Friday, October 15, 2010

Eye on the Cast: Jeff Mattsey

Jeff Mattsey makes his Madison Opera debut as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro in just a few short weeks. Renowned worldwide for the signature baritone roles that have defined his career, Jeff made his operatic stage debut at the age of 21 as Marcello in La boheme, opposite Luciano Pavarotti at the Opera Company of Philadelphia (photo, right). He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1998 and can be seen at the MET this season as Marco in Gianni Schicchi, Hermann/Schlemiel in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Paris in Romeo et Juliette, and Joe Castro in La Fanciulla del West. In recent seasons, Mattsey has also been a frequent guest at Vancouver Opera and the San Diego Opera. Of one recent performance, the San Diego Tribune says, "Baritone Jeff Mattsey was an extraordinary Marcello: extraordinary because he created a character so rich and textured with so little apparent effort - and sang the role with such an outpouring of warm, burnished sound..."

But wait! There's more...Any "Real Housewives of New York City" fans out there? Mr. Mattsey appeared on the notorious reality show to grace the ladies with an excerpt from The Barber of Seville at a charity event:



Now that's drama of operatic proportions.

No comments: