Nathan Gunn's "Billy Budd" Wins Grammy

At tonight's Grammy Awards Nathan Gunn's recording of Britten's "Billy Budd" won for "Best Opera Recording." Gunn performs the opera with the London Symphony conducted by Daniel Harding. The recording also features Neal Davies, Jonathan Lemalu, Matthew Rose and Gidon Saks.

Barihunks would like to congratulate Nathan Gunn, who is consistently one of the most popular singers on this site.

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Alexander Puhrer Flexes His Guns

Mucular Alexander Puhrer is a new addition to Barihunks who arrived in our inbox from one of our followers.

Puhrer was born and raised in Vienna and studied in the United States. He performed at both Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival. Across the pond he has been a resident soloist at the Graz Opera, singing roles like Papageno, Almaviva, Harlequin in Ariadne and Ned Keene in Peter Grimes. The production photos here are from a performance of Handel's "Rinaldo" with Capella Incognita in Vienna.



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Mariusz Kwiecien Getting Dressed

[Photo by Lisa Kereszi]


The New Yorker magazine featured this photo of Mariusz Kwiecien getting dressed backstage in their "Goings On About Town" section.

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Vittorio Prato Sings Handel

The stunningly beautiful Vittorio Prato can also sing beautifully. Here he is performing Massimo's aria from Handel's "Ezio" with the Festival Radio France.

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Michael Mayes Waxing Philosophical

Another great video from Lone Star Opera. Here's their lead in to this soon to be classic video of barihunk Michael Mayes:

During some downtime between gigs, Michael Mayes takes some time to go snowboarding at Wolf Creek Ski Area near Creede, CO. While under the influence of high altitude and severe downtime introspection, he draws analogies between Snowboarding and singing. Its a good thing this is for Lone Star Opera, because you are going to need your boots... its goan git deep....

Michael Mayes AKA Cobra Commander, Waxes Philosophical... from Michael Mayes on Vimeo.

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Chris Herbert Sings Hugo Wolf

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Kwiecien's "Torreador Aria"

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Kwiecien's Tight Pants

(Photo: KEN HOWARD/ METROPOLITAN OPERA)

This photo caption from the Gay City News is our favorite one ever: "In 'Carmen,' the dashing Mariusz Kwiecien filled out his tight toreador pants with his customary barihunk swagger."

Did he ever!!!

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A Barihunks Don Giovanni at Virginia Opera

Once again, an opera company has had the good sense to cast a Don Giovanni with three barihunks. Who wouldn't want to see Mozart's classic with the barihunk trio of Matthew Worth as Don Giovanni, Daniel Mobbs as Leporello and David Krohn as Masetto? The three baritones will appear in the Virginia Opera production opening on February 13 and running through March 7.

All three singers have appeared on this site before.

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Nathan Gunn & Joshua Bell Pair Up

Barihunk Nathan Gunn and violinist Joshua Bell recently paired up for this rendition of Rachmaninov's song "O, Cease thy Singing Maiden Fair, Op. 4 No. 4." This was originally performed on Joshua Bell's album "At Home With Friends," which also includes cuts with Josh Grobin, Kristin Chenoweth and Sting.



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Simon Keenlyside TV Interview

Here is Simon Keenlyside's recent interview with C Music TV. He discusses his early music education, learning German, Sting asking him to sing rock 'n' roll and why opera matters.

As a bonus, fellow barihunk Kyle Ketelsen appears briefly in this interview.



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Kyle Ketelsen as Nick Shadow

We recently featured a post with Kyle Ketelsen talking about his upcoming performance in Robert Lapage's production of the Rake's Progress at Covent Garden. Here is a photo of Ketelsen in that production, where he is performing through February 10th. He then heads back to the United States to perform Mozart's Figaro at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

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Vive la France: Nicolas Testé

NICOLAS TESTE AS OROVESO



The French bass Nicolas Testé is completing a run as Oroveso in Norma at the Chatelet in Paris. Testé studied piano, bassoon and music history before pursuing a career as a singer. He is best known in France and Holland where he has sung everything from baroque opera to modern pieces.

After his run in Norma, he heads back to Holland to sing Panthée in "Les troyens." He then returns to France, where he will portray Héraut in Honegger's "Jeanne d'Arc au bucher."

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Doug Carpenter in Camelot

Doug Carpenter has become a bit of a sensation on Barihunks in a very short period of time. His dreamy good looks and enormously charming stage presence is winning over anyone who encounters this young talent. Here is a new head shot and two production photos from Camelot at the Pasadena Playhouse. If you're in Southern California, you can catch Doug Carpenter until February 7th. This performance has an "adult content" warning, so we keep hoping that some slightly more interesting photos will hit our in box. As a reminder, our email is barihunks@gmail.com.

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Vittorio Prato Triumphs at Wexford

[Photo by Margherita Marchese Scelzi]
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Prato performs in Wexford's "LA CAMBIALE DI MATRIMONIO"

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[Photo by Clive Barda]
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Vittorio Prato with fellow barihunk Erwin Schrott in Valencia

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An email from England informed us that the Wexford Festival's 58th season was a triumph, highlighted by the appearance of the tall, sexy barihunk Vittorio Prato. Here he is in a new YouTube clip from Rossini's "La Cambiale di Matrimonio," which was part of a double bill with Chabrier's rarely performed "Une Education Manquée." Prato also performed in the undisputed hit of the festival, Donizetti's "Maria Padilla."

