Gunn to reprise Tarquinius in Philly

One of the hottest tickets in opera was just announced, as the Opera Company of Philadelphia has revealed that Nathan Gunn will reprise the role of Tarquinius in Britten's "Rape of Lucretia." Readers know by now that this is a Barihunks favorite and it often is portrayed revealing a lot of baritonal skin. The photo above is Top Gunn in the 2001 production at Glimmerglas, of which Anthony Tomassini from the NY Times wrote:

Mr. Gunn was electrifying as the vicious prince, commanding the stage with his hunky physicality and virile voice.

Randal Turner sings Guglielmo's "Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo"

National Nathan Gunn Day

I had two bloggers send me photos of Nathan Gunn recently, so I figure that he's on the minds of Barihunks readers. Apparently, the top photo is Top Gunn singing the Barber of Seville in Chicago and the bottom photo is from Billy Budd in Munich.

Love those Germans!

Some Lesbians Have All the Fun!!!

Lucky, lucky Patricia Racette gets to make out with Nathan Gunn in this steamy scene from Tobias Picker's "An American Tragedy." Of course, Miss Racette does have the stunning 6' tall mezzo Beth Clayton waiting at home, so she's used to big and beautiful crawling all over her.

I ask my readers: Will this opera be performed when Nathan Gunn isn't around to sing it?

Nathan Gunn rehearsing Papageno

Nathan Gunn in some tight jeans rehearsing Papageno.

Lucas Meacham has ARMS!

When I posted Lucas Meacham earlier this year I had no idea that he was hiding a serious set of triceps under his costumes. I have a feeling that Luscious Lucas has been training his upper body as well as his voice.

This picture was taken at Florida Grand Opera's recent production of Bizet's Pearl Fishers.

Jesus Resurrected?

Barihunks reader PercivalPete points out that the Jesus thing has already been done. This picture is from a production of Faust at Opera-Bastille in 2004 with tenor Paul Groves. Once again, I don't know if Jesus was a baritone, but he was definitely a hunk.

Has anyone read the resurrection pages from the Bible. A little weird, don't ya think?

"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise" - Isaiah 26: 19

Opera San Jose shows up San Francisco Opera

The San Francisco Opera is a wonderful place to enjoy some great opera, but I have to wonder what happens when they get around to casting baritones. I've already posted about their upcoming season, which has one barihunk, Dmitri Hvorostovsky. So imagine my reaction when I received my Opera San Jose newsletter in the mail today with their house barihunk Kenneth Mattice?

Mattice will be singing Papageno and hopefully in tights like when he sang Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Hopefully, someone from the San Francisco Opera will be in attendance, since their flier also arrived and a number of roles are still not cast (including L'elisir d'amore, which Mattice sings). They should also check out Jesse Blumberg who is on this site and singing in the area. Of course, this is the opera company who cast one the hottest barihunks, Günther Groissböck, in the anti-barihunk role of Fafner in Das Rheingold. If Günther Groissböck walked in your office, would you cast him as a monster or in a tee shirt, like they did in Germany?

Mattice who is a artist of Opera San José's resident company, recently made debuts in Baltimore, Chautauqua and Opera Theatre North.

Paul Gay

If you can cross Don King with a Burberry mannequin and still come out looking this good, then you deserve a spot on Barihunks. This, of course, just proves that costume designers are as insane as any German director working today.

This is French bass-barihunk Paul Gay (I couldn't make that up). Although he has sung the barihunk role of Don Giovanni, his calling card has become the big, dark roles like Amfortas, Mefistofeles, Klingsor and Golaud.

He worked for awhile as the principal low voice in Osnabrück, Germany, but now he's singing with Natalie Dessay, so he must be on the verge of an internatinal career.

Jesus! - Happy Easter

For all of you who celebrate Easter, here's a little skin from the San Diego Opera's current production of Cavalleria Rusticana. I have no idea if the guy is a baritone, but he's definitely a hunk.

Bearihunk Eugene Brancoveanu sings "Rape of Lucretia" MTV

I couldn't find the famous nude version, but here is the highly gifted Barihunk (Bearihunk?) Eugene Brancoveanu.

Bearihunk Eugene Brancoveanu

The requests for new barihunks are getting much better from the readership. Peter33 suggests Eugene Brancoveanu, which has forced me to create the alternate spelling, bearihunk.

Eugene is another hunky graduate of the Merola program in San Francisco [how do they concentrate on singing in that program?]. Like Marian Pop, he is originally from Romania and is now making his career primarily in the United States. Peter33 is correct that he performed in the buff in a San Francisco performance of Britten's "Rape of Lucretia" and he created quite a buzz. He also was partially nude in Lou Harrison's "Young Caesar," also performed in San Francisco [how do we get anything done in this city?]. The photo above is from that campy production.

