Liam Bonner to star in neglected Chabrier opera

Liam Bonner

The last time we posted about Liam Bonner, he was part of what we called the "barihunk laden" cast of Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera "Silent Night" at the Minnesota Opera. Bonner scored a critical success as Lieutenant Audebert in that world premiere performance. Prior to that, we featured him singing the beautiful song "Lost in the Stars" in our tribute to Kurt Weill. If you missed Silent Night, you're in luck, as Bonner will reprise his role with the Opera Company of Philadelphia in February 2013.

Bonner has broken out of the barihunk pack of Silent Nightand will be singing the lead role of Henri de Valois in Emmanuel Chabrier’s neglected opera The King in Spite of Himself (Le roi malgré lui) at Bard SummerScape in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. Bonner returns to SummerScape after his successful 2010 performance in the American premiere of Kurt Weill’s Royal Palace.

Nicolas Rivenq sings "Cher pays" from Le Roi malgré lui from Lyons:

SummerScape is performing the first staged revival of the original 1887 version of the opera. The production will receive a contemporary treatment from director Thaddeus Strassberger. The opera will be performed on July 27 and 29, and August 1, 3 and 5 with the American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leon Botstein. The company will also perform Saint-Saëns’s grand opera Henry VIII. Visit their website for additional performance information.

The King in Spite of Himself  is a comedy about the hapless 16th-century French noble who has been chosen by the Poles to be their king, despite various factions who are plotting against him. Henri is repelled by the weather, the food, and the fashion, and pines for his milieu in Anjou. Farce ensues when he tries to eschew the crown, but fate is sometimes easier to reluctantly accept than to escape.

The opera contains vocal fireworks, an exuberant chorus, lively dances and a clever orchestral score. For those of you who have seen Aida, La Boheme or Carmen once too often, this is a great chance to see an opera that was greatly admired by Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky, but has fallen from the standard repertory. 

Liam Bonner & Quirijn de Lang

For those readers on the other side of the Pond, you can see Bonner as Henri de Valois in October at the Wexford Festival Opera. That performance also features popular barihunk Quirijn de Lang in the role of Laski. Visit their website for additional information.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Kevin Puts' "Silent Night" wins Pulitzer Prize

Barihunk Ben Wager and a scene from Silent Night

Last November, we posted about Kevin Puts' new opera "Silent Night," which was being premiered at the Minnesota Opera. We were all atwitter, because not only did it seem like an amazing new American opera, but it featured a cast with more sexy men than a college water polo team. The cast included Gabriel Preisser, Liam Bonner, Mike Nyby, Andrew Wilkowske and Ben Wager and was named as our "Best Barihunk Feast of 2011" in our year-end wrap up.

Apparently, some other pretty impressive musical minds agreed that the opera was worthy of recognition, as the Pulitzer Prize for "Distinguished Musical Composition by an American" was awarded to composer Kevin Puts for "Silent Night." The opera was commissioned and premiered by the Minnesota Opera in Minneapolis on November 12, 2011, a company that we have long praised  for its heartfelt commitment to premiering new works, especially those by American composers. We would like to add ourselves to the chorus of congratulatory messages from the music world.  

The opera. with a libretto by Mark Campbell, recounts the true story of a spontaneous cease-fire among Scottish, French and Germans during World War I, displaying versatility of style and cutting straight to the heart. The story was based on the 2005 film "Joyeux Noël."

Composer Kevin Puts

Also nominated as finalists in this category were Tod Machover for "Death and the Powers," premiered by the Boston Modern Opera Project in Massachusetts on March 18, 2011 and Andrew Norman for “The Companion Guide to Rome,” premiered on November 13, 2011 in Salt Lake City.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

3 Barihunks Named as Finalists in 2012 Lotte Lenya Competition

Doug Carpenter as he appeared in the Barihunks calendar

Three barihunks, including two of our calendar models, are among the twelve finalists in the 2012 Lotte Lenya Competition. Douglas Carpenter, Justin Hopkins and Nicky Wuchinger have all advanced in the competition. The participants will compete for prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $7,500 in the finals, which will be held on April 21, 2012, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Three-time Tony Award nominee and Broadway diva Rebecca Luker will serve as a judge along with Encores! music director Rob Berman and Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization President Theodore S. Chapin.  Held annually by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, the Lotte Lenya Competition is an international theater singing contest that recognizes talented young singer-actors, ages 19-30, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire, and emphasizes the acting of songs within a dramatic context. 

