A Little S&M Between Our Sexiest Don Giovanni and Masetto?

[Top Photo: Randal Turner backstage; Bottom: Vittorio Prato headshot]

Regular readers of Barihunks might recall that Randal Turner was voted our sexiest Don Giovanni in the world beating out rakish studs like Erwin Schrott and Mariusz Kwiecien. Unfortunately, the only video of him comes from a 2005 production in Pisa where they must have been conserving energy, as the entire production was seemingly shot in the dark. Here he is with the Masetto of fellow barihunk Vittorio Prato singing "Meta di voi" from Act II, Scene I.

Randal Turner turns to a little S&M at the end of this video, giving Masetto a good lashing. It's a bit ironic, since Zerlina sings "Batti, batti, o bel Masetto, la tua povera Zerlina" which translates to: "Beat me, dear Masetto, beat your poor Zerlina." It's nice to see the Don give it back to Masetto. Perhaps Masetto will start singing, "Batti, batti, o bel Giovanni."

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Don Giovanni Unmasked: Dmitri Hvorostovsky

In the clever film "Don Giovanni Unmasked," Dmitri Hvorostovsky pulls off a feat that could never be done on stage: he plays both Don Giovanni and his alter-ego Leporello. The film is difficult to find now, but YouTube has some great clips. For your convenience, we've posted three of the best on this site.

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Dmitri Hvorostovsky Sings Pique Dame in '89 and '03

The passage of time has done little to diminish barihunk Dmitri Hvorostovsky's sexy looks or gorgeous voice. Here he is singing the incredibly beautiful aria from Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades fourteen years apart.

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Last Chance for Matthew Worth's "Owen Wingrave"

[Photo Credits: ALL PHOTOS BY LIZ LAUREN; Top photo inlcudes Robin Leggate, second photo includes Mason Baker (boy) and Blake Montgomery, third photo includes Kevin Anderson, bottom photo is a screen cap from WGN TV]

Today is your last chance to see Matthew Worth perform in Benjamin Britten's timely opera "Owen Wingrave." As an enticement to those of you within traveling distance of the Windy City, here are some more pictures, courtesy of the Chicago Opera Theater. If you haven't been to one of their performances, you are missing great singers and wonderful productions on a limited budget. They may not be the Chicago Lyric Opera, but they can pack the same punch as their bigger counterpart. And when was the last time you saw Owen Wingrave in a big house?

For more information visit: http://www.chicagooperatheater.org/tix/season/wingrave.html

You can watch Matthew Worth perform "If I Loved You" from Rogers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" at: http://www.chicagooperatheater.org/news/2009previews-WGNmidday.html

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T

Christopher Maltman as Oreste

The Hamburg State Opera is home to two of our favorite barihunks, Wilhelm Schwinghammer and Alexander Tsymbalyuk. Needless to say, we keep a close eye on what's happening on their stage. We were thrilled to see that Hamburg is performing Iphigenie en Tauride with another of our favorite hunks.

Christopher Maltman is performing Oreste in Iphigenie en Tauride with hunkentenor Toby Spence as Pylade. Perhaps neither is showing us as much skin as the cast in the recent Armide in Berlin, but it's a total joy to watch Maltman onstage with his raw sexuality, especially when paired with Toby Spence.

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Matthew Worth in COT's Owen Wingrave

There are still two remaining performances of Matthew Worth in the Chicago Opera Theater's production of Britten's Owen Wingrave. If you can't make it to Chicago, then you can enjoy the trailer posted above.

For more information visit: www.chicagooperatheater.org

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Celebrating Wagner's Birthday With His Sexiest Barihunk: Gunther Groissboeck

Richard Wagner was born on May 22, 1813, so we're celebrating with the only now that we know how at Barihunks: Posting pictures of the hottest Wagnerian barihunk in the world today. That selection was pretty easy, as Gunther Groissboeck brings his teutonic good looks to thirteen Wagner roles in ten different operas.

