Don Giovanni: Good News, Bad News

Mariusz Kwiecien & Ryan Kuster starring in exciting new Don Giovanni in L.A.

It's no secret that Mozart's "Don Giovanni" is one of our favorite operas at Barihunks. With the potential to have four barihunks in a cast and a plot full of sex and sexual innuendo, productions of Don Giovanni often provide a feast for the eyes and ears.

We were thrilled when we learned that conducting wunderkind Gustavo Dudamel was performing the opera at Disney Hall in May 2012. The production team might be one of the greatest ever assembled for an opera, headed by legendary architect Frank Gehry, who will design the sets (and who designed Diseny Hall). The costumes for the production will be made by designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy, who created the costumes for the movie "Black Swan." The performance will be directed by Christopher Alden, who had previously had great success with the opera. In the title role will be barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien and the Masetto will be Ryan Kuster. Hunkentenor fans will be thrilled to learn that the Don Ottavio will be Pavol Breslik.

Click HERE for tickets and performance dates. 

We also have some bad news concerning Don Giovanni. The San Antonio Opera is the latest classical music organization to suffer financial hardship. The current cash crunch has forced the company to cancel the February performances of the Mozart classic and close their offices. A brief announcement from the company stated:

The San Antonio Opera Board of Directors announced today that it has cancelled the February production of "Don Giovanni".

San Antonio Opera will use the hiatus to attempt to address the organization's financial obligations with creditors as well as plan for the next phase in the future of the regional opera company.

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Andrew Garland, Alex Esposito & Ryan Kuster Updates; Schrott Out in Dresden

Ryan Kuster (L), Andrew Garland (C) and Alex Esposito

Today is a miscellaneous Friday for us, which we're going to use to update you on four of our favorite barihunks. They also happen to be three of the most talented singers to be making their mark in the opera world today.

Our favorite redhead, Andrew Garland, recently finished recording "American Portraits" for GPR records, which is due out in 2012. He can next be heard in Handel's "Messiah" with the Boston Baroque on December 9 and 10.  Here he is singing "A Reverie" from the song cycle 'Battle Pieces' by Paul Phillips, which is based on poems by Herman Melville. The world premiere was on October 16, 2011 with the Pioneer Valley Symphony in Greenfield, Massachusetts.



We have deservedly dubbed Alex Esposito the greatest Leporello in the world today and it continues to be a major role on his schedule. His work as a Mozart specialist in general has been recognized by the most prestigious opera companies in the world, who keep engaging him for the master's leading roles. He's keeping a busy schedule singing his signature role as Don Giovanni's sidekick with a recent run at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and now taking it to the Vienna Staatsoper, which opens on December 11. He then switches Mozart roles, singing Papageno at La Scala in February and Guglielmo in Toulouse in May 2012. For a change of pace, here he is singing the aria "Accusata di furto" from  Gioachino Rossini's "La gazza ladra," which is best known for its overture. The performance is from a gala at the Deutsche Oper Berlinon November 5, 2011.



Fans of Ryan Kuster in San Francisco were treated to this amazing singer at the San Francisco Opera's "The Future is Now: Adler Fellows Gala Concert." The first-year Adler Fellow continues to generate a genuine buzz among opera cognoscenti and he didn't disappoint last night with a rousing and vocally eloquent performance of "Aprite un po' quegli' occhi" from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro." He was then given the unenviable task of singing opposite Leah Crocetto, who many believe will be the next reigning Verdi soprano. The duo sang "Il padre tuo...Tu piniscimi" and literally brought down the house.

And speaking of duos...

If you think the Germans are upset at having to carry the load of the European debt crisis, you should have seen the reaction when the Semperoper Dresden announced that Anna Netrebko and barihunk hubby Erwin Schrott would not be performing in two New Year's Eve Concerts. Opera's most famoust couple were replaced by sopranos Angela Denoke and Ana Maria Labin.  The two concerts were sold out, but the ticket office is being besieged with refund requests. The change was made with little fanfare, as Netrebko and Schrott's names mysteriously disappeared from the website overnight.

