Amazingly, Simon Keenlyside is celebrating his 52nd birthday today, which should give hope to all middle-aged men. He remains as sexy as ever and continues to deliver dramatically intense performances with stunning vocalism.
He is currently singing opposite fellow barihunk Erwin Schrott in Salzburg's "Le nozze di Figaro." He then heads to the Edinburgh International Festival for a concert with pianist Malcolm Martineau. They will be performing works by Mahler, Strauss and Schubert alongside more intimate songs by Duparc and Debussy. For those who can't attend, the concert will be broadcast on August 31st as BBC Radio 3's Lunchtime Concert.
Simon Keenlyside sings Gabriel Fauré's "En sourdine":
Our "reader submissions" feature has been particularly popular with readers from Germany, the Netherlands and France. Our latest submission is the 34-year-old Dutch barihunk Thomas Oliemans, who we mentioned yesterday is about to open as Marcello in Puccini's "La Boheme" with the Nationale Reisoper.
His career has taken off in the last five years, with debuts at Salzburg in Schreker's "Die Gezeichneten," Papageno in Mozart´s "Die Zauberflöte" with the Opera of Nantes and Angers, and Guglielmo in Mozart's "Cosi fan Tutte" in Geneva. Recent engagements have included Figaro in Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" at the Scottish Opera, Maximilan in Bernstein's "Candide" at the Vlaamse Opera, Harlequin in Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" at the Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg and Tarquinius in Britten's "Rape of Lucretia" at the Vlaamse Opera.
Oliemans is increasingly in demand as a recording artist. He recorded songs by Francis Poulenc and Gabriel Fauré with pianist Malcolm Martineau, Schubert’s Winterreise and Schwanengesang, as well as songs by Frank Martin.
Here is Oliemans with pianist Malcolm Martineau recording Schuberts "Schwanengesang" in London last year.