The photo above is Groissboeck performing Landgraf Hermann in "Tannhäuser“ at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in 2008. His next Wagner roles are König Marke in Tristan at the Bregenzer Festspiele in August and then beginning in October he performs König Heinrich in Lohengrin at the Houston Grand Opera. In one of opera's most idiotic marketing oversights, HGO doesn't even feature Groissboeck on their website (http://www.houstongrandopera.org/lohengrin).

If you can think of a hotter and hunkier Wagnerian barihunk than Groissboeck, we'd like to hear from you.

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Reader Submissions: Schrott, Leibundgut and Moore

Some of our best pictures come from our readers. Your submissions are always appreciated and encouraged, because they make the site much more interesting. This week, a number of pictures were submitted that we want to share with you.

Here are two pictures of Erwin Schrott taken at the stage door in Salzburg by a fan. In one of them you can see a glimpse of his chest hair. Sexy! It's amazing how hot this guy can look after a performance. Ms. Nebrebko is one lucky woman.

Schrott's next performances are in Bari, Italy in Elixir of Love, then he's off to Vienna to portray his most famed role, Don Giovanni.

The black and white photo was discovered by a reader on www.theater.ch and it shows Michael Leibundgut in a sensuous pose that almost looks like a men's fragrance ad in Vanity Fair.

Leibundgut is in Bern singing Ballo and Midsummer Night's Dream (http://www.stadttheaterbern.ch).

The bottom photo was sent to us by a fellow barihunk (asking for anonymity), but alerting us to this smoking hot picture of David Adam Moore in Billy Budd at the New Israeli Opera.

On June 6th, Moore opens in A Midsummer Night's Dream at La Scala, in what may be one of the Top 10 operatic experiences in the world this year. The production is staged by Robert Carsen with choreography by Matthew Bourne. That alone would make this production worth it, but the dream cast includes David Daniels as Oberon, barihunk Daniel Okulitch as Theseus, Moore as Demetrius, the stunning Rosemary Joshua as Tytanie, Erin Wall as Helena and Matthew Rose as Bottom. You can find a picture of Matthew Rose in Midsummer from Glyndebourne at http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/green/green/home.nsf/0/BE1C7C604F90E47F8025742B00579C7D?OpenDocument. For more information visit: http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/stagioni/2008_2009/opera-e-balletto/a_midsummer_night_s_dream.html

Keep the pictures coming!

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Emerging Barihunk Michael Leibundgut

[Top photo by Annette Boutellier]
Our series of emerging barihunks continues with Michael Leibundgut after an email from Switzerland alerted us to a number of hot baritones performing in a country more famed for chocolate, banks and watches. Leibundgut completed his studies at the Music Academy in Basel and then further honed his craft with Samuel Ramey and Elisabeth Schwartzkopf.

Leibundgut is currently performing "Un Ballo in Maschera" and barihunk favorite "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Bern. The top photo is from the performance of Midsummer Night's Dream with Carlos Esquival sporting a big schwanstucker [click photo to enlarge]. Leibundgut is on the far right of the picture.

He was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich which has had a number of barihunks pass through its program. So far his career has been primarily in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. Although he sings a wide range of music, he has made his mark in a number of contemporary operas. He is also featured on a CD called "20th Century Songs From Switzerland" with works by Othmar Schoeck, Meinrad Schutter and Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini.

Take a look at the guy next to Leibundgut in the Midsummer picture. He's our next post.

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Happy Birthday Ezio Pinza (May 18, 1892-May 9, 1957)

Ezio Fortunato Pinza was one of the greatest bass-baritones ever and an early barihunk. Many young singers today still mention him as an inspiration.

It is said that Pinza's father insisted that he give up civil engineering to become an opera singer. He switched careers, studying at the Conservatory of Bologna, with a three-year stint at La Scala in Milan. His New York debut at the Met was in 1926 where he sang bass until 1949. He then launched a third career, starring on Broadway in "South Pacific", leading to roles in records, radio, movies, and television.



Here he is later in life after he crossed over into movies and Broadway. Here he's singing to Lana Turner.



