Opera Singing Countertenor John Holiday Rocks "The Voice"

High-soaring vocals ripped through the air of NBC's The Voice competition when countertenor John Holiday performed the Ella Fitzgerald hit "Misty." Pop star John Legend was the first to turn his chair within a few measures of the tune. Before COVID-19 cancellations, the young singer was to make his Metropolitan Opera debut this season and perform with Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Utah Opera, and the San Francisco Symphony. To learn more about this Texas native, click here.

Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński Breakdances & Sings For Pepsi Beat

Breakout opera-star Jakub Józef Orliński dances and adds vocals to a new track called "Never Alone" (Nigdy Sam) in a newly-released music video from Warner Music Poland. Known for his high-flying vocal ornamentations of undiscovered Baroque music, the young countertenor is also a well-skilled breakdancer. He puts his beat skills to the test in the high-energy track. Launched to fame with a YouTube performance that went viral (currently at nearly 6 million views...) of Vivaldi's "Vedrò con mio diletto" from Il Giustino, the Juilliard School of Music alumni has become a darling of Europe performing on several tours with Il Pomo d'Oro with whom he has recorded two albums. Check out the discs here. During the time of COVID-19, the Polish singer has done a recital for Aix-en-Provence and concerts with Capella Cracoviensis in Świdnica. Upcoming engagements include a pastiche project staged by Robert Carsen at Dans les Jardins de William Christie Festival in Thiré, France, and a charity concert at Teatr Wielki Opera Narodowa in September.

"Never Alone" (Nigdy Sam) is the second, after the hit 'Where You,' the musical version of the Pepsi Taste The Beat project. Sir Mich again took up the production  and invited a line-up that could only be created on this platform. The first element of this surprising puzzle is Sarius, a top Polish rapper who has taken the Polish scene by storm in recent years. Another is BARANOVSKI, a discovery and great hope for ambitious pop. This absolutely magical trio is complemented by the participation of the repeatedly awarded and delighting countertenor - Jakub Józef Orliński. 'Never Alone' is a pulsating kaleidoscope of talents infecting with positive energy. The publisher of the song is Warner Music Poland and Papaya Films is responsible for the production of the clip directed by  Marcin Starzecki."

"Pepsi Taste The Beat is a timeless music project for those who love music, have their own taste, value their taste and are energized by the energy that lies in beating. This is where we break with the routine, discover the undiscovered, appreciate our sights, cultivate spontaneity and follow our passions! Meet the non-obvious collaborations of artists and a surprising mix of sounds over genres. Get to know a new phenomenon on the Polish music scene. Get carried away by the urban sound. Try this unconventional approach to the subject. This is lifestyle. This is what the city sounds like. This is what Pepsi sounds like. Listen to your taste."

Watch the full video for "Never Alone," the famous "Vedrò" clip, and other videos Jakub has worked on during the quarantine time, after the jump.

[Source, Source, Source]

Fernando Bustos Helps Early Music Festival End On High Note

Look Away: Fernando Bustos as Orfeo in the Twin Cities.

"The second annual Twin Cities Early Music Festival — three weeks of period instrument and early vocal style performances — presented its finale Friday night, an ambitious and largely successful semi-staging of Gluck’s classic 18th-century opera, Orfeo ed Euridice.....A feisty little 10-piece orchestra offered playing that was both lively and consistently in tune — no small accomplishment in the period-instrument world. Even so, under the circumstances, it was probably wise that conductor Donald Livingston cut at least a half-hour out of the score. Two of the singers came from Panama for this production (which was repeated Saturday). These were a young countertenor, Fernando Bustos, who sang Orfeo, and soprano Graciela Saavedra, who portrayed Amore, the Goddess of Love. Bustos brought a sincerity and an emotional vulnerability to the role that more or less carried the evening, and his high tenor, with its poignant naturalness, had none of the steely sound that mars the singing of so many countertenors. As far as variety of vocal expression and coloring, Bustos is probably not yet in the league of David Daniels, the current champ of countertenors who sang Orfeo for Minnesota Opera, but he is clearly on his way. He sang the great lament, 'Che faro senza Euridice?' with such sweetness and tragic dignity that it seemed fresh and new. Saavedra was a saucy Amore with an agile voice, though a couple of her coloratura flights sounded tentative. Linh Kauffman was a warmly human Euridice exquisitely sung. Both Bustos and Kauffman embodied the 'noble simplicity' that Gluck sought in his works for the stage." Read the entire review here and learn more about the festival here. Additional information on Fernando Bustos, after the jump.

