Emerging Barihunk Zach Altman

How did we go this long without posting Zach Altman? He first came to our attention a year ago via an email from Philadelphia and somehow slipped through the cracks. An astute reader reminded us of our omission today and we're not going to waste any time posting this hottie.

The Philadelphia native is in his third year at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. He will be performing in Don Giovanni at the Academy on August 6th and 8th. In previous seasons he has performed in Don Pasquale, Tales of Hoffmann and Sargon's "A Clear Midnight."

Altman attended the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, where he received his Bacelor's and Master's degrees. He is also a two-time winner of the Encouragement Award in the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition.



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Voting is still open for your favorite Onegin

Nathan Gunn - Mariusz Kwiecien (AP) - Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Natalie Dessay Interviews Kwiecien & Abdrazakov

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Who would you most like to see as Onegin?

 [L-R: Nathan Gunn, Mariusz Kwiecien & Dmitri Hvorostovsky]

Check out our poll to the right and let us know who you'd most like to see as Onegin.

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Nathan Gunn To Debut Onegin

The seemingly ageless Nathan Gunn is taking on a new role next year. The barihunk will perform the role of Onegin in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" at the Cincinnati Opera in their upcoming season. Gunn will be joined by Tatiana Monogarova as Tatyana and William Burden as Lensky. Performances are July 14 and July 16, 2011.

Gunn will undoubtedly be compared to two of the greatest Onegin's off all-time, both of whom are still performing. Here are Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Marius Kwiecien:





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Rod Gilfry to Join Deborah Voigt in "Annie Get Your Gun'

Barihunk Rod Gilfry, who is currently singing the role of Emile de Becque in a touring cast of “South Pacific” is joining forces with soprano Deborah Voigt to perform "Annie Get Your Gun" at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. Gilfry will play Annie Oakley’s love interest, Frank Butler.

Gilfry appears to have made a seemless transition from opera to Broadway following a long tradition of baritones that includes Ezio Pinza, Giorgio Tozzi and fellow barihunk Paulo Szot, who created a sensation in “South Pacific.”

“Annie Get Your Gun” is one of four productions scheduled for Glimmerglass. Recently appointed artistic director Francesca Zambello has decided to add an unamplified performance of a Broadway musical to future seasons, which in the past were strictly operatic.

Operas in the upcoming festival will include Carmen, Jeanine Kushner's A Blizzard in Marblehead Neck, John Musto's Later the Same Evening.

Glimmerglass' Young American Artists Program will also feature two barihunks that we've previously feature, Michael Krzankowski and Steven LaBrie.

Here is Rod Gilfry singing "My Heart Is So Full Of You" from The Most Happy Fella:



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Vittorio Prato with InCanto

The stunningly handsome barihunk Vittorio Prato has joined forces with tenor Cosimo Panozzo and Italian pop singer Benny Lamonica to form InCanto. Here they are performing Miserere at the "Festival Italia in Musica."

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Teddy Bare's Debut as Figaro

Teddy Tahu Rhodes is taking on the title role in the Marriage of Figaro at the Sydney Opera from July 23 through August 14, when he'll be replaced by Richard Anderson. Fans of Rhodes are aware that he's already established himself as a Count to be reckoned with, so there is quite a bit of buzz Down Under about his debut in the title role.

Warning: People wanting to see "Teddy Bare" should note that this is a very traditional production with no skin shots. If you can't live without the obligatory shot of Teddy Bare's chest, check out the video below from the Washington National Opera.



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Duncan Rock's Latest Video Diary

Duncan Rock Video Diary - Così fan tutte: A Cover's Story from Glyndebourne on Vimeo.

Barihunk Duncan Rock's video diary of Billy Budd at Glyndebourne was a smash hit on this site. The folks at Glyndebourne clearly know a good thing when they see it, as the baritone is back with another video diary. This one traces his work as an understudy in the role of Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

The video also includes snippets of barihunk Luca Pisaroni singing the same role.

[Luca Pisaroni & Duncan Rock]

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Another Hot Shot of Kelly Markgraf

Kudos to one of our readers who spotted this stunningly hot photo of Kelly Markgraf on Facebook.

You can hear Markgraf perform Schumann's Dichterlibe during the La Jolla Music Society's festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, California on Tuesday, August 10, 2010.

