A Naked Barihunk to Ring in the New Year: Laurent Alvaro

[Photos from www.laurentalvaro.fr]

I can't think of a better way to ring in the New Year than with a barihunk in the buff. Also, a new year seems like an appropriate way to introduce viewers (readers?) to a new barihunk.

Meet Laurent Alvaro, who was Seth Brendle in the second cast of The Fly at Chatelet. My understanding is that he only performed one night, leaving the rest of the performances to Daniel Okulitch, a favorite on this site. Okulitch also performed every night in L.A.

Alvaro is a 36-year-old French baritone who performs primarily in France. He has appeared in other Barihunk operas, most notably Thais and Midsummer Night's Dream. From the pictures on his website, he's apparently not afraid to show a little skin.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

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Szot on The View; Gunn on Kennedy Center Honors

Barihunks takes great pride in the fact that we discovered Paulo Szot long before Broadway. It is thrilling to see the enormous success that he's had in South Pacific. Word is that he left the show to return to opera in 2009. It is also refreshing to see how casually he "came out" and how it had no effect on his career. This is a guy who can cross over to Broadway with amazing ease.

New Yorker reviewer John Lahr perfectly captured Szot by describing him as having, "...a resounding, creamy bass voice and a warm masculine presence."

Speaking of barihunks who can cross over easily to Broadway musicals, Nathan Gunn will appear on "The Kennedy Center Honors" tonight on CBS. This year, they are honoring Morgan Freeman, Barbra Streisand, Twyla Tharp, George Jones, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey.

Gunn will be singing "Somewhere" from West Side Story with Kelli O'Hara as part of the tribute to Barbra Streisand.

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Simon Keenlyside: "Marrying music and theater"

I don't think that I could say it better than Joyce DiDonato, who at the end of this clip says, "That right there is a lesson in marrying music and theater."

One doesn't see anything from Pagliacci on this site too often. Partially because it's hardly a barihunks opera and, frankly, I've never liked the opera. But Simon Keenlyside can make anything exciting. Someone recently emailed me enthralled with Keenlyside's "animal magnetism." This is a guy who can dominate a stage like the great singing actors of our time, Leonie Rysanek, Bryn Terfel, Maria Callas or Raina Kabaiwanska.

He also happens to be the hottest barihunk over 40. Period. Wouldn't he make a hot James Bond? Maybe Jake Heggie can write the opera.

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Hot Schrott profiled on Singular City

Barihunks fans all know that Erwin Schrott is married to sexy diva Anna Netrebko and that they recently had a baby. So it seemed a little ironic that SingularCity.com is running a two-part interview with Hot Schrott (http://www.singularcity.com/december-8-14-2008/173-opera-gets-hot-for-schrott--part-1).

The site describes itself as a place "...where unmarried adults in Los Angeles can come together and celebrate the benefits and positive aspects of the single lifestyle."

We're a little confused, but we're not upset about it since they're running beautiful photos of Hot Shrott, like the one above. Hopefully, the pictures for Part 2 of the interview with be a little more salacious. After all, isn't that what singles want to see?

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A Midsummer Night's "Dreamy" Cast at La Scala

[Top photo Okulitch in The Fly; center photo, Okulitch in Dead man Walking; Bottom photo by David Gribbin of David Adam Moore]

If you don't have summer travel plans yet, you might want to consider booking a flight to Milan between June 6-17. The Teatro alla Scala will be performing Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with two barihunks, David Adam Moore and Daniel Okulitch. The rest of the cast is pretty impressive as well, with countertenor David Daniels, sopranos Rosemary Joshua and Erin Wall, and Andrew Davis in the pit.

You can visit the La Scala website at www.teatroallascala.org.

For those of you who missed it the first time, I'm reposting the picture of Daniel Okultich from The Fly. It was the most viewed picture on this site over the Christmas holidays, so most of you were being naughty, not nice.

Okulitch can next be seen in Vancouver singing Escamillo in Carmen. For more information, click here: http://www.vancouveropera.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=15. David Adam Moore is next performing Zurga in The Pearl Fishers at the Seattle Opera. For more information, click here: http://www.seattleopera.org/tickets/2008-2009/fishers/artists.aspx.

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What every Barihunks fan wants to find under his or her tree

[Photo from avaoperablog.typepad.com/avaoperablog]

How would you like to look under your tree and find Ben Wager and Ryan Kuster? These guys are two of the hottest young barihunks and immensely talented singers.

