Our favorite vlogger Jonathan Estabrooks keeps a busy schedule. This Thursday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m. he'll be part of a concert that includes Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone and a collection of opera arias and duets with soprano Emily Duncan-Brown. The concert is at the SWCC King Community Center in Richlands, Virginia and includes selections from Verdi, Puccini and Rossini.
Christopher Dylan Herbert in Central City
Just a reminder that you can hear Christopher Dylan Herbert live on WWFM singing Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata 56 "Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen." The concert is free, so if you're in New York go check out this talented member of New York Polyphony. The concert will performed on Monday, April 16 at 1pm EST at St. Paul's Chapel near Ground Zero. Broadcast time is 10 AM for those on the West Coast.
Herbert's ensemble New York Polyphony is currently performing on the East Coast as part of the Five Boroughs Music Festival'sGabrieli @ 400 and these concerts are not to be missed. On April 27 they perform at St. Ann's and the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn, on April 28 they are at St. Ignatius of Antioch in New York City and then on April 29 they perform at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Quirijn de Lang sings Hugo Wolf
One of the most popular singers on this site is Dutch barihunk Quirijn de Lang, who appears to have quite an international fan club. He's just released a CD of songs by Hugo Wolf based on work by Ibsen & other poets. He is joined by soprano Mary Bevan and accompanist Sholto Kynoch. For lovers of Wolf lieder, the recording includes twelve previously unrecorded songs. You can purchase the CD at Stone Records.
Don't miss the Five Borough Songbook concert and CD release party
We've been covering the Five Boroughs Music Festival as it has moved around New York, but the January 12th concert in Manhattan promises to be extra special. In addition to the concert they wil be releasing their first recording that day, a stunning 2-disc set of the Songbook. We've had the privilege of previewing the recording and it is a must for any lover of art songs or opera.
We can't think of a better evening out than hearing a concert and then heading home with a CD of the all the great music that you just heard. The Songbook is a collection of newly commissioned vocal works by many of the leading composers working today. It celebrates New York City through its history, poetry, and geography. Some of the titles will certainly evoke distinct images or memories to New Yorkers past and present. They include "F From Dumbo," "G Is For Grimy: An Ode To The G Train," and "Coney Island Avenue."
Barihunk David McFerrin will sing Martin Hennessy's "The City's Love"
Did you ever wish that you could have spoken to Bach, Schubert, Verdi or Puccini? Unless you're Shirley MacLaine, you missed your chance. But you'll have a chance to talk to many of the composers on the program on Thursday night, as quite a few of them have agreed to appear for a "Composer Chat" beginning an hour before the 7:30 PM concert.
The concert will be at Engleman Recital Hall at the Baruch Performing Arts Center 55 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. Click HERE for tickets or HERE to purchase a CD.
We've followed the career of David McFerrin from Boston to Seattle to Germany and now back to Boston. The Massachusetts native returns to his home turf this week to perform Claudio in Berlioz's "Beatrice et Benedict" with Opera Boston. The opera will be performed on October 21, 23 and 25 at the Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston. The production will be updated from the 16th century to Sicily of the 1950s.
David McFerrin Adds His Voice to the Five Borough Festival
Second chances don't come along often, so if you missed the first performance of the Five Borough Songbook, you'll want to grab their follow up show in Queens at at the Flushing Town Hall on November 12. If you can't make it out to Queens, there are performance left in the remaining three boroughs. as the Songbook comes to Manhattan on January 12, the Bronx in May 2012 and finally to Staten Island in June 2012.
David McFerrin, who relishes singing song recitals, is reason enough to spend an afternoon in Queens. He will be singing Glen Roven's "F from DUMBO," John Glover's "8:46 AM, Five Years Later," their new 20th song, Martin Hennessy's "The City's Love," as well as Ricky Ian Gordon's duet "O City of Ships."
The Songbook, a collection of 20 brand new songs by 20 unique composers, celebrates New York City through its history, poetry, and geography – and its most promising musical talent. Composers who wrotes works for the Five Borough Songbook include Glen Roven, Daron Hagen, Renée Favand-See, John Glover, Ricky Ian Gordon, Yotam Haber, Martin Hennessy, Gabriel Kahane, Gilda Lyons, Jorge Martín, Russell Platt, Matt Schickele, Richard Pearson Thomas, Christopher Tignor, Scott Wheeler and Mohammed Fairouz.
