Barihunk Brothers Woo the Girls

[Top: Paul Armin Edelmann; Bottom: Peter Edelmann]

Paul Armin Edelmann and Peter Edelmann, who are brothers and sons of the late, great singer Otto Edelmann, will be performing Don Giovanni together for the first time tonight. The performance will be at Opera Ireland with Paul as the swaggering Don and Peter as his foil Leporello.

Peter will have to follow the big shoes of his father who one can see on the Furtwangler DVD playing Leporello to Cesare Siepi's sexy Don. Certainly, the thought of Don Giovanni and Leporello being brothers creates some interesting opportunities for a director, especially when Leporello woos Donna Elvira disguised as the Don!

Tickets or more information on the performance can be found at www.operaireland.com. We'll be keeping an eye out for photos.

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D'Arcangelo as Escamillo

Here's a shot of Ildebrando d'Arcangelo as Escamillo in the Vienna State Opera's current production of Carmen. This should get us to the weekend when there will be plenty of previously unposted barihunks featured.

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The Ageless Siberian Hunky

I recently saw Dmitri Hvorostovsky sing the title role of the father in Simon Boccanegra. He may have been the most gorgeous father figure in opera that I've ever seen. As he begins to play more and more mature characters including Scarpia, Di Luna and the older Russian princes and tsars, it's amazing that he still looks so beautiful.

Here his is singing Prince Igor's aria.

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Another Emerging Italian Barihunk: Vittorio Prato

I have to admit to being smitten with our last post, Massimiliano Gagliardo. Him singing with Kwiecien in Krakow has to rival any of the hot Giovanni-Leporello combinations involving Schrott, Maltman, Keenlyside, Gilfry and d'Arcangelo that we've seen in recent years. Gagliardo made me realize that there are an abundance of hot, young barihunks singing in and around Italy who this site has missed.

So, imagine my joy when my in-box had a photo of Vittorio Prato this morning? Prato was singing the role of Wagner in Faust to the Mephistopheles of fellow barihunk Erwin Schrott in Valencia. This tall, handsome stud actually studied piano and harpsichord, but his vocal studies in Verona with the great bass-baritone Ivo Vinco, husband of the blazing mezzo Fiorenza Cossotto, led him to a career in opera.

Prato won the “Mattia Battistini” International Competition and took second prize at the International Competition of Sacred Music in Rome. This led to a number of engagements including the title role of Monteverdi's Orfeo, Masetto in Don Giovanni and Gugliemo in Cosi.

It's also interesting how the opera Faust is becoming a vehicle for casting barihunks, as witnessed by the recent performance at Minnesota Opera with Kyle Ketelsen and Lucas Meachem, and the eagerly awaited triumvirate of Austin Kness, John Relyea and Brian Mulligan at the San Francisco Opera in the summer of 2010.

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The Hot Pole in Krakow with a New Barihunk

One of my favorite Barihunks fans always seems to find the hottest and latest photos and videos of Mariusz "Hot Pole" Kwiecien. Well, she's done it again with a link to the Opera Krakowska where he has returned in his signature role of Don Giovanni. Hopefully, some video will show up on YouTube.

As much as I enjoyed the new images of the Hot Pole, I was thrilled to discover a new barihunk in the same production. The Leporello is the totally hunky Massimiliano Gagliardo (seen in the bottom photo). Gagliardo was born in Cairo Montenotte near Savona in Italy and studied at the Conservatorio Paganini. He's sung the barihunk roles of Escamillo, Papageno and roles in Mozart and Gluck operas. He's also become a specialist in singing roles in more obscure operas. I've included a video of him singing Marcello to hunkentenor James Valenti's Rodolfo in a La Boheme from Rome.

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More of Hunky Tom Corbeil at Gotham Chamber Opera

[Click image to enlarge]

The posting of our hot barihunks bench continues with the stunning Tom Corbeil and some more pictures from the Gotham Chamber Opera's production of Joseph Haydn’s "L’isola disabitata (Desert Island)." You can find the earlier post at http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=corbeil.

Corbeil is another in a long line of barihunks coming out of San Francisco's Merola Opera Program, like our previous barihunk Paul La Rosa.

I'm sure that all of us are grateful to the Gotham Chamber Opera for these pictures. If you're in the New York area make sure to support this company. The production continues through February 28. For more information click here: www.gothamchamberopera.org.

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Teddy Bare as Escamillo

[Photo from El Mundo]

Sorry that I don't have a better picture to share, but here is Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Escamillo in Carmen at Bilbao. If anyone has a better photo, please email it to barihunks@gmail.com.

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Kelly Markgraf and Paul La Rosa

[Top two photos of Paul La Rosa in Klinghoffer and Krenek's "Heavyweight, or the Pride of the Nation" by Nan Melville of the NY Times; Bottom two photos of Kelly Markgraf pictures from his personal site]

The Julliard School was recently graced with two of the hottest young barihunks to emerge on the scene, Kelly Markgraf and Paul La Rosa. Markgraf played Mamoud and La Rosa was Rambo in John Adams’ masterpiece The Death of Klinghoffer.