Merry Christmas!

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A holiday treat: Ildebrando d'Arcangelo with Diana Damrau

I figured what would be a better holiday treat than the glorious Diana Damrau joining forces with barihunk Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in "din dinning" and "don donning" Christmas with their account of "Si a caso madama" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.

May Santa bring you everything that you wished for.

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Simon Keenlyside: Sexiest Count Ever in "Le Nozze di Figaro"?

Three things about Simon Keenlyside's Count in Marriage of Figaro:
1. He actually looks good in 18th century garb.
2. He is virile, sexy and even a bit edgy. Watch his facial expression at the end.
3. He sounds incredible.

If I were the girls in this household, I'd watch my knickers.

BTW, he's singing "Hai gia vinta la causa."

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

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Shirtless Competition for Nathan and Teddy

Coming to the United States from the Theater Basel is some competition for those barihunks who like to sing shirtless. Meet Stefan Kocan, who will make his American debut early next year at The King in Aida at the Metropolitan Opera.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

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Happy Birthday, Erwin Schrott

[Pictured with his wife soprano Anna Netrebko on a holiday card from http://anna-netrebko.blogspot.com]

Uber-Barihunk Erwin Schrott turns 36 today and this site would like to wish him a Happy Birthday! Erwin, if you're honoring the old tradition of a birthday spanking, I think we have plenty of volunteers.

Also, in the Bradelina tradition, we're now dubbing you and your wife Schrottko.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

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Jesse Blumberg Will Make Your Trumpet Sound

[Color photo by Cory Weaver; B&W photo by Nick Granito]

I went to hear Jesse Blumberg sing Handel's Messiah with the American Bach Soloists and he sounded as good as he looks. His delivery of the line, "...but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his Glory shall be seen upon thee" was the greatest that I've ever heard live or recorded. His closing piece, "The trumpet shall sound" was truly magnificent, made all the better by him cutting a mean figure in his tuxedo.

He is performing it again tonight at Jackson Hall in Davis, California at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased either by calling (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or going to www.mondaviarts.org.

Blumberg was scheduled to reprise his role in the Grapes of Wrath, but Opera Pacific has become a victim of the economic crisis. Hopefully, somebody will hire him to sing a barihunk role to fill the void on his calendar.

This site can be reached at barihunks@gmail.com

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Christopher Maltman's See-Through Pants

Thankfully, this video of Christopher Maltman singing Tobias Picker's "Thérèse Raquin" leaves very little to the imagination.

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Christopher Maltman for $10

Linda tells Barihunks that the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society is having a $10 ticket sale for selected concerts including Christopher Maltman's March 23rd recital. The tickets normally sell for $23 and the offer is only good for one day.

Here's the link: http://www.pcmsconcerts.org/concerts/march-2009/product/christopher-maltman-baritone-kimmel-center/

Of course, this is really just an excuse to post another shirtless photo of Christopher Melt Me.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

Hot Pole Dancing in NY

Mariusz "Hot Pole" Kwiecien is burning up the stage as Marcello at the Met dancing and singing with his friends Colline, Schaunard and Rodolfo in La Boheme. He'll continue at the Met in Lucia di Lammermoor before returning to Poland and the barihunk role that he would own were it not for Erwin Schrott: Don Giovanni.

Above is a picture of him performing Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House in London and two pictures of him enjoying New York.

Tickets for La Boheme at the Met can be purchased at http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/season/single/reserve.aspx?perf=10017

You can contact this site at barihunks@gmail.com

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Martha Stewart's Barihunk Nephew

Keen-eyed Anonymous points out the barihunk Christopher Herbert, who has one of the sexiest posts on this blog, is the nephew of Martha Stewart. In this photo from MSNBC, they are shown together at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Bridge Dedication Gala on November 19, 2008.

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Quirijn de Lang

[Bottom photo from Lost Highway by Laurie Lewis]

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David Adam Moore's Stock is Rising

[Photo from Nicholas Roberts at the NY Times]

David Adam Moore who is as adept and gorgeous singing modern music or operatic standards, gets it both ways here. The Sybarite Chamber Players have updated Purcell's Dido and Aeneas to modern day Wall Street. You can read about it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/arts/music/06dido.html?ref=music

Allan Kozinn wrote in the New York Times review, "David Adam Moore’s suave Aeneas was firmly sung, with deadpan humor and an ear for embellishment..."

