 performance run as Brunnhilde, the soprano plans to step away from the Wagnerian rep for at least 7 months to preserve her voice.
[HAPPY APRIL FOOLS' DAY...and kudos to barihunk Zachary Luchetti for the text]
The ageless barihunk Simon Keenlyside is crossing over from opera to musical theater this summer as he takes on the master thief Fagin in Lionel Bart's Oliver!.
Performances will run from June 2-July 2 at the Grange Park Festival. Other than his 2014 CD Something’s Gotta Give, Keenlyside has rarely waded into musical theater. The CD includes "Reviewing the Situation" from Oliver! The musical premiered in 1960 and became and instant hit, almost eclipsing Charles Dickens' original story of the
workhouse orphan who falls into bad company.
The Festival will also present Verdi's Don Carlo with Clive Bayley, Stefano Secco, Virginia Tola, David Stout, Ruxandra Donose, Alastair Miles and Jihoon Kim; Puccini's La Fanciulla del West with Claire Rutter, Lorenzo Decaro, Stephen Gadd, Alberto Sousa and Michael de Souza; and, Wagner's Tristan & Isolde with Bryan Register, Anja Kampe, Clive Bayley, Sara Fulgoni and Stephen Gadd.
On June 10th, they'll present a recital with the amazing tenor Javier Camarena. Tickets and additional information is available online.
After his run in Oliver!, Keenlyside heads to the Munich Opera Festival to perform Giorgio Germont in Verdi's La traviata and Renato in the composer's Un Ballo in Maschera.
You can also catch him in theaters in the METLive in HD simulcasts on October 22nd when he sings the title role in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni. He'll be joined by Rolando
Villazon as Don Ottavio, Adam Plachetka as Leporello, Malin Byström as Donna Elvira, Serena Malfi as Zerlina and Kwangchul Youn as The Commendatore.
Barihunk Jonathan Beyer and Brandon Cedel, who appeared together in our 2011 Charity Calendar, will be together onstage again from April 2-10 at the Pittsburgh Opera in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. The cast includes Emily Fons as Rosina and Michele Angelini as Almaviva. Tickets are available online.
They'll join forces again on June 3rd, when the Detroit Symphony presents Richard Strauss' Salome with and all-star cast that includes Lise Lindstrom as Salome, Chris Merritt as Herod and Jane Henschel as Herodias. Tickets are available online.
They'll also join forces in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Castleton Festival with Cedel as Figaro and Beyer as the Count.
Upcoming performances for Cedel include Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at Opera Philadelphia, Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Münchner Opernfestspiele, and Leporello at Glyndebourne.
Another barihunk couple, Dan Kempson and Zachary Altman, have also appeared together onstage, including in a recent performance of Puccini's Turandot with the Pacific Symphony. They also performed a Valentine's Day concert with the West Edge Opera in Berkeley.
Canadian barihunk Mike Nyby will be singing Seth in the world premiere of award-winning composer Peter-Anthony Togni's "Isis and Osiris." The new Canadian opera, concludes the 2016 season of Toronto's Opera in Concert program with performances on April 1st and 3rd.
Isis and Osiris, Gods of Egypt is based on the major myth of ancient Egypt, telling their love story in a larger-than-life tale of sibling jealousy, lust for power, fratricide and the quest for immortality. Togni collaborated with Toronto poet Sharon Singer on the piece.
The remainder of the cast includes Lucia Cesaroni as Isis, Michael Barrett as Osiris, Julie Nesrallah as Nepthys, Stuart Graham as Grand Vizier Khamet, Leigh-Ann Allen as Sennefer and Christopher Wattam as Imhotep.
He has been referred to as the original barihunk by some, for leading
the way in sexy portrayals of the low voice repertory. His video of
Boito's Mefistofele
from the San Francisco Opera has become a cult classic with opera
aficionados. He continued his sexy shirtless portrayals as Attila
that were not only sexy, but set the vocal standard to this day.
His amazing vocal
flexibility and range has allowed his to sing roles ranging from Argante
in Handel’s Rinaldo to the title role in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle. His
repertoire includes the florid passages of Handel, the bel canto roles
of Bellini and Donizetti, the great baritone roles of Verdi and Puccini,
great American operas and even many of the great Russian and French
bass roles.
Samuel Ramey sings "Ecco il mondo" from Boito's Mefistofele:
He is still actively performing, although in less demanding roles. On
May 6 and 8, he'll be singing the role of the Old Hebrew with Tulsa
Opera in Saint Saens' Samson et Dalila with Frank Porretta and Dana Beth Miller in the title roles. In recent years he's performed the title role of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle at Opera Omaha, Basilio in The Barber of Seville at New Orleans Opera, Timur in Puccini's Turandot at the Met and Leone in Verdi's Attila at the San Francisco Opera.
