Baritone

Two days after his triumph as Scarpia in Annapolis Opera's "Tosca" last month, bass-baritone Sun Yu, 40, gave a recital of lieder and arias at Howard University, where his good friend and mentor, renowned baritone William Ray, 74, chairs the department of voice.The enduring affection between former teacher and student was unmistakable. Their friendship is perhaps rooted in their similar experiences. Blessed with warm, resonant voices, they faced the same sorts of barriers when establishing their operatic careers.

"Andrea Chenier" is Umberto Giordano's only opera in the international repertory. It is supposed to owe its popularity to star tenors who are attracted to the title role's passion and heroism.So much for the apparent reputation of "Chenier." The truth is rather different, as Thursday's opening performance of the Baltimore Opera's production of the opera demonstrated. This operatic treatment of events in the French Revolution is an ambitious work with a classic triangle of sensitive heroine, rebellious hero and menacing baritone.

For nearly 30 years, Eugene W. Coughlin had traveled the world as a member and later director of the Soldiers' Chorus of the U.S. Army Field Band and U.S. Armed Forces Bicentennial Band, performing classics, operatic and popular songs for armed forces members and civilians.Mr. Coughlin, 81, a baritone soloist who had sung with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera Company before joining the U.S. Army Field Band in 1950, died Saturday of a heart attack at Harbor Hospital Center.

For more than 30 years, in his role as a morning commentator on WBAL Radio, Don Spatz tried to get Baltimoreans off on the right foot.Through witty, inspirational commentaries that often stressed respect for others, Mr. Spatz and his avuncular presence were a welcome companion for harried commuters, frenzied mothers and senior citizens in need of a reassuring voice.Mr. Spatz, whose retirement from WBAL in 1991 ended the longest-running daily radio commentary in the nation, died Wednesday from complications of Alzheimer's disease at Charlestown Care Center.

As in past years, the Annapolis Opera's annual vocal competition, held Sunday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, turned out to be one of the joys of the concert season.Eight young singers studying in Maryland competed for recognition and prize money before one of the largest audiences to attend this delightful event. Admission was free, thanks to a grant from the Helena Foundation, an organization in Crownsville that sponsors cultural and educational projects.Annapolis Opera artistic director Ronald Gretz anchored the judge's panel, which included Naval Academy organist Monte Maxwell and Charlotte Wesley Holloman, a Washington voice teacher.

Metropolitan Opera baritone Cornell MacNeil will receive the Voce d'Oro Lifetime Achievement Medallion from the Baltimore Opera in June, after he serves on the judges' panel for the opera's 33rd vocal competition.MacNeil is known as a Verdi baritone, with a wide range and the striking top notes necessary for dramatic roles such as Rigoletto and Macbeth He is also known for his Baron Scarpia, the villain in Puccini's "Tosca." He has sung at the Met since 1959.Other judges for the competition are conductor Christian Badea and soprano Licia Albanese, a previous Voce d'Oro medalist.

If nothing else, the Washington Opera's enjoyable production of Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'amore," now at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater, convinces us that nothing is better for the ears than an evening of Italian opera.The plot may be formulaic and trivial, and the tunes -- although irresistibly hummable -- are lightweight. Yet the organic, lyrical flow of words into music found in this opera (and so many like it) is really at the core of the European musical tradition. Audiences and musicians alike profit when they return to their natal sounds.

In the Today section of The Sun yesterday, an article about Jewish cantors misidentified Beth Tfiloh synagogue cantor Avraham Albrecht. He is a baritone.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 2/20/98

Hal LindenBest known as the wisecracking precinct captain and title character of the hit television comedy series "Barney Miller," Hal Linden also is a versatile musician and Tony Award-winning musical comedy star. He brings his many talents to the stage of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., today through Saturday. As clarinetist, he performs favorite Benny Goodman tunes, and, as a singer, he entertains with Broadway's best show-stoppers. The SuperPops concerts start at 2 p.m. today, 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday.

In the Today section of The Sun yesterday, an article about Jewish cantors misidentified Beth Tfiloh synagogue cantor Avraham Albrecht. He is a baritone.The Sun regrets the error.From the paintings of Marc Chagall, we know what a cantor looks like: an old man with a long beard, wrapped in his tallit (prayer shawl), his eyes half-closed, his fingers carefully tracing the Hebrew letters of the Torah scroll before him.We know what the cantor sounds like, too, intoning the gentle singsong of Jewish synagogue chant in a thin tenor that curls around the notes, half-speaking, half-singing its pleas and praises.

