Gratuitous Friday – David Bižić Sings Brahms and Mozart

One of the standout young singers in the La Boheme we saw from ROH is Serbian bass-baritonehunk David Bižić as Schaunard, the only one of the boys who’s actually making any money. Research reveals that Mr. Bižić is one year younger than the ROH Boheme production, and so far he has sung mainly in Israel and France. In 2007 he won second prize at Domingo’s Operalia competition. Today we get double gratuitousness—one clip is audio only and the other is a full-on video.

The second video is a very small snippet of Don Giovanni with Mr. Bižić ably filling the small but pivotal role (and jeans) of Masetto. The first one is audio only: a lyrical excerpt from Brahms' German Requiem that gives us more time to bask in the warmth of his rich baritone.

Warm, rich, lyrical Brahms

Scandalous jeans Don Giovanni production

This Don Giovanni is directed by Dmitrii Tcherniakov. It's his first Mozart venture, and it created quite a lot of controversy. Opera Cake noted, “The purists are disgusted, the conservative press is outraged…” The reviewer at the ionarts blog hated it. (And my readers know that makes it a must-see for me!) 

But Opera Cake liked it a lot, and gives us a thorough description of the performance. The opera was broadcast at ArteLiveWeb, but I don’t think it’s still available. However you can see a handful of clips in this YT playlist, and rumor has it there will be a revival this year.