We would add that he looks rather dashing in a suit, as well.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

Advent with Christopher Maltman

How would you like to find Christopher Maltman under your Christmas tree? I figured this would warm everyone up for the holiday season.

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Nathan Gunn and Kristin Chenoweth being "cutesie"

Barihunk Nathan Gunn joins Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth in a video of John Bucchino's "It Feels Like Home" from his album Just Before Sunrise.

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

Nmon Ford: The Next Great Emperor Jones?

Nmon Ford has one of the hottest bodies in opera. In fact the German magazine Bild wrote:

"Nmon Ford has not only a beautiful face and body, but also a gorgeous and powerful voice...The most beautiful baritone in the world"

So of course, Barihunks is eagerly awaiting more performances of Billy Budd and Don Giovanni where he can show off that physique. For the time being, we'll have to settle for him performing The Emperor Jones at the Teatro delle Muse in Ancona, Italy. This opera has an odd history. Although the title character is a black man, the original role was played by white baritone Lawrence Tibbett made out in blackface. The great African-American bass Paul Robeson sang the "Song of Freedom" from the opera in a film with the same name, but not a filmed version of the opera.

It's nice to see that we have a talent like Nmon Ford who can sing the title role au natural. This reminds me of the great story about Leontyne Price who received a complement about her makeup after a performance of Aida. "Oh, honey," replied Price, "This makeup doesn't run."

This site can be contacted at barihunks@gmail.com

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What the hell?

[Photo courtesy of Minnesota Opera]

Having watched more performances of Don Giovanni that I can count, I've never seen one where the title character eagerly awaits his decent into hell. However, if the devil looked like Kyle Ketelsen it might seem like a lifetime at Club Med.

Ketelsen will be playing Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust at the Minnesota Opera oppostite fellow barihunk Lucas Meachem, who is playing Valentin. Although we rarely discuss tenors on this site, Faust is played by the wonderful singer Paul Groves. This should be a delightful production. It plays from January 24 through February 1 at the Ordway Center in St. Paul. For more information visit .

What the hell, a trip to Hades doesn't sound so bad in Minneapolis in January, especially if Ketelsen is brandishing his pitchfork.

Chest Voice

[Photos by Monika Rittershaus]

So this is what people mean by a singer having a "beautiful chest voice." Here are two shots of Christopher Maltman from Salzburg's Don Giovanni displaying his stunning chest voice.

Now how about some of his "lower register."

You can contact this site at barihunks@gmail.com

By request: American barihunk Rod Gilfry

[Photo from Rod Gilfry's website]

I've received three emails asking me how I could forget Rod Gilfry in a tribute to American barihunks. Although I stated my list wasn't comprehensive, he certainly is worth looking at on a long holiday weekend. He also seems to be having a lot of fun in this video of The Barber of Seville.

You can see him earn his barihunk credentials on two wonderful DVDs, Iphigenie en Tauride and in Streetcar Named Desire.

You can contact this site at barihunks@gmail.com

Giving Thanks to American Barihunks

[Top to Bottom: Randall Turner (photo from artist website), Franco Pomponi (photo from artist website), Michael Todd Simpson (photo from artist website), Nathan Gunn (ScreenCap) and David Adam Moore (ScreenCap)]

During this uniquely American holiday weekend, I thought that it would be appropriate to give thanks to the abundance of American barihunks in our midst. From top to bottom you'll find Indiana native Randal Turner, one of the cutest and most charming singers in the world today; Franco Pomponi, whose sultry looks and animal magnetism can steal the show regardless of who else is on the stage; North Carolina native Michael Todd Simpson, whose tall, striking presence and warm, rich baritone are a sheer delight; Illinois resident Nathan Gunn who many claim was the inspiration for the term Barihunk and who certainly has personified the term; and, the deeply profound Texas native David Adam Moore, who has made modern opera sexy.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of American Barihunks, but it certainly represents the hottest and most popular barihunks on this site. I can always tell when Nathan Gunn is on TV, because the site visits go through the roof.

I also want to take time to thank all of the Barihunks fans who send me pictures and suggestions. I am planning some upgrades to the site in the near future, due to some great suggestions from readers. I try to respond to everyone and am committed to posting as many hot singers as possible. My apologies to those who don't make the cut.

For today's listening pleasure here is Michael Todd Simpson singing one of the most beautiful versions of the Nedda-Silvio duet from Pagliacci that I've heard:
http://www.michaeltoddsimpson.com/audio.html

You can reach this site at barihunks@gmail.com