Palm Beach Opera Hires Singers For Administrative Roles

David Walker

"Now that Palm Beach Opera has stabilized its finances, the company has turned its attention to surmounting the challenges facing most arts groups these days — expanding its audience and raising more money to support its programs. Two recent hires play into those goals. Jourdan Laine Howell signed on in September as education and community engagement manager. David Walker will begin work Aug. 3 as director of institutional advancement. The two were hired because of their 'experience, personality and drive,' General Director Daniel Biaggi said. There’s no doubt about the drive. Howell resolved to pursue a doctoral degree in music when she was a freshman in high school. She achieved her goal in December, after earning undergraduate and master degrees in vocal performance. (Stage fright steered her into a career as an educator. Walker pursued two master’s degrees in arts administration while holding down intern and consulting

Jourdan Laine Howell

jobs — and successfully battling prostate cancer. He had an 18-year international career as a countertenor before transitioning to arts management in 2010. He left performing to become an administrator because the art form needed him, he said. While he was singing, 'I discovered that many in top leadership had business or artistic acumen,' he said. 'Rarely did they have both.'He’s held a number of development jobs, most recently at North Carolina Opera in Raleigh. During his two-year tenure, the fledgling company’s contributed income increased by 58 percent. 'I see no weaknesses in David,' said Dr. Stephen Prystowsky, the company’s former board president. [Source]

David Daniels To Join University Of Michigan Voice Faculty In Fall 2015

Rising Star: Daniels appeared in the pages of Vanity Fair
 magazine just three years after getting his masters
 degree at the University of Michigan.

"The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD) has announced that American countertenor David Daniels will be appointed professor of music in the Department of Voice beginning fall 2015, pending U-M Regental approval. Daniels will maintain his active international performance schedule while launching his academic career in Ann Arbor. He received his master's degree from SMTD in 1992, studying with acclaimed tenor George Shirley. Hailed by The New York Times as 'the most acclaimed countertenor of the day, perhaps the best ever,' Daniels, has appeared with the world's major opera companies and on its main concert and recital stages. The Chicago Tribune described him as 'today's gold standard among countertenors,' and Gramophone magazine acknowledged his contribution to recorded excellence, as well as his expansion of the repertoire for his voice type, by naming him one of the 'Top Ten Trailblazers' in classical music today. Honored by the music world for his unique achievements, Daniels has been the recipient of two of classical music's most significant awards: Musical America's Vocalist of the Year, and the Richard Tucker Award. Highlights of Daniel's recent seasons include multiple appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Handel's Giulio Cesare directed by David McVicar; in the inventive The Enchanted Island; and in the title role of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in a new production marking Mark Morris' debut at the Met as a stage director, conducted by music director James Levine. Daniels has won admiration for his performances of extensive concert and art song repertoire, including song literature of the 19th and 20th centuries not usually associated with his voice type. An accomplished recording artist with several critically acclaimed and best-selling solo albums to his credit, his latest release was a collection of Bach's Sacred Arias and Cantatas conducted by Harry Bicket with The English Concert. Daniels joins a celebrated voice faculty at SMTD, chaired by Stephen West. Recent graduates of the program include tenor Michael Fabiano, soprano Janai Brugger, and mezzo-soprano Carla Dirlikov. " [Source]

David Hansen Sexes Up Cavalli's 400-Year Old "Giasone"

"Cavalli’s Giasone has it all – achingly beautiful music, unimaginable tragedy, and ultimate triumph. Giasone was the most frequently performed opera of the 17th century and took its plot from the Greek myth of Jason and his search for the Golden Fleece. (Those of a certain age will remember the ABC radio program The Argonauts’ Club, also loosely based on the story of Jason.) These days Giasone is rarely performed. Our production will be the Australian premiere. Cavalli was a groundbreaking composer of opera. Giasone – at once bawdy and beautiful – will showcase the impressive talent of rising international star, David Hansen, in the title role. Oh, and it’s a little bit naughty…" [Source] One more tastefully artistic photo after the jump and a photo gallery of rehearsal photos can be seen here.

Countertenor David Daniels Engaged To Conductor Scott Walters

The happy couple seen here enjoying Glüwein last December in front of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum. Congratulations to them both. David Daniels is currently performing in Theodore Morrison's opera Oscar at
the Santa Fe Opera. Read more about the performances here. (Photo: Facebook)

Blue-Eyed Countertenor David Hansen Releases Debut Album

The release date in Germany for Rivals: Arias for Farinelli & Co. is August 23, 2013. Purchase your copy by clicking here. Video EPK and album cover art can both be found after the jump.

David Daniels on Being the World's Leading Countertenor

Daniels as Oberon at the Lyric
Opera of Chicago (Photo: Dan Rest)

"Few singers active over the past twenty years have changed the American opera landscape as radically as David Daniels. When the countertenor first emerged on the scene in the early 1990s, falsettists were still widely considered something of an anomaly on many of the world's opera stages. Yet in the span of a few short years, Daniels and a handful of colleagues changed all that. The sickly sweet, overripe-English-choirboy timbres of Alfred Deller and James Bowman seemed to fade out in the wake of Daniels's full-throated, agile sound of genuinely operatic intensity and ardor. With Daniels's success came a newfound understanding by audiences of the vitality of the Baroque repertory, as well as a world of possibilities for the next generation of talented countertenors. Now forty-five, Daniels clearly knows his worth as a performer and looks forward to a string of high-profile engagements. This season he sings Arsamene in performances of San Francisco Opera's Serse before creating the role of Prospero in the Met's new Baroque pasticcio, The Enchanted Island, on New Year's Eve; in February and March, he takes on the title role in Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Rinaldo. OPERA NEWS caught up with Daniels at the end of August, while he was in the midst of unpacking following a three-month absence from his Atlanta home." Read the full article at Opera News by clicking here.

Virgin Countertenors Philippe Jaroussky & Max Emanuel Cencic