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Giorgio Caoduro as Riccardo in I Puritani

Let's face it, an opera titled The Puritans is unlikely to provide much barihunk fodder. I doubt that even Calixto Bieito could sex up this opera (http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=armide). However, we've learned that Giorgio Caoduro has a way of making any role look pretty hot. Check out his booty shaking performance that we posted from the usually unsexy Il signor Bruschino by Rossini at: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=caoduro.

InstantEncore had this description of his performance of Puritani from Athens in April of this year:

Italian Barihunk Giorgio Caoduro, sang an impressive Riccardo, with his round, sonorous baritone, looked totally at ease on stage and received a storm of applause after his high A sostenuta-like-there's-no-tomorrow at "Suoni la tromba".

You can watch a clip of "Suoni la tromba" below, which unfortunately isn't the best quality.

We're glad that they dubbed him a barihunk in their review, so that he can join some of our other favorites whose reviews seldom fail mention our favorite moniker. Singers like Nathan Gunn, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Erwin Schrott. Welcome to the barihunks club Giorgio!

Caoduro's upcoming performance include Count Almaviva in Nozze and Rodrigo in Don Carlo at Bologna, and Figaro in Barber at Toulouse.

For all of you tenor fans, you can hear Bryan Hymel sing the fiendishly difficult aria
"A te, o cara" from this production with a full chest Db at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is0UUg3oH4k. Eglise Gutiérrez was the Elvira in this production.

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Peter Mattei in Onegin and Don Giovanni

This post is in response to the numerous demands for the Swedish baritone Peter Mattei. We've been reluctant to post him, but he is particularly sexy in the Onegin clip and sings quite beautifully.

Mattei studied at the Royal Music and Opera Academies in Stockholm and made his début in "La finta giardiniera" at the Drottningholm Court Theatre in 1990. He has appeared in leading rôles in The Bacchae (with Ingmar Bergman), Die Zauberflöte, The Maid of Orléans, Don Carlos, Yevgeny Onegin, Le nozze di Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, La Bohème, Tannhäuser, and L’elisir d’amore at the Royal Swedish Opera.

He has recently sung both Giovanni and Onegin, but we're looking forward to his Billy Budd in Frankfurt in next year.

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Christopher Bolduc as Enrico

Christopher Bolduc must be a nice guy, as his colleagues at the Philadelphia Academy of Vocal Arts are always eager to apprise us of his latest conquests. Here is a video and photo of the young barihunk performing Enrico in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Bolduc is definitely one of the new group of singers who look as good as they sound. This video shows his enormous potential.

As usual, Ft. Worth Opera wasted no time is scooping up yet another barihunk, as he's scheduled to sing Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore in the Texas city in the near future. He will also be performong Schaunard in La Boheme at the Palm Beach Opera. Rumor has it that he's also working on Marcello in the same opera for an unveiling in the not too distant future.

We're hoping for some more barihunk roles like Zurga or Tarquinius. Any impressarios out there casting those roles?

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Another Hot Attila; Cuban Homero Pérez Miranda

This site receives a lot of requests to post singers in Verdi's Attila and they invariably come from Spanish speaking countries. This request was no different, as a reader in Argentina alerted us to this video of bass-barihunk Homero Pérez Miranda singing the title role at the Avenida Theater in Buenos Aires. We've also added the stunning duet "Avrai tu l'universo, resti l'Italia a me" which he sings with baritone Omar Carrion.

Homero Pérez Miranda studied at the Instituto Superior de Arte de La Habana in Cuba before completing his studies in Chile. Most of his career has centered around Buenos Aires and Santiago where he has had huge successes in the Verdi roles of Macbeth, Attila and Amonasro. He has recently made highly acclaimed forays into the German repertoire, singing in Salome and Flying Dutchman.

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Günter Papendell Naked

The recent production of Gluck's Armida at the Komische Oper in Berlin had lots of nudity. We couldn't tell from the attached videos if barihunk Günter Papendell exposed his schwanse as Ubaldo, but we found a picture of him in a locker room that's a delightful tease.

