Four baritones/basses advance to Met Semi-Finals

March 15, 2014, 10:16 am

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Patrick Guetti and Scott Russell

One-fifth of the singers advancing from the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions to the Met Semi-Finals will be baritones or basses. They include Patrick Guetti, Scott Russell, Alex DeSocio and Ao Li. A panel of judges will hold closed auditions on March 20 to determine who will advance to the final round of the competition at the Met Grand Finals Concert under the baton of conductor Marco Armiliato on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will receive an individual cash prize of $15,000.

Alex DeSocio and Ao Li

On Tuesday, April 1 at 7 p.m., the winners will perform a concert of varied operatic repertory at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR 105.9, New York City’s all-classical station. They will be joined by a Met star and former National Council winner, soprano Deborah Voigt. The event will be broadcast live on WQXR and there will be a live video webcast on both www.wqxr.org and www.thegreenespace.org.

The regional winners were chosen from nearly 1500 singers who participated in the auditions held in 40 districts and 13 regions throughout the United States and Canada, sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council and administered by National Council members and hundreds of volunteers from across the country.

You can check out our January post to read about the baritones and basses who entered the competition this year.

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Barihunks in opera based on legendary football coach

March 15, 2014, 8:20 pm

≫ Next: Ricardo Crampton performing Count in Le Nozze di Figaro

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Anlami Shaw and Gary Ramsey

We've seen all types of topics covered in this age of POPera and "CNN opera," from serious subjects like John Adams'The Death of Klinghoffer to the somewhat outrageous like Mark- Anthony Turnage's Anna Nicole and Richard Thomas'Jerry Springer: The Opera. Now we have an opera based on NFL coach Bum Phillips, who just died last year at the age of ninety.

Bum Phillips All-American Opera opens today at La MaMa in the New York City's East Village and runs through March 30. Tickets are available online. It then travels to Austin for performances at the Texas State History Museum.

Much like Anna Nicole, it mixes tragedy and comedy as it tells the story of the legendary coach with an oversized personality who led the now defunct Houston Oilers to a 55-35 record in the late 1970s, but never progressing beyond the AFC title game. Like Yogi Berra in baseball he was known for always delivering a memorable quote to the press, such as "There's two kinds of coaches, them that's fired and them that's gonna be fired."

The opera will star barihunk Gary Ramsey as Bum Phillips. Ramsey performs regularly with the DiCapo Opera in New York where he has performed in Hansel und Gretel, God Bless Us Everyone, Marriage of Figaro, Mr. Fantastic Fox, Turandot, La Centerentola and Carmen.

But what really caught our eye in a production that billed itself as not being the usual opera fare, was the aspiring baritone Anlami Shaw as running back Earl Campbell. A former pro track athlete who has done some modeling, he's been trying to develop a career in music. He's performed some musical theater, as well as appearing in the ensemble of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

We'd like to encourage him to continue his studies, as we'd love to see lots more of him in the future.

Ricardo Crampton performing Count in Le Nozze di Figaro

March 16, 2014, 8:12 am

≫ Next: Reader Submission: Seán Kroll

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Ricardo Crampton and the Teatro Carlo Felice

In January, we introduced readers to 30-year-old Argentinian barihunk Ricardo Crampton. He's currently performing the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Teatro Carlo Felice, which live streamed a performance of the opera on March 14th. Fortunately, we have audio of his performance of "Hai già vinta la causa"

Ricardo Crampton sings "Hai già vinta la causa":  

There is a performance today with an alternate cast, but Crampton has one remaining performance on March 18th. He'll be returning to his native Argentina to perform Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Buenos Aires Lirica from October 17-25.

Reader Submission: Seán Kroll

March 18, 2014, 6:38 am

≫ Next: Wes Mason as leather-clad Achilla at Opera Roanoke

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Sean Kroll

Our latest reader submission is bass-barihunk Seán Kroll, who recently toured China with the South Shore Orchestra and wrapped up a run as Achilla in Handel’s Cesare in Egitto with Dramma Per Musica in New York City.

Kroll is an alumnus of the Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Santa Barbara and Saint Petersburg Opera artist development programs. He received his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Northwestern University and trained at the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. He performed Poulenc’s rarity Le Bestiaire with the Chicago Opera Theater.