Justin Hokins as he appeared in the Barihunks calendar

The competition has attracted numerous barihunks, many of whom have gone on to win the competition. Barihunk winners include Lucas Meachem, Liam Bonner, Zachary James, Cooper Grodin and Justin Lee Miller.

Liam Bonner performs Weill at a recent concert at the Gershwin Hotel:

Other 2012 finalists include mezzos Megan Marino, Cecelia Tickton and Christine Amon; sopranos Briana Elyse Hunter, Mollie Vogt-Welch, Natalie Ballenger and Maria Failla; tenors Matthew Grills and Jacob Keith Watson. The competition will culminate in an evening concert featuring all of the finalists, followed by the announcement of the winners. Both the daytime finals and evening concert are free and open to the public, and will take place in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music.  The Kurt Weill Foundation will award special prizes in addition to the top prizes, and has already presented an Emerging Talent Award to tenor Robert Ariza and the Grace Keagy Award for Outstanding Vocal Promise to mezzo Kate Tombaugh.

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Happy Birthday, Kurt Weill (1900-1950)

Kurt Weill (L) and a poster from Opera Narodowa

The son of a cantor, Kurt Weill was born in Dessau into a family that took in operatic performances as a main form of entertainment. When Weill was in his teens the director of the Dessau Hoftheater, Albert Bing, encouraged him in the study of music. Weill briefly studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck and was already working professionally as a conductor when he attended composer Ferruccio Busoni's master classes in Berlin. Delighted to see the positive responses of an audience to his first collaboration with playwright Georg Kaiser, Der Protagonist (1926), he thereafter resolved to work toward accessibility in his music. In 1926 Weill married actress Lotte Lenya, whose reedy, quavering singing voice he called "the one I hear in my head when I am writing my songs." 

Kevin Burdette  sings 'Let Things Be Like They Always Was' from Street Scene: 

In 1927 Weill began his collaboration with leftist playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht; their first joint venture, Mahagonny-Songspiel (1927), launched the number "Alabama Song," which, to their surprise, became a minor pop hit in Europe. The next show, Die Dreigroschenoper (The Three-Penny Opera, 1928), was a monstrous success, in particular the song "Moritat" ("Mack the Knife").

Louis Armstrong plays and sings Mack the Knife:

Nonetheless, strain in their association was already being felt, and after the completion of their magnificent "school opera" Der Jasager (1930), the two parted company. Brecht and Weill were brought together once more in Paris to create Die Sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins) in 1934. In the meantime, Weill collaborated with Caspar Neher on the opera Die Bürgschaft (1931) and Georg Kaiser again on Der Silbersee (1933), works that garnered the hostile attention of the then-emerging Nazi party. 

Liam Bonner sings "Lost in the Stars"

With the rise to power of Hitler, Weill and Lenya were forced to dissolve their union and flee Continental Europe. Weill found his way to New York in 1935; rejoining Lenya, Weill became a citizen and devoted himself to American democracy with a vengeance, preferring his name pronounced like "wile" rather than "vile." After a series of frustrating flops, Weill hit his stride with playwright Maxwell Anderson, producing his first hit, Knickerbocker Holiday (1938).

Frank Sinatra sings "September Song"

In the dozen years left to him, Weill's stature on Broadway grew with a series of hit shows, including Lady in the Dark (1941), One Touch of Venus (1943), Love Life (1948), and Lost in the Stars (1949). Weill had ambitions to create what he regarded as "the first American folk opera"; the closest of his American works to reach that goal is Street Scene (1946), a sort of "urban folk opera" based on a play by Elmer Rice with lyrics by Langston Hughes. 