Pependall is a regular on the Komische stage and is also singing Schaunard in La Bohème, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte this year. He already has a number of barihunk roles behind him, including Don Giovanni, Escamillo, and Zurga in Bizet's Les Pecheurs de Perles.

The baritone was born in Krefeld and completed his studies at the Music Academy of Munich in 2005.

Make sure to watch the videos if you want a good dose of operatic skin!

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Emerging Barihunk Christopher Temporelli

Emerging baribunk Christopher Temporelli is a gifted singer and pianist. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance from the University of Michigan and refined his technique at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany. He has performed on the piano at music festivals in England and Russia.

The photo above is as Neptune in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria at Opera Atelier. He has subsequently performed at New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera and Fort Worth Opera.

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Opera News: Bass John Relyea Named as Recipient of Met's Fourth Annual Beverly Sills Award

[Photo: © Dario Acosta 2009]

The Metropolitan Opera announced today that bass John Relyea has been named as the recipient of the fourth annual Beverly Sills Award. The prize, which is presented annually to a young singer between the ages of 25 and 40 who has already appeared in a featured role with the Metropolitan Opera, carries a $50,000 award, making it the largest of its kind in the United States.

Established in 2006 with an endowment gift from Agnes Varis, managing director of the Met's board, and her husband Karl Leichtman, the award honors the late Beverly Sills by providing developing young artists with funds to help further their careers through voice lessons, vocal coaching, language lessons, related travel costs and other forms of professional assistance.

"I am profoundly honored to be receiving this award," said Relyea, who was presented with the prize in his dressing room prior to Wednesday's performance of La Cenerentola, in which he sings the role of Alidoro. "While I was never able to get to know Ms. Sills well, we did meet on a couple of occasions, and she sent me a couple of very supportive and complimentary notes before performances. It flattered and delighted me to know she was watching me, and taking the time to make such warm gestures. I would also like to give my deepest thanks to Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman, and the Metropolitan Opera for choosing me as this year's recipient. I am greatly humbled to be recognized in the presence of the legacy which Ms. Sills created for the world of opera, and the paragon of her artistry which so many of us continue to strive for throughout our singing careers.”

Relyea, who made his Met debut in 2000 as Alidoro, is the fourth recipient of the award, which was first given to baritone Nathan Gunn in 2006, and subsequently given to mezzo Joyce DiDonato in 2007 and tenor Matthew Polenzani in 2008. Over nine years, Relyea has sung a dozen roles at the Met, ranging from Méphistophélès in this season's new production of La Damnation de Faust, to Mozart's Figaro. Last season, he sang Banquo in Adrian Noble's production of Macbeth, and, during the 2006-07 season, performed the roles of Don Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Giorgio (I Puritani); Relyea also assumed the role of Garibaldo in the 2004 Met premiere of Handel's Rodelinda.

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Another Opera with Two Barihunks

Back in February Barihunks raved about our latest find, the lean and beautiful Vittorio Prato (http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=prato). He was performing with fellow barihunk Erwin Schrott in Faust in Valencia.

Once again, the wait for photos was well worth it as we received this photo from the dress rehearsals. Barihunks has to go on record as loving this trend to cast two hunks in a single performance, like the recent post of Schaldenbrand and Valone in Boston Lyric Opera's Don Giovanni or Alex Esposito and Mariusz Kwiecien in London's Don Giovanni: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/2008/10/don-giovanni-and-leporello.html.

Also, to our loyal readers, keep the pictures and hot tips coming!

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Michael Todd Simpson Showing Some Skin

[Photo by Brian Dickie]

We've already promoted the Chicago Opera Theater's production of La Tragédie de Carmen which runs through May 15, but here is one more picture from the production and a party from the opening night party. It looks like sexy Michael Todd Simpson likes to show as much skin off stage as on stage and we're not complaining! Clearly, COT is part of the "look as good you sound" movement in opera, as you can see from Simpson's co-stars tenor Noah Stewart and mezzo Sandra Eddy.

