Brett Polegato (Sharpless) at Seattle Opera (Elise Bakketun, photo
Fresh on the heals of Dallas Opera's successful simulcast of Mozart's "Magic Flute," the Seattle Opera will be featuring Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" in a broadcast at KeyArena tonight (Saturday, May 5th).
Doors open for those who have preregistered at 6 p.m., and for the general public at 6:30 p.m. Anyone without a ticket will be allowed into KeyArena until the capacity is met. The opera begins at 7:30 p.m. This is the first time the Seattle Opera has hosted a simulcast of one of its productions.
Seattle Opera's production stars Brett Polegato as Sharpless, Patricia Racette as Cio-Cio-San and Stefano Secco as Pinkerton.
Live performances of "Madama Butterfly" continue through May 19 at McCaw Hall. Visit the Seattle Opera website for more information.
Barihunk John Brandon will be part of a free afternoon of opera at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga on Sunday, April 15, at 3 p.m. in the Roland Hayes Hall.
An Afternoon of Opera sponsored by the Connor Society will be held on , UTC Fine Arts Center, located at the intersection of Vine and Palmetto Streets. He will be joined by soprano Cherry Brendel, tenor Ron Brendel and mezzo Rosella Ewing in selections from Carmen, Rigoletto, La traviata, Lakme, The Pearl Fishers, Samson & Delilah, The Elixir of Love, and The Magic Flute.
For more information, call 425-4627 or email verbie-prevost@utc.edu.
Apple of our eye: Christopher Dylan Herbert
Christopher Dylan Herbert is breaking away from his role as the baritone/bass member of New York Polyphony to perform a free concert on Monday, April 16 at 1pm at St. Paul's Chapel near Ground Zero. Herbert will be performing Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata 56, "Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen," one of only two solo cantatas for baritone written by the German baroque master.
Also on the program is mezzo Luthen Brackett performing Bach's Cantata 54, and organist Renée Louprette performing Bach's Fugue in Eb Major (BWV 551b). Click HERE for additional information. The concert will be broadcast live on WWFM.
Seattle's Best: Joseph Lattanzi & David Krohn
Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" is generally not a barihunk opera, but the Seattle Opera is featuring two of its hottest young artists in a free simulcast on Saturday, May 5th. David Krohn will sing Prince Yamadori and Joseph Lattanzi will sing the Registrar in the opening night performance that includes the Cio-Cio-San of Patricia Racette.
The live HD simulcast from McCaw Hall will be broadcast onto a 50' x 80' screen at KeyArena. Tickets are free, but are expected to go fast, so reserve your tickets by clicking HERE. Door will open at 6:00 PM and the broadcast will begin at 7:30 PM.
We just had to share emerging barihunk Xavier Edgardo, who is simply adorable. The 22-year-old singer has been studying at the University of Puerto Rico, where he also sang in the choir. He honed his solo skills for two seasons at the International Vocal Arts Institute run by the esteemed Joan Dorneman, assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera.
Edgardo has participated in and won a number of vocal competitions, include many in Europe. In 2009, he was asked to participate in the prestigious Pablo Casals Festival. He has participated in masterclasses with a number of great singers, including fellow Puerto Rican Justino Diaz, Denis Sedov, Sherril Milnes, Mignon Dunn and Elaine Ortiz Arandes. He is currently a member of the Opera of Puerto Rico chorus. We plan of following the solo career of this young talent in future seasons.
Gerard Souzay: A Barihunks favorite
If you haven't heard Tom Huizenga's analysis and breakdown of the baritone voice, we recommend that you click HERE and listen to it. The article includes sound clips, including one of Gerard Souzay's beautiful rendition of Faure's "Clair de lune."
John Relyea reprising Attila in Seattle
We want to remind readers that Canadian barihunk John Relyea is returning to the Seattle Opera in the role of Attila on January 14th. This should be a huge hit and is a "must see" opera for any Verdi fan. Visit the Seattle Opera website for additional cast information and performance dates. Attila also contains two great baritone parts, including a baritone duet! We covered Relyea when he recently sang the role in a concert format this fall in Washington, D.C. Click HERE to see our previous post.
John Relyea sings Publio's "Tardi S'Avvede" from Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito:
Relyea’s previous Seattle Opera credits include the title roles in Don Quichotte and Bluebeard’s Castle, and Giorgio in I puritani. He won the 2005 Seattle Opera Artist of the Year award for his Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann.
You can watch Attila in its entirety on YouTube by clicking HERE. The cast includes barihunk Samuel Ramey, Giorgio Zancanaro and soprano Cheryl Studer.
DON'T BE A SCROOGE. BUY YOUR 2012 BARIHUNKS CHARITY CALENDAR TODAY. ALL PROCEEDS GO TO BENEFIT THE PORTLAND OPERA STUDIO AND THE SEAGLE MUSIC COLONY. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOU CALENDAR TODAY.
Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen & Michael Todd Simpson as Escamillo in rehearsal; (Bill Mohn, photo)
Michael Todd Simpson brought his swaggering Escamillo to Seattle Opera for their performances of Bizet's "Carmen." In a performance that included the riveting Carmen of Anita Rachvelishvili and a host of other hot men, the American barihunk managed to catch the attention of reviewer Jackson Holtz at the Everett Herald.
"Seattle Opera veteran Michael Todd Simpson was sexy and charming as the matador."
You can read the entire review at the Everett HeraldNet website.
Bernard Jacobson of the Seattle Times wrote:
"Don José...projected just the nebbish air of indecision that makes José putty in Carmen's hands — no competition for the sexy Escamillo and Zuniga of Michael Todd Simpson and Donovan Singletary."
Donovan Singletary in his Barihunks tee shirt
Performances run through October 29th and tickets can be purchased online. Simpson next heads down the coast to California, where he will perform Handel's "Messiah" with the amazing San Francisco Symphony. Performances are on December 16, 17 & 18. Visit the San Francisco Symphony website for tickets and additional performance information.
By the way, if you haven't seen the Seattle Opera's "If Carmen and her friends were on Facebook...," then you missed one of the funniest and creative things that we've ever seen from an Opera Company (that was meant to be funny!). You can see the entire post on their wonderful blog.
Kudos to the Seattle Opera, which continues to be one of the most creative opera companies in the world.
Cirque du Soleil performers and Marian Pop combine forces in Detroit
The Michigan Opera Theater hired some Cirque du Soleil acrobats to add an erotic touch to Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana." The piece was part of a double-bill with Menotti's "The Medium." Barihunk Marian Pop, a regular fixture with the opera company, was singled out for his performance by the local press.
"Baritone soloist Marian Pop's expressive singing was the musical highlight of "Carmina."
You can read the entire review at the Detroit Free Press website.
Jérôme Varnier
Jérôme Varnier is wrapping up a run as Palémon in Massenet's "Thaïs" tonight at the Opéra de Tours. He now heads to the Opéra-Théâtre de Metz to perform Guido in Ambroise Thomas' "Francesca da Rimini," which opens on November 18. Tickets and additional performance information are available online.
Two Great Attilas, Sam Ramey from opera (L) and Gerard Butler (R) from film. John Relyea (C)
We have a lot of favorite operas that aren't in the standard repertory and Verdi's "Attila" is at the top of the list. As our poll to the right shows, Verdi wrote the best music for bass and there aren't many juicier roles than Attila. Not only that, but the opera has another great baritone role, Ezio, which includes a duet with Attila. If you like crazy sopranos, few can match the crazed Odabella, who makes Lucia di Lammermoor and Ophelia look downright stable.
If you're in the Washington D.C. area tonight you might want to head over to the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University for John Relyea's debut in the title role. You can click HERE for tickets. If you're on the West Coast, you can catch Relyea's first staged performance of Attila at the Seattle Opera with barihunk Marco Vratogna as Ezio. If you don't know the opera, we recommend that you listen to Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins talk about the opera by clicking HERE. Performances will run from January 14-28. Click HERE for additional cast and performance information.
One of the greatest Verdi recordings ever is of tenor Beniamino Gigli, soprano Elisabeth Rethberg and bass Ezio Pinza singing the trio "Te Sol Quest' Anima" from Attila. If you have experienced this, it's a must hear:
Later this season, Relyea will portray the Four Villains in Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffman" at both the Bayerische Staatsoper and with the Canadian Opera Company. In the Spring of 2012, he will be at the Met as Leporello in "Don Giovanni" opposite Gerald Finley.
Don't forget to submit your barihunk charity calendar submissions to us at Barihunks@gmail.com. All proceeds will go to benefit young artist programs. We need all submissions by the end of next week.
Barihunks in disguise: Anstine and Cutlip (Photo by Rozarii Lynch)
We recently introduced Erik Anstine to readers and we suspect that he has a big career ahead of him. He is currently one of the priests in the Seattle Opera's "Magic Flute," which includes the Papageno of barihunk Philip Cutlip and the Sarastro of barihunk and ex-football player Keith Miller. The second cast also includes British barihunk Leigh Melrose as Papageno, a singer who we blogged about last year and who should be better known on this side of The Pond. Cheers to the Seattle Opera for showcasing him to U.S. audiences. The always entertaining Seattle Opera blog has a profile of Anstine and tenor Eric Neuville, which you can read HERE.
Seattle Young Artist member Erik Anstine
Tickets remain for the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday performances. The costumes for this productions are by the internationally renowned fashion designer Zandra Rhodes and are not to be missed! You can click HERE for ticket and performance information.
Philip Cutlip (Top) and Keith Miller (Bottom)
Here is a sampling of Anstine singing Mozart's "Ha! Wie will ich triumphieren" from Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