Last Spring he made his New York City debut as Placido Quesara/Escamillo in the off-Broadway performances of Roboff & Newman’s Carmen’s Place: A Fantasy.

Kroll has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. His roles have included Don Giovanni, Escamillo and Zuniga in Carmen,  Colline and Marcello in La bohème, Papageno ,  Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, Dulcamara, Ewald in Lehár’s Springtime, Melchior  in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors and Sam in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti.

He can next be seen in Rameau's Pygmalion at Madame Tussaud's in New York from June 17-21 with On Site Opera.

Wes Mason as leather-clad Achilla at Opera Roanoke

March 18, 2014, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Thomas Hampson's Online Master Classes

≪ Previous: Reader Submission: Seán Kroll

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Wes Mason as Achilla with Pompeo's head

Virginia native Wes Mason is returning to his home state to perform the scheming Egyptian general Achilla in Handel's Giulio Cesare with Opera Roanoke. We heard that he was clad in a sexy leather outfit, so we asked for some pictures from the dress rehearsals, which we're thrilled to share with our readers.

The cast also includes Teresa Buccholz as Giulio Cesare, Amy Cofield Williamson as Cleopatra, Eric Brenner as Tolomeo, Toby Newman as Sesto and Carla Dirlikov as Cornelia.

Performances are on March 21 and 23 at the Jefferson Center's Shaftman Performance Hall in Roanoke. Tickets are available by calling (540) 345-2550.

You can also watch an interview with Wes Mason from WDBJ-TV Channel 7 where he discussed the opera and the role of Achilla.

In addition to Achilla, Wes Mason's current season is filled with role debuts this year, including Escamillo in La tragédie de Carmen with Syracuse Opera, Zurga in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles with both Baltimore Concert Opera and Delaware Opera, Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Opera Philadelphia, and both Curly in Oklahoma! and the Bishop in Les Misérables with Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre.

Thomas Hampson's Online Master Classes

March 19, 2014, 11:39 am

≫ Next: Damian Pass & Pietro De Bianco in Don Giovanni

≪ Previous: Wes Mason as leather-clad Achilla at Opera Roanoke

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If you haven't checked out Thomas Hampson's Distance Learning Master Classes from the Manahattan School of Music they are worth watching. These classes are closed to the public and only be accessible online. The 2014 master class is being broadcast at 4 PM EST/1 PM PST today at http://dl.msmnyc.edu/live.

One baritone was featured last year, Kurt Kanazawa singing Bernstein's "Lonely Town" from On the Town. You can watch the entire 2013 master class here:

Damian Pass & Pietro De Bianco in Don Giovanni

March 21, 2014, 7:25 am

≫ Next: Barihunk Nathan Wyatt to premiere Nico Muhly piece

≪ Previous: Thomas Hampson's Online Master Classes

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Pietro Di Bianco as Leporello

Damian Pass as Masetto

We recently introduced Italian barihunk Pietro Di Bianco to readers and mentioned that he's performing Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Atelier Lyrique with fellow barihunk Damian Pass, who is singing Masetto. Performances run from March 22-29, but we just received photos from the dress rehearsals, which we wanted to share. Additional information is available online.

Di Bianco will reprise the role of Leporello on July 5 and 7 at the Anthéa Antipolis Théâtre d'Antibes. Pass will be is singing Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Opera of Toulon from May 20-27.

Barihunk Nathan Wyatt to premiere Nico Muhly piece

March 21, 2014, 11:56 am

≫ Next: Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Marc Mauillon in fun-filled Platée in Paris; New York City up next

≪ Previous: Damian Pass & Pietro De Bianco in Don Giovanni

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Nathan Wyatt

Barihunk Nathan Wyatt will premiere Nico Muhly's Pleasure Ground tonight as part of the  MusicNOW Festival with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Pleasure Ground depicts the life of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. Tickets are available online.

According to the composer:

"The title Pleasure Ground is a musical joke, a ground being a  recurring bass line that gives structure and melodic content at the same time. I use several grounds in this piece, but the third movement is particularly devoted to one cycle of 13 chords. At first, the ground is hidden inside a chorale-like texture of strings, over which violent brass and percussion snarl and fight. As the baritone sings about nature having overrun his designs, some small ensembles of instruments echo the voice: a bass trombone, sometimes, and others, a little gamelan of harp, bells and winds.

On the text “I have done a great deal of work in my life...” we first hear the ground bass in its proper position: at the bottom of the orchestra. It goes through two cycles, and suddenly transforms into the material from the very opening of the first movement, but here transformed from youthful optimism into something melancholic and halting. The piece ends with a delicate, drone-like texture under the words, “If man is not to live by bread alone, what is better worth doing well than the planting of trees?” This text slowly unfurls over a chordal drone, illuminated from within by slowly shifting woodwinds and from without by celeste, glockenspiel and harp. The idea here is an ideal garden: designed but not fussed-with, communal, and fragilely eternal."

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Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Marc Mauillon in fun-filled Platée in Paris; New York City up next

March 21, 2014, 12:41 pm

≫ Next: Introducing bass-barihunk Michael Scarcelle

≪ Previous: Barihunk Nathan Wyatt to premiere Nico Muhly piece

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Edwin Crossley-Mercer (left) and Marc Mauillon

Director Robert Carsen and conductor William Christie have moved their co-production of Rameau's Platée from the Theater an der Wien to the Opéra Comique. The innovate and lively production is set in the world of fashion-driven high society. Jupiter, played by barihunk Edwin Crossley-Mercer is fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who parades around with his  fluffy, white cat. La Folie, sung by the amazing Simone Kermes,  morphs from Lady Gaga into a series of entertainingly unique incarnations. Marc Mauillon, who somehow had been overlooked by our European barihunk "scouts" until now, plays Cithéron.

Performances run through March 30 and tickets are available online. The production then will move to New York City for a single performance at the Alice Tully Hall on April 2. TIckets are still available, but are extremely limited. It is suggested that you call 212.721.6500 for tickets. 

Introducing bass-barihunk Michael Scarcelle

March 23, 2014, 8:07 am

≫ Next: Mariusz Kwiecien returning to Met

≪ Previous: Edwin Crossley-Mercer and Marc Mauillon in fun-filled Platée in Paris; New York City up next

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Michael Scarcelle headshot and in Hydrogen Jukebox (right)

In our recent post about Philip Glass'Hydrogen Jukebox at the Skylight Music Theater in Milwaukee, we gave passing mention to bass-barihunk Michael Scarcelle in a post that focused on Dan Kempson, who role is particularly central to the drama. However, Scarcelle clearly needs to be added to the roster of barihunks and we wanted to wait until his birthday (which is March 24) to introduce him to readers.

Scarcelle  holds a Master of Music degree from Yale University and a Bachelor of Music degree from Hunter College. He also studied at the Catholic University of America and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy focusing on dancing and acting. He has distinguished himself in both musical theater and opera, as well as in recitals and concerts.

In 2007, he made his European debut as Crespel in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann and the Marchese in Verdi's La traviata at the Lyrique-en-mer Festival in Belle-Île.

In 2011, he made his debut with Munich Philharmonic performing Herrmann Augustus in Leaonard Bernstein's Candide, a role he's also performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich. Last April, he appeared as the Pirate King in the Pirates of Penzance with the Anchorage Opera.

Performances of Glass'Hydrogen Jukebox continue at the Skylight Music Theater through March 30th and tickets are available online.

Mariusz Kwiecien returning to Met

March 25, 2014, 6:17 am

≫ Next: Interview with Michael Nagy

≪ Previous: Introducing bass-barihunk Michael Scarcelle

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Mariusz Kwiecien(Photo: Mikolaj Mikolajczyk)

 On April 17th, Mariusz Kwiecien will return to the Metropolitan Opera in Sandro Sequi’s 1976 production of Bellini's I Puritani. He'll be joined by the sensational tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Arturo, as well as the husband and wife team of soprano Olga Peretyatko and conductor Michele Mariotti.

Mariusz Kwiecien has sung Riccardo with Paris Opera and the Vienna State Opera. Earlier this season, he starred in the title role of the Met’s season-opening new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. A graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, he has sung more than 150 Met performances including five roles in new production premieres: Belcore in last season’s L’Elisir d’Amore, the title character in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in2011, Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen in 2009, Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in 2007, and Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale in 2006.

Kwiecien made his Met debut as Kuligin in a 1999 revival of Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová and has also starred at the Met in a variety of other roles, most frequently Marcello in Puccini's La Bohème, Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

Mariusz Kwiecien as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Katherine Rohrer in Denver

The April 17 opening performance of I Puritani will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, as will the performances on April 29 and May 3. The April 17 and 29 performances will also be streamed live on the Met’s website.