Alert readers may recall an earlier appearance by the 31-year-old singer when he performed in New York City Opera's sexy production of Don Giovanni.

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David Krohn in Beaumarchais Trilogy

[Rosina (mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Jarrett) and Figaro (baritone David Krohn) plan her escape in the Aspen Opera Theater Center's new production of "The Barber of Seville." - Photo byAlex Irvin]

 We might as well keep the trilogy theme going, as the Aspen Music Festival is presenting the Beaumarchais Trilogy from July 31 through August 21. The trilogy's links are Count Almaviva and Rosina who we encounter in Rossini's "Barber of Seville," Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro," and John Corigliano's modern masterpiece "The Ghosts of Versailles."

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French watchmaker, spy, revolutionary, diplomat, gun smuggler and author. His Figaro plays Le Barbier de Seville, Le Mariage de Figaro and La Mère coupbale have provided inspiration for two classics of the standard repertoire and a modern work that seems destined to stay around. 

Beaumarchais was known to show sympathy to the lower classes. Figaro's character is portrayed as more wily than his aristocratic and better-educated counterparts and his plays are filled with mockery of society's "nobler" class. The character of Figaro is still revered in France and throughout the world as a symbol of the common man standing up to the priveleged class.

It is extremely rare to have the opportunity to see the Beaumarchais Trilogy performed in one place, so the undertaking by the Aspen Music Festival is particularly notable. Barihunks fans will be thrilled to learn that David Krohn will perform Figaro in the Barber of Seville. Unfortunately, we don't know who is cast is in any of the other roles since the Festival doesn't post cast lists, which we find highly insulting to young singers. We rarely criticize anyone on this site, but posting the names of conductors and directors, but not singers is inexcusable.

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Ildebrando d'Arcangelo's Mozart Trilogy

Two of the world's greatest artists, Diana Damrau and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, teamed up with Riccardo Muti in 2006 for a performance of "Tutto è tranquilo e placido" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in Vienna. He is currently performing the opera at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich with fellow barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien. Tickets are almost completely sold out, so order now if you plan on attending.

We're posting this video to preview d'Arcangelo's mastery of the Mozart Trilogy: Nozze, Giovanni and Cosi.



The Italian barihunk recently performed Cosi fan tutte at the Opéra de Paris with fellow barihunk Paolo Szot. In December, he pairs up with Mozart and yet another barihunk as he performs Don Giovanni opposite Alex Esposito's internationally acclaimed Leporello. The performance will be at the Staatsoper in Vienna under Franz Welser-Möst.

 [Don Giovanni in Munich; Mariusz Kwiecien; Alex Esposito & Kwiecien]

 In January 2011, d'Arcangelo returns to Vienna to perform Cosi again under conductor Jérémie Rhorer.

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Matthew Worth in "Orpheus in the Underworld"

[Matthew Worth as Jupiter is surrounded by gods and goddesses in Central City Opera's "Orpheus in the Underworld." - Photo by Mark Kiryluk]

Barihunk Matthew Worth is performing at the Central City Opera in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Above is a photo of him performing Jupiter. The Denver Post wrote of his performance:

"Other standouts include baritone Matthew Worth, who assures that Jupiter's buzzing transformation into a fly is a vocal and comedic high point."

Read the entire review HERE.

There are additional peformance on between July 16 and August 8. For additional information go to centralcityopera.org.

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A Toast to the French: Courjal and Varnier (Happy Bastille Day)

[Nicolas Courjal]

French bass Nicolas Courjal has always been one of our favorites at Barihunks, but he rarely sings roles that show off his hunkiness. Such is the life of a bass. However, he is currently performing in the provocative production of Salome at the Royal Opera House with Angela Denoke in the lead and warning of nudity on the ROH website.

After the final performance of Salome on Friday, Courjal heads of to perform Berlioz's "Damnation of Faust" with the Malaysian Symphony Orchestra with another of our favorite French barihunks, Jérôme Varnier.

[Patricia Fernandez and Jérôme Varnier]

[Nathalie Manfrino & Nicolas Courjal sing Les Pêcheurs de Perle in Seville]

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Philip Cutlip in new Philip Glass Recording

Philip Glass continues to gain a presence on Barihunks, most recently for the performances of Kepler with Martin Achrainer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Previously, we posted about Philip Cutlip performing in Glass' Orphée in Portland.

