Nathan Gunn in Pearl Fishers

Here is your chance to enjoy three minutes of a shirtless Nathan Gunn and a nice shot of him from the rear. This video shows why he has remained one of our three most popular barihunks since the site was started.

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Matthew Treviño: Devilishly Hot

One of our favorite things about running this site is showing the world that there is opera outside of New York. There is a wealth of talent working in "second tier" opera companies and often the performances are much more gratifying. Singers like Matthew Treviño bring an intensity and presence to the stage that may get lost in Renee Fleming's long shadow on the stage of The Met.

This devilishly good looking bass has charmed audiences in cities like Ft. Worth, Sacramento, Kansas City, Dallas, Detroit and Santa Barbara. As you can see from the photo on the bottom, Matthew Treviño can even make Colline in La Boheme look sexy. Of course, we prefer him as a soldier in Salome exposing some skin. We won't even make a joke about him playing Dick Deadeye in Kansas City!

Like many barihunks, he got his major break with the Fort Worth Opera, which has become ground zero for barihunkiness. Treviño went on to hone his skills at the prestigious Merola Opera Program where he first caught our eye.

The Texas native graduated from Baylor University and was a finalist in the Loren L. Zachary Foundation Competition, Dallas Opera Guild Competition, Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Voice Competition, Shreveport Opera’s Singer of the Year Competition, and was the recipient of the Thomas Stewart Award for Vocal Excellence at Baylor University.

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Quirijn de Lang Caught With His Shirt On

We've featured Quirijn de Lang on this site three time before, but this is the first time with his shirt on! He's still sexy as the fully clothed Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola at Garsington Opera. The opera also features barihunk Joshua Bloom as Alidoro, so this production is a true feast for the eyes. For some reason pictures of Bloom are really difficult to find (is anyone at Askonas Holt listening?).

There are still two peformances left: http://www.garsingtonopera.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=32. If you want to see our previous post of de Lang, click here: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/search?q=quirijn.

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Mario Caria Makes U.S. Mainstage Debut in Cincinnati

You have to give the Cincinnati Opera some credit. First, their recent Le Nozze di Figaro featured Barihunks favorite Teddy Tahu Rhodes, then they follow it up with American mainstage debut of Mario Caria. Caria, by the way, also made his U.S. debut at the Cincinnati May Festival. Maybe it's Cincinnati's famous chili, but whatever is bringing the barihunks to this quaint river town, keep 'em coming!

For more information visit: http://www.cincinnatiopera.org/content.jsp?articleId=719

The 32-year-old Sardinian has studied with famed soprano Mirella Freni and has won a series of prestigious vocal awards, including the audience prize at the 2007 Operalia competition. It's easy to see why he'd be an audience favorite, with his smoky Mediterranean good looks and perfect Verdian baritone.

His next U.S. appearance will be with the Washington National Opera portraying Figaro in Rossini's classic comedy: http://www.dc-opera.org/performances/barber.asp

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Michael Leibundgut Shows Some Skin

[Center photo: Regine Koerner, Munich]

We featured Michael Leibundgut back in May, but we didn't have any pictures at the time showing off his gorgeous body. Thanks to one tenacious reader in Der Schweiz, you can see more of what makes this teutonic beauty a barihunk. It looks like Michael is spending as much time at the gym as with his scores (and we're not complaining!).

The center photo features him in Aureliano Catteno's "La Philosophie Dans de Labyrinthe" from Munich. Apparently, Leibundgut was a hit. Here's the review from MusicWeb Live: "Michael Leibundgut, was particularly impressive as the Minotaur. Besides singing unaccompanied, he encompassed a vocal range from deep bass to falsetto, yet established a powerful presence in each register."

You can read more about him at: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/2009/05/emerging-barihunk-michael-leibundgut.html

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Kwiecien Off The Stage

The King Roger photos show us that Mariusz Kwiecien is one studly barihunk on stage. But he's quite a hunk off-stage, as well. Here are some random photos taken by fans of the Polish baritone either backstage or at a cocktail party.

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More Mariusz Kwiecien From King Roger

Who said that King Roger isn't an interesting opera? One couldn't help but be totally mesmerized by Mariusz Kwiecien during the entire broadcast yesterday from the Bastille. Also, now everyone knows why he's called the Hot Pole (see center photo - or should we say "box' 3?).