If he sang nothing else, he would be famous for his interpretation of Boito’s Mefistofele,which
has included seventy performances in the Robert Carsen production of
the opera specifically created for him. In fact, devilish roles have
dominated his stage performances, including Berlioz's devil in La damnation de Faust; the sinister Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress; and the tour de force of all four villains in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann.
In 1992 Mr. Ramey sang all of Offenbach’s villains for the Metropolitan
Opera’s opening night, prompting one critic to write, “[It was] the
best interpretation of the four villains I can remember in the last 25
years. This is the stuff of which operatic legends are made.” In 1996, Ramey presented a sold-out concert at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall
titled A Date with the Devil in which he sang fourteen arias
representing the core of this repertoire, and he continues to tour this
program throughout the world.
Samuel Ramey sings "Mentre gonfiarsi l'anima parea" from Attila:
Samuel Ramey holds the distinction of being the most recorded bass in
history. His more than eighty recordings include complete operas,
recordings of arias, symphonic works, solo recital programs, and popular
crossover albums on every major label. His recordings have garnered
nearly every major award including three Grammy Awards, Gran Prix du
Disc Awards, and “Best of the Year” citations from journals including Stereo Review and Opera News. His exposure on television and video is no less impressive, with video recordings of the Metropolitan Opera’s Carmen, Bluebeard’s Castle, Semiramide, Nabucco, and the compilation “The Met Celebrates Verdi;” San Francisco Opera’s Mefistofele; The Rake’s Progress from the Glyndebourne Festival; Attila from La Scala; and the Salzburg Festival’s Don Giovanni. Ramey is seen frequently on television in appearances with “Live
from the Met” and “Live from Lincoln Center” as well as other
productions taped for PBS.
Following his phenomenal success in opera, concert, and recordings,
Samuel Ramey’s sold-out Carnegie Hall recital in 1987 added a fourth
dimension to his spectacular career. His returns to New York’s Carnegie
Hall for solo recitals in February 1995 and November 1998 were the
culmination of extensive, critically-acclaimed North American tours
which had taken Mr. Ramey from Alaska to Alabama, with appearances on
America's finest vocal series. His European recital career is equally
notable, with sold-out appearances in all the music capitals.
A native of Colby, Kansas, Samuel Ramey was active in music
throughout high school and college. In 1995 he was named “Kansan of the
Year,” and in 1998 the French Ministry of Culture awarded him the rank
of Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters.
Barihunk Paulo Szot is returning to Feinstein’s/54 Below for six performances from April 5-9 at 7pm and April 9 at 9:30pm. The Tony-winning star of South Pacific will perform romantic songs of the American Songbook, including Lerner and Loewe, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Burton Lane, the Gershwins and Leonard Bernstein.
Paulo Szot talking about his Feinstein's/54 Below debut in 2013:
Szot just finished a run as Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at Opéra de Marseille and returns to the opera stage after his run at Feinstein’s/54 in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette at the Palacio das Artes in May. He returns to the Opéra National de Paris next season as Don Alfonso in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.
Our favorite thing about posting Reader Submissions, is that it inevitably prompts more submissions. When we posted Aussie barihunk Adrian Tamburini a reader quickly alerted us to Paull-Anthony Keightley who also has eluded our notice.
Keightley is a recent graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, which he
attended after completing his undergraduate studies at the Western
Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He was a finalist in the Fremantle Eisteddfod Open Aria competition and
won first place at the North of Perth Eisteddfod. He was awarded the
Royal Schools of Music Club Anniversary scholarship and won the Royal
Over-Seas League Singing Competition. He is the recipient of awards from
the Dame Joan Sutherland Fund and the Australian Music Foundation.
In February, he made his solo debut with the Western Australian Opera as Pinenello in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. On May 28th, he'll join soprano Claire Condipodero and mezzo-soprano Chelsea Burns at the Fremantle Heritage Festival for a concert of music from composers from Western Australia.
In Australia and America Paull-Anthony’s operatic credits include Frank in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Baptista in the Australian Premier of Goetz’s The Taming of the Shrew, Fiorello in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Gloster Heming in Virgil Thomson's The Mother of us All.
Since returning to Australia, Mr. Keightley participated in the WAAPA International Art Song Festival and appeared in productions of Faust, L’elisir d’amore and Les pêcheurs de perles.
