Bryan Hymel On Family, Santa Fe Opera, High Notes, "Les Troyens"

Shaken, Not Stirred: Bryan Hymel brings cool to opera with his heroic high notes. (Photo: Dario Acosta)

"French grand opera makes great demands on singers, with performances clocking in at times that rival Wagner and orchestras crowding the pit. New Orleans native, Bryan Hymel (pronounced ee-mel) will continue to embrace that repertoire in performances of epic works like Les Troyens in San Francisco next month and Les[sic] Damnation de Faust in Paris this coming December. In between, he’ll sing the roles of the Duke in Rigoletto and Don Jose in Carmen at Santa Fe and Washington National Opera respectively. His bow as Rodolfo at the Met last year earned him continued praise from the New York press, which had welcomed his triumph on short notice in 2012, stepping in for a save-the-day kind of performance in Les Troyens appropriate for someone whose voice type is most often described as heroic. His list of awards is long, and illustrious, and includes the Metropolitan Opera’s Beverly Sills Artist Award and first

Regardez Tout Le Gala Du Tricentenaire De l'Opéra Comique

Watch the entire gala celebrating 300 years of the l'Opéra Comique with opera stars Anna Caterina Antonacci, Sabine Devieilhe, Patricia Petibon, Julie Fuchs, Stéphane Degout, and more. "Carmen, Lakmé, Pelléas et Mélisande, La Fille du régiment... Autant de chefs d'oeuvre de l'art lyrique nés sur les planches de l'Opéra Comique. Depuis sa création en 1715, cette prestigieuse maison fait rayonner l'opéra à la française, accueille des artistes de renom, programme des oeuvres de tous les répertoires. Un lieu chargé d'histoires que cette soirée de gala ambitionne de résumer. A grand renfort d'images d'archives, d'interventions et bien évidemment de chants, apprêtez-vous à voir défiler trois siècles de création artistique. En maître de cérémonie, Michel Fau. Avec son impertinence habituelle, l'homme de spectacle redonnera vie aux petits et grands moments de la célèbre institution. A ses côtés, chanteront Anna Caterina Antonacci, Sabine Devieilhe, Julie Fuchs, Patricia Petibon, Frédéric Antoun, Stéphane Degout et Vincent Le Texier. Des chanteurs d'envergure internationale, familiers de la Salle Favart, qui interprèteront les airs qui ont marqué l'Opéra Comique et l'art lyrique en général. Ils seront accompagnés dans ce voyage dans le temps par Jérôme Deschamps, des chanteurs de l'Académie de l'Opéra Comique, le choeur Accentus et l'orchestre Les Siècles dirigé par François-Xavier Roth. « Si l’Opéra Comique m’était conté », une soirée exceptionnelle pour un lieu qui l'est tout autant. Le 28 décembre, Arte diffusera une version enrichie de ce Gala du tricentenaire. Sujets documentaires et témoignages viendront s'ajouter à la captation du 13 novembre. La soirée sera également diffusée en direct sur France Musique." [Source] More photos and the video are after the jump.

Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!

Celebrate Bastille Day by listening to Hildegard Behrens interpret

 "Les nuits d'été" of Hector Berlioz.  

Les nuits d'été (Op. 7):
I. Villanelle
II. Le spectre de la rose
III. Sur les lagunes
IV. Absence
V. Au cimetière
VI. L'île inconnue

Marie-Nicole Lemieux Sings Berlioz, Wagner, and Mahler

Click image to purchase the recording

"As one of the cruel realities of competition, the winners switch from glory to complete oblivion after a few ephemerous mediatic sparks. When Marie-Nicole Lemieux won the Queen Elisabeth Singing Competition in 1998, nobody knew she would become the contralto of her generation, and nobody knew - even if many guessed at it - that she would become one of the most versatile singers imaginable as well as a first-class tragedian. In August 2000 the producers of Cypres were the first to offer her a recital with the pianist Daniel Blumenthal. Programmed was nothing less than Les Nuits d'été, the Wesendonck and the Rückert-lieder - three cycles of lieder counted among the most intense of the repertory. The calm trembling of the contralto in Berlioz, its poignant dignity in Mahler and its heightened expression in Wagner made this record into an undeniable commercial and artistic success. More than ten years have passed since; Marie-Nicole Lemieux today appears on the biggest stages in the world, and this "historic" record reminds us that even at the beginning of her career, the singer from Quebec was already the genius performer we know today." [Source]