One other thing needs to be said about Mariusz Kwiecien on a serious note. He's undoubtedly a great singer and he's unquestionably a barihunk. But Kwiecien is probably the best actor in all of opera. One of the motivations for creating this site was having seen Kwiecien in arguably the greatest portrayal of Don Giovanni ever at the San Francisco Opera. He dominated the stage with sexual energy and he had the type of edginess that makes one understand how women fall in love with rakes, murderers and societal bad boys.

King Roger is a notoriously difficult opera to pull off dramatically. The joke amongst music critics is that it's best enjoyed on CD, where one can lather in it's luxurious melodies. Kwiecien brings out so much of the character's inner self that it actually elevates the opera.

With all of that said, enjoy the pictures, which is why this site exists.

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Mariusz Kwiecien Brings Some Sexual Energy to King Roger

The Paris Opera is performing Karol Szymanowski's rarely performed opera King Roger (or Le Roi Roger in France). King Roger's lack of performance stems from the fact that the opera is much more interesting musically than it is dramatically. In fact, the music is exquisite. The Paris Opera has created a visually stunning version of the opera and having the Hot Pole run around his briefs boxer shorts would make Pfitzner's Palestrina interesting.

You can watch this performance live on Saturday, June 19th at 11 AM P.S.T at http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Le_Roi_Roger_de_Karol_Szymanowski_a_l_Opera_Bastille/

You can find a synopsis of the opera here: http://www-umi.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2008/7/16/20080716_1_1900/

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Random David Adam Moore Pictures

As David Adam Moore wraps up his run as his run at La Scala, we thought that people on the East Coast would want to know that he's heading to Glimmerglass to perform in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. He'll be performing in the Jonathan Miller production from August 2-23 and you can get more information here: http://www.glimmerglass.org/season/opera4.html. We have a feeling that this is a production that's not to be missed.

For those of you on the West Coast, you can see Dido and Aeneas with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra with soprano Susan Graham and baritone William Berger (for you red head lovers). Click here for information: http://philharmonia.org/nov09.html.

We decided to post some random pictures of DAM for your pleasure. From top to bottom: Pearl Fishers in Seattle, Billy Budd in Israel, at a Gotham Chamber Opera fund raiser, and Demetrius at La Scala.

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Daniel Okulitch Pix From La Scala

Here are the long awaited pictures of Barihunks favorite Daniel Okulitch from the amazing production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at La Scala. We already posted pictures of über-hunk David Adam Moore, who portrayed Demetrius barefoot, in a sexy tee and his shorts. Unfortunately, Daniel Okulitch was given a few layers of gold lamme.

Okulitch will be headed to New York where he will be making his New York City Opera debut in Don Giovanni.

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Kyle Ketelsen Heats Up Carmen

[Photo courtesy of De Nederlandse Opera]
Those of us in San Francisco were already familiar with Kyle Ketelsen's sexy, hot Escamillo in Carmen. He portrayed the role here in 2006 and completely stole the show. He is reprising the role at De Nederlandse Opera and apparently he has gotten even hotter with time. Or perhaps it's that sexy torreador outfit that costuming made for him. He certainly fills out those pants nicely.

This production was directed by the brilliant Robert Carsen, who also directed the sexy version of A Midsummer Night's Dream at La Scala featured in a recent post (and more pix coming!).

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Giovanni Furlanetto in Mozart

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Giovanni Furlanetto is new to Barihunks and came recommended to us by another singer who said "no one is sexier on stage." Well, from the clip of him singing in Le Nozze di Figaro, we'd say that there is a pretty good case to be made. He also looks awfully good in a tee shirt. Teddy Tahu Rhodes may have some competition.

His skills on stage may actually come from the career he had before opera, when he performed as a professional circus and theater actor. [Tenor Rolando Villazon was also trained as a clown].

He first came to the attention of the opera world when he won the 1988 Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition in Philadelphia. He has since performed on almost every major stage in Italy, throughout Europe as well as the Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera, Baltimore Opera, Opéra de Montréal and Philadelphia Opera.