Is Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" finally getting the respect it deserves? Maybe. Last fall, Bernstein protege Marin Alsop led the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in performances of this audaciously eclectic "Theatre piece for Singers, Players and Dancers" that generated large, enthusiastic crowds in Baltimore, Washington and New York. There were glowing notices in most of the press, too, with little of the dismissive attitude that greeted the 1971 premiere of "Mass" at the opening of the Kennedy Center.

The world has been pretty chaotic lately. The financial markets are in turmoil, 401(k)'s have evaporated, the Obamas and the Clintons are suddenly best of friends, teenage vampire literature is all the rage, the auto industry is on the verge of implosion, Guns N' Roses released an album after 15 years and Somali pirates are wreaking havoc on the high seas. But sports, throughout history, have often been used as a panacea in uncertain times. During the Great Depression, a nation on the verge of economic collapse found itself captivated by a knobby-kneed racehorse named Seabiscuit.

GEORGE PUTNAM, 94 Broadcast pioneer George Putnam, the flamboyant broadcasting pioneer whose bombastic style made him one of the nation's highest-paid TV news anchors and one of its most widely lampooned, died Friday of heart failure. Putnam, one of the inspirations for The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Ted Baxter character, died at a hospital near his ranch in Chino, Calif., said Chuck Wilder, longtime producer of his syndicated radio program, George Putnam's Talk Back. Although he had been absent from television for decades, Putnam continued to do his radio show, a mix of opinion, interviews and phone calls, until just a few months ago when his health began to fail.

MARK LUNDBERG, 50 Opera singer Mark Lundberg, an opera singer whose voice was so versatile he was able to compete as a bass, baritone and tenor, died after a brief illness, his management company said. Mr. Lundberg, who lived in Ronkonkoma on Long Island, N.Y., died at Stony Brook University Medical Center. The cause of death wasn't released. Mr. Lundberg competed at the regional finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as a bass, baritone and tenor. ADRIAN SUDBURY, 27 Journalist, blogger Adrian Sudbury, a young British journalist who blogged about his fight with cancer and campaigned for more bone marrow donations, has died in his sleep, his family said.

It's time to get down to brass tacks. Tuba, baritone, euphonium and sousaphone players can gather Saturday to perform international Christmas carols at Frederick Towne Mall, 1301 W. Patrick St., Frederick. Registration is 12:45 p.m.-1:30 p.m., rehearsal is 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m., and the concert is at 3. Registration is $5. Call Patty Ensminger at 301-432-7121 or go to tubachristmas.com.

The 2007-2008 classical music season moves quickly into gear this weekend with several events that ought to be well worth a listen. For starters, the eminent Kronos Quartet, which has imaginatively and intensely explored new music for more than 30 years, opens the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center's season Friday with a concert reflecting on Sept. 11. Called "Awakening" and developed for last year's fifth anniversary of that appalling day, the program is described as a "new soundtrack" to the images we all retain.

There may be no better way to spend Sunday afternoon than in the presence of Columbia Pro Cantare and guest soloists for their celebration of Schubert and Grieg, taking place at 3 p.m. at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ellicott City. Director Frances Dawson has constructed a program of lovely music from start to finish. Featured will be Franz Schubert's Mass in G, written when the composer was 18. A former choirboy at the Hofkapelle in Vienna, Schubert turned to composing after his voice broke.

Concert -- The Annapolis Chorale and Chamber Orchestra will present "Broadway in Annapolis: Showboat" at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase St., Annapolis. The program will feature baritone Christopher Rhodovi, soprano Karen Myers (shown at right), Harvey Fort, Katie Hale, Tom Magette, Ashleigh Rabbitt, Jason Buckwalter and Annapolis High student Sharnae Wallace, under the direction of J. Ernest Green. The cost is $32 to $35 and $12 for students.

When opera fans talk about the kinds of voices that are in short supply today - and opera lovers just love talking about such things - you can count on someone mentioning a dearth of true Verdi baritones. But when you hear Mark Rucker sing the composer's music, the situation suddenly doesn't seem so bleak. Rucker, starring in the Baltimore Opera Company's production of Verdi's Nabucco that opens Saturday, has carved an impressive niche in this repertoire. Nabucco will be performed at 8:15 p.m. Saturday and Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, and 3 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Lyric Opera House, 140 W. Mount Royal Ave. Tickets are $45 to $127.

Baritone Jason Stearns has mastered the demands of being in demand. During a 2 1/2 -week break from rehearsals of Wagner's Lohengrin at the Leipzig Opera House in Germany, he returned to his Eastport home to fulfill concert commitments at the German Embassy in Washington and at the Chesapeake Arts Center. The day after he sang in the second concert of the Performing Arts of Linthicum's 25th anniversary, Stearns flew to Leipzig for final rehearsals of the opera, which opens Nov. 18. Stearns arrived in the United States shortly after the Sept.