The May 3 matinee performance will be broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

After his Met run, Kwiecien returns to his native Poland to perform Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Krakowska from June 6-10. He returns to the U.S. from September 27-October 29 as the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Interview with Michael Nagy

March 26, 2014, 8:09 am

≫ Next: Backstage photo from "No Tenors Allowed" featuring "Three Barihunks"

≪ Previous: Mariusz Kwiecien returning to Met

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Michael Nagy (photo: Sven Cichowicz)

We've featured Michael Nagy on this site since our second year running (2008) and have enjoyed watching his amazing development as an artist. Operafocus just ran an interview with the German barihunk that you can read HERE. '

Michael Nagy is currently performing the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at Den Norske Opera. He has additional performances running from March 29 through April 12. Tickets are available online.

He next heads to Munich to perform Stozius in Zimmermann's Die Soldaten at the Bayerische Staatsoper from May 25-June 6. He then performs in and AIDS fundraiser and gala concert in Bonn, Germany on June 15th featuring soprano Roberta Invernizzi, mezzo Nino Surguladze, tenor Massimiliano Pisapia, baritone Massimo Cavalletti and others.

Backstage photo from "No Tenors Allowed" featuring "Three Barihunks"

March 26, 2014, 9:19 pm

≫ Next: John Brancy featured in Opera News

≪ Previous: Interview with Michael Nagy

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Gordon Bintner, Elliot Madore, Bill Eddins (Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Music Director), Philippe Sly

Regular readers may remember our post about the three Canadian barihunks performing the "No Tenors Allowed" concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The trio joined conductor Bill Eddins for a program of from music from Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's Macbeth, Rossini's Barber of Seville, and Wagner's Tannhäuser.

We were fortunate enough to get a backstage photo of the group after Monday night's concert, which from all accounts, was a huge success. 

Philippe Sly can next be heard on April 2nd with soprano Hélène Guilmette performing excerpts from the Fauré Requiem, Handel's Messiah and Haydn's Creation with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec under the baton of Jean-Marie Zeitouni. Tickets are available online.

Elliot Madore returns to Pennsylvania where he will again be part of a barihunk trio in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Opera Philadelphia. He'll take on the title role, as Wes Mason sings Masetto and Nicholas Masters sings the Commendatore. Performance run from April 25-May 4. Tickets are available online.

John Brancy featured in Opera News

March 28, 2014, 6:48 am

≫ Next: Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes to star in "The King and I"

≪ Previous: Backstage photo from "No Tenors Allowed" featuring "Three Barihunks"

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John Brancy(Photo by Dario Acosta)

(OPERA NEWS) John Brancy is making his debut at Oper Frankfurt this month, singing Sonora in Christof Loy's staging of La Fanciulla del West. It's been a busy season for the baritone from Mullica Hill, New Jersey, who first attracted attention with his clean, bright, unaffected singing when he was an undergraduate at Juilliard. Brancy began 2014 in Gotham Chamber Opera's January production of Charpentier's Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers, then spent February in British Columbia, as Harlequin in Pacific Opera Victoria's Ariadne auf Naxos. Much of March was devoted to recitals, first in a Carnegie Hall "Discovery Day" all-Schubert program with Graham Johnson, then on a three-venue tour with pianist Mario Antonio Marra that took the team from Santa Barbara, California, to Manhattan's National Opera Center. The recital tour was presented by Marilyn Horne and the Music Academy of the West, where Brancy and Marra were the 2013 winners of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition.

[Read the entire profile at Opera News]

Brancy can next be seen in Tobias Pickers'The Fantasitic Mr. Fox at Opera San Antonio in September opposite soprano Elizabeth Futral. He'll also be making his debut at the Kennedy Center with DC VocalArts in December.

Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes to star in "The King and I"

March 28, 2014, 2:20 pm

≫ Next: Sexy pictures of barihunk Christopher Burchett in "Buried Alive"

≪ Previous: John Brancy featured in Opera News

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Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes in "The King & I"

Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes are joining forces in another musical after their critically acclaimed tour in South Pacific. The duo will appera in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I in an Australian tour that will take them to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The show opens in Brisbane on April 13th and you can follow the show on Twitter @kingandiau. Click HERE for tickets or additional information.