David Adam Moore in New Opera

[Rachel Papo - The New York Times]

David Adam Moore performs in Conrad Cummings' opera "The Golden Gate." Read the New York Times review HERE.

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The Artistry of Mirco Palazzi

Mirco Palazzi in "Il Trovatore"



Giacomo Meyerbeer's "L'Esule di Granata" - Mirco Palazzi & Laura Claycomb


Quoniam from Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle"


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Kyle Ketelsen Talks About Nick Shadow

KYLE KETELSEN IN DON GIOVANNI

KYLE KETELSEN

Here is the Kyle Ketelsen interview from Music OMH. Ketelsen discusses his first Nick Shadow in the Rake's Progress at Covent Garden opening on January 22, 2010.

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The Hot Pole Re-Emerges

MARIUSZ KWIECIEN

THE "HOT POLE" IN THE MET'S CARMEN


Opera Plus recently ran this interview with Barihunks favorite Mariusz Kwiecien.

We've also added a photo from his recent potrayal of Escamillo in the Met's Carmen, which is being shown in movie theaters around the world. You can click HERE for more information.

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This and That

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DAVID ADAM MOORE

David Adam Moore will perform in an opera workshop of Conrad Cumming's new American opera "The Golden Gate" this weekend in New York City. Click HERE for more information.
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DOUG CARPENTER


Doug Carpenter is beginning his run in Camelot at the Pasadena Playhouse, which has the following disclaimer: "Camelot is recommended for mature audiences due to adult content and themes." We heard that there is "tasteful nudity." Click HERE for ticket and performance information.
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LEE POULIS

Lee Poulis was named Bester Nachwuchsänger (Best Young Singer) by Die Welt's annual survey of German music critics.
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PALLE KNUDSEN

LAURENCE MEIKLE

Lastly, we think Laurence Meikle and Palle Knudsen, neither of whom have appeared on this site before, are both really sexy and deserve a posting.
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Nicholas Masters

The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia continues to churn out barihunks like Beyonce churns out hit songs. Meet Nicholas Masters, an adorable bass who recently performed in Monteverdi's "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria" and Puccini's "La Boheme" at Wolf Trap Opera. At AVA he has performed in Lucia di Lammermoor, Falstaff and Anna Bolena.

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Luca Pisaroni in a Cosi that takes a Village (People)

Poor Luca Pisaroni had to look like the cop from Village People in this production of Cosi fan tutte from Paris. However, he sings beautifully with soprano Rinat Shaham in this rehearsal video. One year ago we posted pictures of Luca Pisaroni sporting a different and more buff look in a production of Hercules.

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Christopher Temporelli

The adorable barihunk Christopher Temporelli is ringing in the New Year with some YouTube videos and some new publicity shots [see above photo]. Fans of Temporelli can see him at the Lake George Opera this year, where he will perform in Donizetti's "Viva La Mamma (Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali) and portray Zuniga in Carmen.



Here he is performing Handel's famous Largo. You can also hear him on YouTube singing "Aprite un po quegli occhi" from Mozart's Figaro, Tu lo sai by Giuseppe Torelli and the old standard "Danny Boy."



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A CD For Baritone/Barihunk Lovers

[Duncan Rock with Dmitri Hvorostovsky]

[Laurence Meikle]


Imagine our great joy when we learned that the independent label Zoom had released a recording of Elgar's "The Fringes of the Fleet." This is a rarely performed piece based on poetry by Rudyard Kipling scored for four baritones and orchestra.

The folks at Zoom also managed to nab four attractive young barihunks, Duncan Rock, Laurence Meikle, Nicholas Lester and the supremely talented Roderick Williams. The work was a huge success when it premiered in 1917, but has been lost to time. Let's hope that some performance venue resurrects the work.

You can find the CD on the carousel to the right.

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YOU CAN CONTACT THIS SITE AT barihunks@gmail.com

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Wes Mason on "Before Night Falls"

One of our favorite opera companies in the United States is the Ft. Worth Opera. They always combine great repertoire with wonderful young singers. Once again, they've put together a great season with Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love, and the world premiere of Before Night Falls.

Every year the opera world is abuzz about a new opera and this year it appears to be Jorge Martin's "Before Night Falls" about the gay Cuban counter-revolutionary Reinaldo Arena. They have engaged the hunky Wes Mason to take on the title role in his first leading role on a major stage. From what we've heard of Mason, he will undoubtedly be a smash hit. Here is some video of the emerging barihunk singing and talking about the role.

By the way, the other operas at Ft. Worth have their fair share of barihunks, as well. Don Giovanni has Michael Todd Simpson in the title role, fresh off his critically acclaimed performance in the Tales of Hoffman at The Met. His sidekick will be Tom Corbeil who created quite a sensation on this site when he first appeared last year. Even the Elixir of Love has the adorable Christopher Bolduc cast as Belcore.