Brancoveanu has become a fan favorite at the San Francisco Opera, often stealing scenes with cameo roles. He received an honorary Tony Award for his performance of Marcello in Baz Luhrmann’s Broadway production of La Bohème.

He's a little bigger than the usual barihunk, like the hot Luca Grassi, but he exudes sexuality on stage like few others.

Marian Pop

The ubiquitous Anonymous has asked for some photos of Marian Pop, so here they are. And , yes, he is hot out of women's clothing.

Pop is a native of Cluj, Romania and represented his country in the 1997 Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He has appeared in the title role of Barihunk's favorite hunkilicious opera Don Giovanni. The video below is from the role Procolo in Donizetti’s Viva la Mamma, which apparently actually contains a drag role.

Pop created the title role in David di Chiera’s Cyrano de Bergerac in its world premiere at Michigan Opera Theater and repeated the role with the Opera Company of Philadelphia this season.

If you want to see more of this "Pop Star" then you might want to check out the Staatsoper Stuttgart, where he has performed numerous roles.

Jonathan Lasch

Chicago-native and barihunk Jonathan Lasch needs to check his skirt the next time he sings Tarquinius in the "Rape of Lucretia." I have no idea what that is between his legs, but it has earned him an honorary spot on this site! [He's the guy on the right.]

I often wonder: Where would this site be without Britten operas?

Marian Pop sings "La Mamma"

The wonderful Romanian barihunk Marian Pop singing in drag. I can't see many other baritones having the guts to do this!

Simon Lobelson sings "Ding Donk" from "L'Enfant et les Sortilege" by Ravel

It's only 0:28, but worth it.

Aussie barihunk Simon Lobelson

Born in Sydney and brought up in Brussels, Simon Lobelson studied at the Royal College of Music. Simon was a semi-finalist in The Australian Singing Competition.

Simon has a few barihunk roles under his belt including The Rape of Lucretia, Papageno in the Magic Flute and Purcell's Fairy Queen [top photo]. His most recent recitals have been at Sydney Town Hall and the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. He has also made a number of recordings including soundtracks for Star Wars III, and The Golden Compass.

Grant Doyle

Grant Doyle was a member of the Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 2001 to 2003. In 2004 he returned to the Royal Opera as a guest artist to sing Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, and he has since sung Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos (center photo), Schaunard, Demetrius (top photo) and Morales in Carmen.

Other barihunk roles include the lead in Don Giovanni and the title role in Britten’s Owen Wingrave.

Mikhail Davydov

Although it is highly unlikely, if we ever tire of looking at barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky, we have a hot Russian waiting in the wings.

30-year-old Mikhail Davydov graduated from the Musical School of the Moscow Conservatory in 1995. He won second place in the Elena Obraztsova International Vocal Competition in 2000, but would have won if it was a beauty pageant!

His repertoire has been fairly eclectic and includes Berg's Lulu, Rachmaninov's Aleko and Nyman's The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat.

Mark Stone

With all of the barihunks singing Don Giovanni these days, Mark Stone's portrayal of him spread out on a couch seems perfectly natural. And who would object seeing this occasional long-distance runner kicking back, toes pointed in the opposite direction of Don Giovanni's ultimate destination.

Mark Stone studied at King's College, Cambridge and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He has sung in most of the Britten and Mozart barihunk operas, most notably The Rape of Lucretia, Billy Budd, Midsummer Night's Dream, Don Giovanni and Zauberflote.

So far his career has been mostly limited to Europe with engagements in Sante Fe, Toronto and Philadelphia on this side of the pond.

Hot Pole in the NY Times: More Mariusz

[Photo from the NY Times]

Some of my fellow bloggers on the East Coast like to tease NY Times music reviewer Anthony Tommasini for his love of male pulchritude. Those of us on the Left Coast love his Genymedian obsession with hunky singers and encourage him to keep it up. The delightful La Cieca at www.parterre.com referenced Barihunks and Tomassini in the same post, which brought us great joy. Here is the quote from Tomassini that was the lead paragraph on his piece of opera's hot Pole, Mariusz Kwiecien:

"Some of the qualities the Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien brings to his work are typical products of raw talent, good training and hard work. His voice, for one: burnished and rich, with robust carrying power and a ringing high A many a tenor would covet. His good looks, trim physique and agility are also givens, though at 35 he stays fit through routine exercise. Even his hobby — nature photography in mountainous regions like Peru — keeps him pretty limber."