You can read an interview with Teddy Tahu Rhodes in The Weekend Australian Magazine by clicking HERE. 

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Sexy pictures of barihunk Christopher Burchett in "Buried Alive"

March 28, 2014, 3:03 pm

≫ Next: Andrew Garland in Pagliacci/Carmina Burana and World Premiere

≪ Previous: Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes to star in "The King and I"

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Christopher Burchett (prone) with Jennifer Feinstein, Jonathan Blalock and Caroline Worra

One of our few regrets in putting together the Barihunks calendar is that we occasionally run out of room to include each and every singer. Such was the case with barihunk Christopher Burchett, but fortunately we have a bunch of pictures from his appearance in composer Jeff Myers and librettist Quincy Long's Buried Alive, which opens today and will be performed again on March 30th at the Fargo Moorhead Opera.

Christopher Burchett in Buried Alive

Buried Alive was written specifically for Burchett, and he has been with the project since the first workshops with the American Lyric Theater in 2010. The opera is part of a partnership between the Fargo Moorhead Opera and American Lyric Theater for the Poe Project Double Bill, which will be the first operatic world premieres in Fargo.

American Lyric Theater asked composer/librettist teams to create contemporary opera thrillers inspired by the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe. The operas are not simply adaptations of Poe stories. The composer/librettist teams were asked, “What might Poe write if he were alive today?”

Christopher Burchett in Buried Alive

Buried Alive draws on themes of anxiety and mortality from Poe’s story “The Premature Burial,” as a painter’s nightmares of death start to become real. The opera is directed by Lawrence Edelson, the producing artistic director of the American Lyric Theater.

The second opera is composer Patrick Soluri and librettist Deborah Brevoort's Embedded. The opera is wittily inspired by Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” as a TV news anchor finds herself on the other side of the headlines. The opera is directed by Sam Helfrich, whose recent work includes productions for Glimmerglass Festival, Virginia Opera, and the Spoleto Festival/USA

Christopher Burchett in Buried Alive

In addition to Burchett, the operas feature a cast of five more of the country’s leading singers, who take on different roles in each opera: soprano Caroline Worra, soprano Sara Gartland, mezzo soprano Jennifer Feinstein, tenor Jonathan Blalock and bass Nathan Stark.

For tickets or additional information, visit the Fargo Moorhead Opera website.

Andrew Garland in Pagliacci/Carmina Burana and World Premiere

March 29, 2014, 5:57 am

≫ Next: Met Grand Finals on Sunday; Radio performance Monday

≪ Previous: Sexy pictures of barihunk Christopher Burchett in "Buried Alive"

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Andrew Garland

We've been huge fans of American barihunk Andrew Garland since the beginning of his career. We realized the true extent of his amazing artistry with the release of his CD American Portraits on GPR Records. Garland keeps his incredible body in shape by running and biking (and apparently some weight lifting, as well).

He opened last night at the Hawaii Opera in a double-bill of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Orff's Carmina Burana. Garland is performing both Silvio in Pagliacci and the baritone solo in Carmina Burana. He's joined by the talented young soprano Elizabeth Caballero, who is singing Nedda. There are two performances remaining, a matinee on March 30 and an evening performance on April 1st. Tickets are available online. If the video of Garland singing Estuans Interius from Carmina Burana is any indication, it should be an incredible performance.

If you can't get away to the island paradise to catch Garland, you can hear him on April 13th in Easton, Pennsylvania where he will be the soloist in the world premiere of composer Gabriela Lena Frank's Songs of Cifar and the Sweet Sea composed for the Lafayette Choirs and featuring the Chiara String Quartet.

She wrote the music to texts by the Nicaraguan poet Pablo Antonio Cuadra (1912-2002). As a young man, Cuadra spent more than two decades sailing the waters of Lake Nicaragua, meeting peasants, fishermen, sailors, woodcutters, and timber merchants in his travels. From such encounters, he was inspired to construct a cycle of poems that recount the odyssey of a harp-playing mariner, Cifar, who likewise travels the waters of Lake Nicaragua.

The concert is free to the public and it's only a 90 minute drive from New York City or Philadelphia. 