For more information visit: http://www.chicagooperatheater.org/tix/season/carmen.html#.

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Bevy of Barihunks at Boston Lyric Opera

[Photo of barechested Chris Schaldenbrand by Dex Woodeard; photo of Valone and Schaldenbrand by T. Charles Erickson - Both courtesy of BLO]

Once again, Mozart's Don Giovanni is providing Barihunks with a stage full of hunky baritones. Two readers fired off emails about Chris Schaldenbrand walking onstage at Boston Lyric Opera with his shirt open as the title character, so the search was on for photos. Luckily, BLO was kind enough to send us rehearsal photos.

The Don Giovanni is Chris Schaldenbrand, who has appeared on this site before. But the pictures also revealed another barihunk in the role of Masetto, Joseph Valone. You can watch them in action at: http://www.blo.org/video/donG_b_roll.html.

For more information or to buy tickets to the remaining performance on Tuesday, May 5, click here: http://www.blo.org. I've also included the banner for Don Giovanni from the BLO site, because they always have great marketing. Clearly, this image was based on Schaldenbrand who looks just as good animated. Even if you can't make the opera, it's worth visiting their site which is as interesting as some of the bigger houses.

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Emerging Barihunk Grzegorz Pazik

Our roster of Hot Poles continues with emerging barihunk Grzegorz Pazik. What caught our eye was the shot of his pec in the top photo. Pazik was performing Tarquinius in Britten's Rape of Lucretia at the Polish National Opera where he has been refining his craft.

Pazik graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music and went on to do well in numerous competitions. He made his North American debut as Guślarz in the Canadian premiere of Moniuszko's "Ghosts", conducted by Michael Newnham, at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto and in Hamilton.

We look forward to many more pictures of Pazik to add to our gallery of Kwiecien and Kitala.

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Nathan Gunn Premiers Previn Opera

Nathan Gunn is premiering his second Andre Previn opera, Brief Encounter, based on the play by Noel Coward. Top Gunn joins his colleague from Previn's Streetcar Named Desire, Elizabeth Futral at the Houston Grand Opera. According to the program notes, the opera is an honest and compassionate look at emotional infidelity with a couple that is torn between love and loyalty.

For additional information go to: http://www.houstongrandopera.org/briefencounter

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Big, Beefy Jason Howard

Somehow Welsh barihunk Jason Howard has eluded this site. Thanks to a reader who forwarded the three Wotan pictures from his recent performance in Strasbourg, this big, beefy singer can now be enjoyed by all of our readers.

Howard has sung a number of barihunk roles including Billy Budd [top photo]. Other roles include Escamillo, Zurga, Jokanaan and Don Giovanni. He performs regularly with his native Welsh National Opera, as well as the English National Opera, Covent Garden, Scottish Opera and Seattle Opera.

Upcoming performances include Marcello in La Bohème at Welsh National Opera, Iago in Verdi's Otello at Opera Carolina and Jokanaan in Salome at Minnesota Opera.

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Chris Herbert in Albert Herring

One of the best kept secrets in the opera world is Opera Vivente in Baltimore, which we've hailed as having some of the best marketing and hottest singers. They continue to hire the hottest barihunks and they've re-engaged Chris Herbert to play Sid in Britten's comic masterpiece Albert Herring.

Herbert's pictures from Opera Vivente's Orpheus in the Underworld remain some of the most popular on this site: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=herbert

But Herbert is as much brain as brawn (and that's doubly sexy). He writes insightful pieces about foreign affairs on the Huffington Post, the Foreign Policy Association, Ground Report and on his own blog. Check out: http://risingpowers.foreignpolicyblogs.com/author/christopherherbert/,
http://www.groundreport.com/ChrisHerbert, http://www.simpleintelligence.org/ and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-herbert-and-victoria-kataoka-rebuffet. Herbert is not some crazy opera singer ranting about foreign policy, he earned B.A. in Music and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Yale University and an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. [Too bad Miss California isn't this smart.]

The run of Albert Herring opens tonight and you can find out more at: http://www.operavivente.org/current.html

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