STILL LOOKING FOR VERDI BARITONES

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

 

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We recently set out to discuss the present state of singing among the rare vocal species known as “Verdi baritones” in a post of ours, Where Are The Verdi baritones?

To open up the discussion we put forward then the notion that there is a dozen or so fast-moving artists who just might be in line to collectively inherit a throne about to be left vacant by the scarcity of true-blue singers of the Verdi baritone roles. Major artists who have made Rigoletto, Simone, Di Luna and the rest of those parts theirs are approaching their sixties and winding down their careers. Others, mostly lyric voices who have attempted on their own terms to tackle the big Verdi roles have had varying degrees of success, but have failed to truly own those roles and to enter the international circuit singing the thirty six or so Verdi leading baritone roles.

We wrapped up our post with some questions and some wishes: “Are these fellows the new hope? I hope and think so. We need more young singers with the potential to keep the three dozen operas of Verdi in the repertory.”

Well. The post elicited a wide response from literally hundreds of fans coming from more than fifty countries. Among those who made sensible comments, the Americans raved about Quinn Kelsey, the Italians yelled “Bravo!” at the mention of Luca Salsi, and even a couple of Russians greeted the names of Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar and Amartuvshin Enkhbat with elation. None of that was surprising.

The nationalistic fervor made sense: who, in America is familiar with either one or both of the above mentioned Mongolians. And how many in Europe would recognize the name of the fast-rising Quinn Kelsey? That will hopefully change when and if the MET adds the names of Ganbaatar and Enkhbat to its Rolodex, and La Scala, Covent Garden or Hamburg or Vienna decide to issue Kelsey a contract.

Back in the days of the great baritone of the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s the MET boasted the likes of Americans Robert Merrill, Sherrill Milnes and Cornell McNeil. South Americans and Europeans Matteo Manuguerra, Jorma Hynninen, Leo Nucci, Nicolae Herlea and Ingvar Wixell sang the Verdi roles regularly in New York and abroad, along with their American counterparts. But in today’s world, which is getting smaller and more expensive, opera companies are tightening their budgets. That reflects in the increasing difficulty of hiring singers at the top of their game and keeping them around for a decent-length rehearsal period.

The absence of major international stars with their enormous fees on ours and Europe’s regional stages is a boon for early-career singers who are allowed to mature and blossom without the cruel exposure to the New York-London-Milan-Vienna public and critics.

So, back to Verdi baritones… Here are eleven singers whose names were suggested by several Opera-loving friends who visited www.Rafael’sMusicNotes.com to view our post. Two, with whose singing this listener is familiar were unwittingly overlooked in our original post. The other nine, one must confess, were not known by us.

These are the names we failed to mention. Click on the links. Enjoy. Comment.

Carlos Alvarez – O dei  ver’anni miei (ERNANI)  https://youtu.be/WsVj2IdeU78

Juan Jesus Rodriguez – Perfidi! All anglo…Pieta, rispetto, amore (MACBETH) https://youtu.be/2Tv2aDSqDGk

Dimitri Platanias – Alzati…Eri tu (Un ballo in maschera) https://youtu.be/6q-bhzfv6H4

Stephen Powell – O Lisbonne (Dom Sebastien)  https://youtu.be/_y4kNY0oiqY

Nelson Martinez – Cortigiani, vil razza dannata (Rigoletto) https://youtu.be/-3jyxGuGU_I

Jason Stearns – O dei  ver’anni miei (ERNANI)  https://youtu.be/ggNlKkiT3rY (from 6:34)

Zachary Nelson – Nemico della patria (Andrea Chenier)  https://youtu.be/Bk7nNde9OFo

Simone Piazzola – Il ballen del suo sorriso (Il Trovatore) https://youtu.be/i3cfLR7fhbY

David Wakeham – Alzati…Eri tu (Un ballo in maschera) https://youtu.be/8qFWttFMCxw

Scott Bearden – Di Provenza (La Traviata) https://youtu.be/1qxvUR29dFg

Marco Caria – Cruda, funesta smania (Lucia di Lammermoor) https://youtu.be/LaYHk8uDCVg

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Rafael de Acha  www.Rafael’sMusicNotes.com All About the Arts

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”