Visit the Five Borough Songbook website for additional cast and performance information.
For those of you in Texas, McFerrin will be joining the San Antonio Symphony for Handel's Messiah on December 2 & 4. Visit their website for additional information.
Here is David McFerrin singing Libby Larsen's "Before Loving You:"
Christopher Johnstone: Singer, Actor, Model (and hot!)
We get a lot of messages asking us to look at someone's new website, but we've seldom encountered one as sexy as barihunk Christopher Johnstone's new site.
The graduate of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music defines himself as a "Singer, Actor, Model" on his website and he's certainly hard to peg. The lyric baritone has sung with the Glimmerglass Opera, Lyric Opera San Diego, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Pops, Boston Pops and performing Poulenc’s Le bal masqué for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra with Maestro James Levine of the Metropolitan Opera.
As you can see from the video he's also crossed over into musicals. But like many singers who we've featured on this site, including Hadleigh Adams and Matt Morris, their careers have also reached into television and even modeling. Johnstone has been seen on TLC’s “Personal Justice” and he has a recurring roles on “All My Children.” If you visit his website, you can also see more examples of his modeling for David Barton Gym and DETAILS magazine.
We also want to remind readers that the Five Boroughs Music Festival is kicking off its season on Thursday, October 6th with barihunk David Adam Moore, so make sure to order your tickets. Barihunk and artistic director Jesse Blumberg has commissioned twenty songs with themes related to Gotham from twenty of the world's leading contemporary composers. The festival première is at the Galapagos Art Space and tickets can be purchased on their website.
Five Boroughs Music Festival kicks off in Brooklyn with David Adam Moore
We're particularly excited about Glen Roven's "F from DUMBO," since many attendees may be taking the F TO DUMBO to the recital. The clever new song will be sung by David Adam Moore, making it all the more irresistible. You can sample Roven's music in the sidebar to the right with barihunk Randal Turner singing "When you are old."
Festival founder Jesse Blumberg (L) & David Adam Moore (R)
We are huge fans of barihunk Jesse Blumberg, not just for his glorious singing and good looks, but as an impressario. Blumberg is the founder of the Five Boroughs Music Festival which is bringing interesting and entertaining music to all five boroughs in New York City.
The Festival's new season will kick off with the "Five Borough Songbook" featuring another one of our favorites, barihunk David Adam Moore, who will be joined by tenor Alex Richardson, soprano Martha Guth and mezzo Blythe Gaissart. They will be performing new songs from some of the best composers in the world today. Readers of this site will know that we're huge proponents of (good) new music and this performance promises and abundance of great music. Many of the composers have had their music prominently featured on this site, including Glen Roven, Jorge Martin, Ricky Ian Gordon and Daron Hagen.
The 20 songs will be premiered at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn on October 6, 2011. Click HERE for tickets and performance information.
Michael Kelly (L), Duncan Rock (Both C) & Dominik Koeninger (R)
Fans of Jesse Blumberg will be thrilled to learn that he is currently at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition in London, England. The competition is dedicated to the art of lied and requires singers to perform in at least three languages. Blumberg will be performing with accompanist Jonathan Ware on September 5 and tickets can be purchased HERE. Other barihunks in this year's competition include Michael Kelly (whose entire recital we recently featured online), Andrew Ashwin, Duncan Rock, Jonathan McGovern and Dominik Koeninger.
For the next two weeks we will be accepting submissions for our first Barihunks charity calendar, which will benefit young artist programs. Send High Res photos and a brief bio to Barihunks@gmail.com
Video has finally surfaced of Jesse Blumberg's performance as Polifierno in Agostino Steffani’s opera, Niobe, Regina di Tebe. The opera recounts a story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses about the Queen of Thebes whose pride earns her family the vengeance of the gods. Here he is with the wonderful countertenor Matthew White singing the role of Creonte.
Blumberg's next performance will be on July 16th at the Midsummer Fundraising Event for the Five Boroughs Music Festival, which the New York-based singer founded. For more information visit the festival website. Or click HERE to purchase tickets.