Jorell Williams  sings 'I Got a Marble and a Star' from Street Scene

On April 3, 1950, Weill unexpectedly suffered a massive coronary and died in Lenya's arms. Weill's estate was valued at less than 1,000 dollars, and Lenya realized that his contribution to musical theater was likewise undervalued. She commissioned composer Marc Blitzstein to adapt an English-language version of Die Dreigroschenoper; it opened off-Broadway in 1954 and ran for three years, touching off a Weill revival that continues to this day.

A number of his works were scored for baritone including (partial):
- 1923 : Stundenbuch, Lieder cycle for baritone and orchestra, text: Rainer Maria Rilke
- 1928 : Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus (or three male voices) and wind orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht)
-1928 : The Threepenny Opera (German: Die Dreigroschenoper), Macheath (tenor or baritone), Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum, Tiger Brown and numerous smaller roles.
- 1929 : Der Lindberghflug, cantata for tenor, baritone and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht, first version with music by Paul Hindemith and Weill, second version, also 1929, with music exclusively by Weill)
- 1930 : Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Dreieinigkeitsmoses (Trinity Moses), Sparbüchsen Billy (Bank Account Billy) and Alaska Wolf Joe.
- 1947 : Street Scene, Frank Maurrant, George Jones and numerous smaller roles.

David Bowie sings "Moon of Alabama"

Ian Greenlaw sings 'Oh Captain! My Captain!' from Walt Whitman Songs

Songs frequently performed by baritones include (partial):
- Lost In The Stars, F Major, composed by Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill, from 'Lost In The Stars'.
- Mack The Knife, C Major, composed by Marc Blitzstein, Kurt Weill, from 'The Threepenny Opera'.
- September Song, C Major, composed by Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill, from 'Knickerbocker Holiday'.
- This Is The Life, Eb Major, composed by Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill, from 'Love Life'.
- Thousands Of Miles, C Major, composed by Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill, from 'Lost In The Stars'.

CONTACT US AT Barihunks@gmail.com

Minnesota Opera's Barihunk-laden "Silent Night"

Gabriel Preisser, Liam Bonner, Mike Nyby, Andrew Wilkowske & Ben Wager

The Minnesota Opera is one of the gems in the landscape of American opera houses. It doesn't always get the national notoriety that it deserves, but within music circles it is known for consistently strong vocal performances and their religious commitment to young artists and living composers.

The Minnesota Opera has premiered Oliver Knussen's "Where the Wild Things Are," Libby Larsen's "Frankenstein," Ricky Ian Gordon's "The Grapes of Wrath," and Bernard Herrmann's sole opera "Wuthering Heights." They've also presented the American premieres of Jonathan Dove's Pinocchio, Poul Ruders' "The Handmaid's Tale," Dominick Argento's "Postcard from Morocco," Rossini's "Armida," Laurent Petitgirard's "The Elephant Man," and Reinhard Keiser's "The Fortunes of King Croesus."



The latest premiere from the Minnesota Opera New Works Initiative is Kevin Puts' "Silent Night," which is based on the screenplay for Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion. The opera recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. On World War I’s western front, weapons are laid down when the Scottish, French and German officers defy their superiors and negotiate a Christmas Eve truce. Enemies become brothers as they come together to share Christmas and bury their dead. Tenor William Burden, who has a place in barihunk history for starring shirtless opposite of Nathan Gunn in the production that gave rise to the term, stars as the soldier whose voice inspired peace among adversaries – if only for a day.

Canadian Mike Nyby plays Scottish soldier William Dale

The opera contains more sexy men than a World Cup soccer championship. There are four barihunks who have appeared on this site before, including Mike Nyby, Gabriel Preisser, Ben Wager and Liam Bonner. The world premiere was on Saturday, November 12 and there are additional performances on November 15, 17, 19 and 20, 2011. Visit the Minnesota Opera website for additional performance and ticket information.

Contact us at Barihunks@gmail.com

Don't forget that you can support young artists like those performing at the Minnesota Opera by purchasing our 2012 Barihunks charity calendar. All proceeds go to benefit young artists. The calendar features the hottest singers from six countries. Click HERE to purchase your own calendar or make it the perfect holiday gift.