We're going to announce our first two recipients for a charitable donation from our our 2012 Barihunks calendar in the next few days. We appreciate everyone's enthusiastic support for the calendar, but encourage those who haven't purchased one to do so now, so we can support additional programs. Also, it's not to late to write us at Barihunks@gmail.com and tell us why your young artist program is deserving of a donation from the calendar.

San Francisco Opera Delivers Another Great "Don Giovanni"

Ryan Kuster: What was Zerlina thinking?

There has been so much attention paid to the Met's "Don Giovanni" with the last minute cancellation and then probable return of Mariusz Kwiecien, that the opera world has almost forgotten about the Mozart classic opening on the Left Coast.

Regular readers of this site will know that Mariusz Kwiecien's performance of Don Giovanni at the San Francisco Opera was one of the inspirations for this website. In a world of competitive Don Giovanni's, including Teddy Tahu Rhodes' return to the role at Opera Australia, it's nice to see that the San Francisco Opera continues to deliver solid, well-cast performances of the opera.  To top it off, the performances are being led by their extremely popular music director Nicola Luisotti.

Lucas Meachem

The San Francisco Opera's "Don Giovanni" opened on Saturday night with a trio of men that would be the envy of any opera company: The vocally thrilling Lucas Meachem as the Don, Marco Vinco in his U.S. debut at Leporello and future superstar and certified barihunk Ryan Kuster as Masetto. In a bit of fantasy casting, the amazingly talented Kate Lindsey is Zerlina.

Ryan Kuster is a first-year Adler Fellow, recent graduate of the 2010 Merola Opera Program and a former participant in Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts. He is performing a number of roles at the San Francisco Opera this season, including a Mandarin (Turandot), Astolfo (Lucrezia Borgia), Masetto (Don Giovanni), and Escamillo (Carmen).



Performances run through November 10th and tickets and additional cast information are available at the San Francisco Opera website.

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Ryan Kuster in 9/11 Tribute & SF Opera Fall Season; Hampson's 9/11 opera

Ryan Kuster (L) & Thomas Hampson (R)

One of the most gifted young barihunks on the operatic horizon Ryan Kuster, who we've featured previously on this site. He was a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia before participating in San Francisco Opera's prestigious Adler Fellowship Program.

Kuster will be performing in the city of San Francisco's official tribute to the 10th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attack. The city and the San Francisco Opera have teamed up for a performance of Mozart's Requiem at Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park at 2 PM today. Kuster will be joined by fellow singers Nadine Sierra, Maya Layhani and Daniel Montenegro along with maestro Nicola Luisotti.

The San Francisco Opera has wisely engaged the future star in a number of this season's operas. Kuster will perform Escamillo in Carmen, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Astolfo in Lucrezia Borgia and a Mandarin in Turandot. For performance and ticket information visit the San Francisco Opera website.



The San Francisco Opera is also premiering composer Christopher Theofanidis' "Heart of a Soldier," which opened last night. The opera tells the story of Rick Rescorla, a British-born adventurer who fought in Vietnam before settling in New York as head of security for a brokerage firm based in the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, his extraordinary courage and calmness in a crisis paid off: Rescorla led all of the 2,700 people under his care to safety—literally singing them down the stairs—before heading back into the burning building for one last check. He never emerged.

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Wolf-Ferrari at Wolf Trap

Ryan Kuster & Kenneth Kellogg

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's seldom performed opera "Le donne curiose" (The Curious Women) is currently being performed at the Barn at Wolf Trap with two talented young barihunks, Ryan Kuster and Kenneth Kellogg.  Wolf-Ferrari was a turn-of-the-20th-century composer whose heart remained with 19th-century romantics. “The Curious Women,” premiered in 1903 and has not been performed in the United States since its debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1912.

The Curious Women at Wolf Trap

There is one performance remaining on June 25 at 7 PM. Click HERE for ticket and additional cast information. 

Here is some rehearsal footage from this production:



Perhaps the best known piece from the opera is the overture, which is conducted by the great Arturo Toscanini in this performance:



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