Now Orphée is back in the news, as the Orange Mountain Music label has announced that they are releasing a recording of the Portland Opera Company production, which featured Cutlip. Orphée (1993) was the first of a trilogy of operas that Glass composed on subjects by Jean Cocteau, which also comprises La Belle et la Bête (1994) and Les Enfants Terribles (1996). Orphée was made from a series of live performances that took place between November 6-14, 2009 at Portland Opera. The recording includes a full libretto in French and English, color production photos and cast and performer biographies.


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Dallas Opera's "Baritones & Beachballs"

We've raved about the marketing team at the Dallas Opera in the past and for good reason. They are not only brilliant at marketing their male singers, but their promotions are always some of the most creative in the opera world. Their efforts around marketing the world premiere of Jake Heggie's "Moby-Dick" should be a model for any opera company.

So it was no surprise that their latest effort "Baritones & Beachballs" caught our attention. The company has put together a series of events beginning on July 18th that includes beer and vodka tastings, happy hours, opera lectures and movie screenings. They're also promising a production of Don Giovanni with a triumvirate of barihunks: Paolo Szot as Don Giovanni, Mirco Palazzi as Leporello and Ben Wager as Masetto. Regular readers of this site certainly know that all three singers have appeared on Barihunks before.

Readers may also recall that Paolo Szot canceled his last scheduled performance of Don Giovanni in Detroit. Fortunately for fans of barihunks, Detroit replaced Szot with our "Sexiest Don Giovanni in the World" Randal Turner. If Szot cancels, we hope that Dallas follows the lead of the Michigan Opera Theater and plugs in our favorite Don.

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A New Class of Barihunks at Merola

[Ryan Kuster & Benjamin Covey; photos by Kristen Loken Anstey]

Once again, San Francisco's beloved Merola training program has provided opera lovers with a new class of barihunks. Two of them, Ryan Kuster and Dan Kempson, have previously appeared on the site. Dan Kempson appeared when he portrayed Tarquinius at Pittsburgh Opera in one of our favorite operas "The Rape of Lucretia." Ryan Kuster appeared on the site after a fan at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia brought him to our attention.

The two newcomers to the site are Benjamin Covey and Thomas Florio. Covey is another in our long line of Canadian barihunks, which includes Daniel Okulitch, Mike Nyby, John Relyea, Tyler Duncan, Gregory Dahl, Olivier LaQuerre, Phillip Addis and Aaron Agulay. This roster is one more reason why we love our neighbors to the north. Covey will be performing Belcore  in the upcoming Merola performance of Donizetti's "L’Elisir d’Amore."

Thomas Florio is a Virginia native who is another graduate of the prestigious opera training program at Indiana University, which also produced Barihunks favorite Randal Turner, as well as Christopher Schaldenbrand and Kyle Ketelsen. Florio will perform Dulcamara  in Merola's "L’Elisir d’Amore."

[Thomas Florio & Dan Kempson]

Fans in San Francisco can see all of the talented young Merola students in a series of upcoming concerts and operas. On Friday, July 16th, at 7:30 p.m. there will be a concert at the Herbst Theater, with tickets available by calling the box office at (415) 864-3330. The concert will be repeated for free on Sunday, July 25th, at 2:00 p.m. at the Yerba Buena Gardens. The concert will include excerpts from Handel's Rodelinda, Massenet's Werther, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Smetena's The Bartered Bride and Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

The top photo shows Ryan Kuster in a recent master class singing "Here me, o Lord!" from Carlyle Floyd's Susannah. and Benjamin Covey singing "Hai gia vinta la cause" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.

Other upcoming performances include L'Elisir d'Amore on August 6, 7 and 8 and the Merola Grand Finale on August 21st.

We also want to give a special shout out to Sidney Outlaw, who will be alternating the role of Dulcamara. Our insiders at Merola tell us that he is one of the most talented comic actors to come through the program in years.

Barihunk Bluegrass Crossover

Anyone who has ever followed barihunk Michael Mayes on the Lone Star Opera site knows that he's one of the funniest men in opera. He recently joined his soprano/girlfriend Janna Williams and fellow baritone Craig Irvin in a bluegrass version of "Non piu andrai" loosely adapted from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.