Markgraf is a native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. He continued his studies at the Opera Theatre of Lucca. In 2005, he completed his studies at the Pensacola Opera’s 2005 Resident Artist Program.

In 2010, he’ll sing Escamillo to Kate Aldrich’s sexy Carmen at the Pittsburgh Opera. Both are known as intense actors, so this should be a steamy, sexy performance of Carmen.

Baritone Paul LaRosa is a native of Union, New Jersey and a member of the renowned Juilliard Opera Center in New York City. In 2007, he was part of the esteemed Merola Opera Program in San Francisco where he stole the show as Dandini in Rossini’s comic masterpiece La Cenerentola.

La Rosa has already performed in some classic Barihunk operas, including Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide, The Rake’s Progress, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.

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Another Emerging Barihunk: Alexander Vinogradov

[Photo of Vinogradov as Escamillo from the Washington Post]

As promised, this week is dedicated to the Barihunks bench. Meet Alexander Vinogradov a 32-year-old Russian barihunk who sings regularly at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. As with many bass-baritones, his barihunk roles are limited, but he's made Escamillo his calling card and performs both Masetto and Leporello in Don Giovanni.

Vinogradov is known as a bit of a brainiac and studied at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology before embarking on a music career. In 2003, he was a finalist in Plácido Domingo's Operalia International Competition, having already won or placed in a number of vocal competitions. As you can see from this video of him in Tokyo, he has a rich, full sound that is wonderfully secure. More importantly, he's one hot bowl of barihunk borscht.

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Casting Coup at Michigan Opera; Bavarian State Opera Promises Eye Candy

[Top, John Relyea from his website; Center; Die Bassariden from Bavarian State Opera and bottom, photo of Paulo Szot]

The Michigan Opera Theater has announced the casting coup of the season. Paulo Szot, fresh off his hugely successful run in South Pacific on Broadway, will play the lead role in Don Giovanni next season. It's amazing that Barihunks even got this information as MOT is the worst opera company on the planet in listing complete casts. Even for their upcoming Carmen, they don't list the Escamillo!

Nonetheless, we're all going to be keeping our eye on this performance. Paulo Szot is one of the hottest singers in the world and sex appeal clearly reached the masses reprising the classic Ezio Pinza role of Emile De Becque. If anyone at MOT is reading this, who is playing Leporello and Masetto?

Also, I received an email from the Bavarian Opera informing us that Barihunks Lucas Meachem and John Relyea will perform together next season in Le Nozze di Figaro. Meachem will play the Count Almaviva and Relyea will be Figaro. Mrs. Teddy Tahu Rhodes, a.k.a. Isabel Leonard, will portray Cherubino. The opera company will also present Henze's Die Bassariden, which often gives us some great skin shots, as evidenced from the picture above. No cast list is available yet.

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Red-Headed Ryan de Ryke

My apologies for the lack of posts over the last few days, but my internet service was down. After the Hottest Barihunk competition, I figured it's time to start looking at the barihunk bench. There are a number of major hunks emerging on the operatic scene and I want to shere them with you over the next week.

I recently received an email from someone who heard Ryan de Ryke in recital. They called him "tall, red-headed and someone you can't take your eyes off of." Well that got me googling pretty quick, so you be the judge.

De Ryke has appeared in a number of barihunks standards including Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream and our beloved Monteverdi and Mozart operas, which supply us with numerous barihunk images. He's rapidly establishing himself as an early music specialist and lieder recitalist of note, as witnessed from this beautiful clip of Schubert lieder.

De Ryke studied at the Britten-Pears Institute and his teachers have included Ian Partridge at the Royal Academy of Music and John Shirley-Quirk at the Peabody Conservatory.

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Prize Winner Alexsander Tsymbalyuk

Aleksander Tsymbalyuk sings Aleko's aria by Raxmaninov



More Videos & Games at فيديو ساندروز


Aleksander Tsymbalyuk has appeared on this site before and he's unquestionably one of the hottest barihunks to emerge on the scene. In 2006, he won first prize at the 5th annual Elena Obraztsova International Competition of Young Opera Singers in Moscow. Here is a video of his winning performance, singing the gorgeous aria from Aleko by Rachmaninov.

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Upcoming Barihunk Jacques Imbrailo

Now that the Hottest Barihunk competition is over it's time to dig through my emails and see what hotties I've missed. South African Jacques Imbrailo seems to have a lot of fans around the globe. He studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music with Ryland Davies and won a number of vocal competitions.

I have a feeling that we're going to see a number of hot pictures of Imbrailo, as he sings a number of barihunk operas including Rape of Lucretia, Carmen, Iphigenie en Tauride, Midsummer Night's Dream and a number of Mozart operas.

He's also scheduled to debut his Billy Budd at the Glyndebourne Festival in the summer of 2010. Let's hope it's shirtless.