Over the last two decades he has become known as a speialist in Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti. We've also added a wonderful clip of him singing some Tosti songs that shouldn't be missed. Clearly, this guy has everything that we love at Barihunks: he can sing, he looks great and he can act.

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"Teddy Bare" in a Tee

[Pictures from the Ft. Worth Opera - the sexiest opera company in America!]

We go forever without a post of Teddy Tahu Rhodes, and now we have two in as many days. Here is Teddy Bare at a Ft. Worth Opera event with his new bride Isabel Leonard. Teddy is showing some nice biceps and a bit of his tattoo if you look r-e-a-l c-l-o-s-e.

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FINALLY! Pix of David Adam Moore from La Scala

Many thanks to one of our loyal readers for providing the long-awaited pictures of David Adam Moore from the Robert Carsen/Matthew Bourne production of Britten's "Midsummer Night's Dream" at La Scala. These pictures affirm our suspicion that Moore would be the hottest Demetrius to ever grace the stage.

We're still looking for pictures of Daniel Okulitch as Theseus. Anyone?

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La Cieca's Hunkenscoop

The divine La Cieca at www.parterre.com was the original inspiration for this site, so we're always happy when she discovers new barihunkinal talent. Her latest scoop, or hunkenscoop, is Holger Falk, who is certainly worthy of this site.

Read La Cieca's entire post, complete with photos at http://parterre.com/?p=4031.


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Teddy Tahu Rhodes in Cincinnati

This may be the longest period of time that we've gone without a post of Teddy Tahu Rhodes. We never did find any juicy pictures of his Billy Budd in Santa Fe, but we're encouraged by the fact that he has plenty of barihunk roles on his schedule. He is performing Escamillo at The Met and in Munich, as well as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Sydney Opera.

The pictures from Cincinnati show him with a full head of blonde hair that makes his philandering all the more believable. Tonight is the last performance. Go to www.cincinnatiopera.org for ticket information.

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Liam Moran sings "How strange she is tonight" - Karenin's Aria

Hair or no hair? He's pretty sexy either way, but how do you prefer emerging barihunk Liam Moran?

Moran is currently a resident artist with the Pittsburgh Opera where he made his debut last season as the Bonze in Madama Butterfly.

He has performed in some Barihunk opera already, including Zuniga in Carmen and the Speaker in Die Zauberflote. We can't wait to see him as Escamillo or Papageno (if it isn't too light for his voice). The former Merola student was also a prize winner of the Florida Grand Opera Competition and Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions/New England region. Moran completed his studies at McGill University in Montreal and the Yale School of Music.

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2 Barihunks and a Hunkentenor

[Photos by Ed Hille]

Barihunks waited eagerly for the production of Britten's "The Rape of Lucretia" to open at the Opera Company of Philadelphia. We even promoted it over a year ago when we first heard that Nathan Gunn would play the role of Tarquinius, a favorite at this site. Our excitement and anticipation increased when we learned that the role of Collatinus would be played by emerging barihunk Ben Wager. To top things off, the critical role of the Male Chorus was being played by the hunky William Burden, meaning that the Gunn/Burden partnership was returning that created one of the original barihunk/hunkentenor partnerships when they performed Pearl Fishers together topless.

We have to confess that we were a little disappointed when Phillie took much of the sexiness out of their portrayals dressing them like they were headed to Siberia in winter. We prefer our Rape of Lucretia like this: http://barihunks.blogspot.com/2009/04/some-more-matthew-worthshowing-some.html.

Nonetheless, we can't complain with two barihunks and a hunkentenor on the same stage. Even the Philadelphia Inquirer took note:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20090604_Looking_as_good_as_they_sound.html

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Magnifique: Olivier LaQuerre

[Photos by Bruce Zinger]

You can't miss Canadian barihunk Olivier Laquerre, who stands at 6' 7" as well as being stunningly gorgeous. So far, his career has been centered in Canada where he has performed with the Opera de Quebec, Opera Atelier, numerous orchestras and the CBC.

He has already performed a number of barihunk roles, including Escamillo, Achilla, Papageno, Thaos, and Monteverdi's Ottone and Pluto. He is next scheduled to perform Dido and Aeneas with the Classical Music Consort in Toronto.

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