Met Grand Finals on Sunday; Radio performance Monday

March 29, 2014, 7:29 pm

≫ Next: Reader Submission: Jared Bybee

≪ Previous: Andrew Garland in Pagliacci/Carmina Burana and World Premiere

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Patrick Guetti

The Metropolitan Opera Grand Finals Concert will take place in New York City on March 30th with the nine finalists. The finalists were chosen from 1,500 singers who auditioned in 40 districts and 13 regions in the United States and Canada.

Finalists include bass-barihunk Patrick Guetti, 27, bass (Middle Atlantic Region: Highland Park, NJ); Julie Adams, 26, soprano (Western Region: Burbank, CA); Nicole Haslett, 26, soprano (Northwest Region: Mt. Laurel, NJ); Ao Li, 26, bass-baritone (Rocky Mountain Region: Dezhou, China, currently living in San Francisco, CA); Yi Li, 30, tenor (Middle Atlantic Region: Jinan, China, currently living in Silver Spring, MD); Christopher Lowrey, 30, countertenor (New England Region: Johnston, RI); Rafael Moras, 27, tenor (Gulf Coast Region: San Antonio, TX); Rexford Tester, 24, tenor (Middle Atlantic Region: Tazewell, VA); Amanda Woodbury, 26, soprano (Western Region: Crestwood, KY).

Each finalist will be competing for an individual cash prize of $15,000 each at the Grand Finals Concert. Even more important than the prize money is the contestants' opportunity to perform with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra on the historic opera house stage before an audience that will include opera company executives, artist managers, music critics, and other opinion-makers of the music world.

You can hear Guetti and the other eight singers this Tuesday, April 1 at 7 PM EST on WQXR. Their event appearance marks their first New York performance following the grand finals concert.

Don't forget to join our campaign to send barihunk Xavier Edgardo to the Opera on the Avalon young artist program. Even a $5 or $20 contribution will go a long way in supporting this talented young artist. Click HERE to give today. 

Reader Submission: Jared Bybee

March 29, 2014, 7:55 pm

≫ Next: Ao Li and Patrick Guetti big winners at Met Finals

≪ Previous: Met Grand Finals on Sunday; Radio performance Monday

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Jared Bybee

Our latest readers submission is Jared Bybee, who was suggested by two of our readers. Bybee is a first-year Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. This season he has performed Germont in AVA's La traviata and Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, both with fellow barihunks André Courville and Michael Adams, as well as Prince Yeletsky in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame also with Michael Adams.

Bybee, who hails from Modesto, California was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions District Winner in Salt Lake City in 2013. He was also an Apprentice Artist at the Santa Fe Opera last summer.

Don't forget to join our campaign to send barihunk Xavier Edgardo to the Opera on the Avalon young artist program. Even a $5 or $20 contribution will go a long way in supporting this talented young artist. Click HERE to give today.  

Ao Li and Patrick Guetti big winners at Met Finals

March 30, 2014, 4:16 pm

≫ Next: Xavier Edgardo's singing Mozarts' Requiem and Così fan tutte

≪ Previous: Reader Submission: Jared Bybee

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The winners of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, from left, the tenor Yi Li; the soprano Julie Adams; the bass Patrick Guetti; the soprano Amanda Woodbury; and the bass-baritone Ao Li. And Patrick Guetti again.

Baritones and basses took two of the five top prizes at The Metropolitan Opera finals, as Ao Li and Patrick Guetti were the day's big winners, along with soprano Julie Adams, soprano Amanda Woodbury and tenor Yi Li.

More than 1,500 singers participated in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 40 districts and 13 regions throughout the United States and Canada. 

Each singer performed two arias each with the Met Opera Orchestra conducted by Marco Armiliato. Guetti sang "Il lacerato spirito" from Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and "La colunnia" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Ao Li sang the cavatina from Rachmaninoff's Aleko and Mozart's Catalogue Aria from Don Giovanni.

The panel of seven judges chose five winners, who were announced from the stage by tenor Lawrence Brownlee. While the judges soprano Susanna Phillips, the afternoon’s guest artist,  performed “Dove Sono” from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

The other winners are soprano Amanda Woodbury, soprano Julie Adamsand tenor Yi Li. Each winner receives a $15,000 award.

The other finalists were countertenor Christopher Lowrey, tenor Rexford Tester, and tenor Rafael Moras.

Don't forget to join our campaign to send barihunk Xavier Edgardo to the Opera on the Avalon young artist program. Even a $5 or $20 contribution will go a long way in supporting this talented young artist. Click HERE to give today.