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Tie for Hottest Barihunk: Nathan Gunn and David Adam Moore

[Top photo Nathan Gunn as Billy Budd; Bottom photo David Adam Moore in Seattle's Pearl Fishers]

In an age with a plethora of barihunks, it only seems appropriate that our Hottest Barihunk poll came down to a tie. Nathan Gunn and David Adam Moore both received 23% of the vote in a seven person race. It was an impressive showing for David Adam "More More" Moore who is much less well known than Nathan Gunn. Moore is clearly emerging as the new generation of singers frequenting opera stages. He can sing, act and he looks like the characters he plays. He also is a singer who takes risks with his repertoire, many of which appeal to younger audiences. By the way, notice the tattoo on Moore's ankle. Very hot!

The phrase barihunk was practically coined for Nathan "Top" Gunn and it's difficult to find an article where his looks aren't a key part of the reporting. He has also shown an amazing ability to reach crossover audiences singing show tunes and other non-operatic music. His sexy portrayals of Billy Budd, Pearl Fishers, Magic Flute and even the Barber of Seville have become operatic legend.

The only other serious contender in this competition was Erwin "Hot" Schrott, who finished well back at 16%.

The success of this site is a testament to the fact that people want to see singers who look believable on stage. With that said, I'm glad that every barihunk in this poll is ALSO an amazing singer. I want to thank the readership of this site for making this site fun for me, agents, singers, marketing departments and fans of hunky baritones around the globe.

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Voting Ends Soon: Who is the hottest barihunk?

The voting is down to two Americans and one Uraguayan barihunk. Only five votes separate #3 from #1. The picture on the left is of David Adam Moore from Soldier Songs by David T. Little. The center photo is of Erwin Schrott heating up the stage as Don Giovanni. The picture on the right is of the heterosexual Nathan Gunn in a homoerotic moment from Billy Budd.

If anyone would like to see a future poll and has suggestions, please email them to barihunks@gmail.com. I have received two unsolicited suggestions already: Hottest Chest and Hunkiest Don Giovanni. I also received a number of emails excoriating me for leaving off Mariusz Kwiecien and Daniel Okulitch. Maybe we'll have a showdown between those two very different looking barihunks.

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The Current Leaders for "Hottest Barihunk"

Here are the current leaders for Hottest Barihunk. From left to right: Nathan Gunn, Erwin Schrott and David Adam Moore.

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Erwin Schrott sings the Catalogue Aria

[Photo from Semper Opera Gala]

It looks like our "Hottest Barihunk" competition is going to come down to David Adam Moore, Nathan Gunn and Erwin Schrott. I'll post something from each of them over the next three days.

Here's "Hot Shrott" singing from his calling card opera, Don Giovanni. Since Schrott and Gunn both have been honored with nicknames, it's only fair that our current frontrunner for Hottest Barihunk also has a nickname:

David Adam "More, More" Moore.

Don't forget to vote if you haven't already.

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Guess the Chest: Randal Turner

[B&W photo by Roberto Minarda]

A few of you guessed which baritone struts around with this hot chest. It's the uber-hunky Randal Turner showing off his stuff in public. I've added a picture of him with a shirt on and he's still every bit as hunky.

Don't forget to vote in our "Hottest Barihunk" contest to the right of this post.

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Guess the Chest

Our "Guess the Crotch" feature was very popular with readers, but we haven't received any photos that warrant a second round. However, I do have this lovely picture of a barihunk's uppper torso. Can you guess the chest?

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Craig Verm Showers on Stage

Here are some hot pictures of Craig Verm performing Tom Joad in Grapes of Wrath at the Pittsburgh Opera. It's nice to see the occasional shower scene in opera, especially when there are barihunks involved. I'm still waiting for an updated version of Billy Budd to the 1970s where all of the sailors are in short-shorts and no shirts. (Any German directors listening? Feel free to steal the idea).

Barihunks readers might remember Craig Verm as the guy who created a sensation playing Joseph Pitt in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America at Fort Worth Opera. You can refresh your memory here: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=craig+verm. He shared the stage with the equally hot David Adam Moore, who is featured in the previous post.

Verm, who performs regularly in Pittsburgh, is next scheduled to sing the beautiful Faure Requiem with the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale on March 7 & 8, 2009. You can get more information here: http://www.pghconcertchorale.org/.

Also, don't forget to vote in our "Hottest Barihunk" poll to the right. I promise that Craig Verm will be in the next poll. Also, in response to a bunch of emails, Daniel Okulitch will also be in the next poll.

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David Adam Moore Strips Down to His Skivvies

Watch more YouTube videos on AOL Video

David Adam Moore is the future of opera. He's hot, he can sing, he can act and he's willing to take opera in new directions. If opera is going to survive into the 21st century, then people like DAM will be leading the way.

He just wrapped up a successful run as Zurga in the Pearl Fishers in Seattle and is now headed to Pittsburgh to sing Marcello in La Boheme. In late Spring, he'll be at La Scala singing a certifiable Barihunks opera, Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a Robert Carsen production. This ought to be a special night of theater.

Enough words, check out the video as one of the hottest barihunks in the world strips down to his underwear!

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