Here is the description of their video from YouTube:

Recently Craig Irvin and Michael Mayes had to cancel their appearance at the Des Moines Social Club, so the Ledbetter Fambly (Nugene, Raegene and Cleotis) ~ fresh from an appearance at Bluegrass Tuesdays on the Square in Indianola ~ stepped in and offered their rendition of Mozart's famous aria from Le Nozze di Figaro, "Non piu andrai."

 [Michael Mayes]

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Garland Talks Giovanni

[Photo: Mirshak Artist Management]

Barihunk Andrew Garland was featured in New Jersey's Star-Ledger talking about his debut performing the title role in Don Giovanni. Here is Garland talking about how different he is from the rakish Don in real life.

“In real life, I am the polar opposite of Don Giovanni,” Garland says of the legendary seducer whose exploits Mozart set to music. “I think of myself as being considerate, sometimes to a fault. I’ve only dated one woman my whole life and now I’m married to her.”

You can read the entire article at the Star-Ledger website.

Readers may remember Garland from two popular posts on this site. The first a feature with barihunks showing some skin that featured Garland in the shower.

The other post was a more serious post with Garland singing Lee Hoiby's heartrending version of "Last Letter Home from Iraq." If you haven't watched this video click on the link, as it is one of the most popular music links that we've posted and for good reason.

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Jesse Blumberg in Bernstein & Bloch

 [Leonard Bernstein]

Jesse Blumberg is performing the Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein's Mass as part of the "Bernstein Project" under Marin Alsop in London. There are two performances, July 10 and July 11, and anyone in or around London should rush to buy tickets. 

Here is how Alsop describes Mass:

"It's not really a religious piece in the literal sense... but a piece about spiritual, inner exploration. It's teeming with protest, rebellion and questioning of authority... issues that were extraordinarily relevant in 1972 and perhaps even more vivid today."

 [Jesse Blumberg]

For those of you in the United States, you will also have a chance to hear the rich baritone of Jesse Blumberg in other sacred music, as he performs excerpts from Ernest Bloch's rarely performed "Sacred Service" (Avodath Hakodesh) for orchestra, chorus, and baritone soloist at the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Huntington, New York on August 4th.

2010 is the 50th anniversary of Bloch's death and, hopefully, we will see more of his music on programs throughout the world. Sacred Service was commissioned by San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El, and it was premiered there in 1934. Sacred Service takes place when the Torah is taken from its ark, and presented to the congregation as the chorus sings "Torah tzivoh." Bloch considered this part of his piece to be the embodiment of his personal journey of reunion with Judaism.

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Nathan Gunn in Central Park on Monday

(Sting, Joshua Bell, Nathan Gunn and Jeremy Denk attend the special performance of "Twin Spirits" at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on June 30, 2010 in New York City. June 29 - Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images North America)

★ Met in the Parks (NY Times) The Met is no longer presenting concert performances of complete operas with its orchestra in New York parks, but the company’s alternative, a free recital series, is catching on. This Monday the baritone Nathan Gunn, the soprano Susanna Phillips and the tenor Michael Fabiano present a recital program at Central Park’s SummerStage. 

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Separated At Birth?

[David Williams as Sebastian; Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello]

When we watched the recent internet broadcast of Don Giovanni from Aix-en-Provence, we couldn't help but marvel at the resemblance between Kyle Ketelsen's Leporello and Sebastian, the gay aide to the Prime Minister on BBC's Little Britain.

If you're a connoisseur of British humor, Little Britain is an absolute must. If you're a connoisseur of Mozart, then Kyle Ketelsen's Leporello is a must. We'd go so far as to say that he almost owns the role (were it not for Alex Esposito).

[Alex Esposito's sublime Leporello]

Do you have a favorite Leporello. Let us know in the Comments section or email us at barihunks@gmail.com.

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Hunk4Hunk Switch in Australia

Fans of Teddy Tahu Rhodes who were planning on seeing him perform as Zurga in the Pearl Fishers at the State Opera of South Australia need not be disappointed. The opera company is replacing the popular barihunk with Grant Doyle, another certifiable barihunk, who has previously appeared on this site.

The announcement of the switch was a little odd, as it gave the canned excuse of a "last minute indisposition," but the performances aren't until September 2010. Also in the production will be Pelham Andrews, who is performing Nourabad. Andrews has been on our list of emerging barihunks for almost two years, so this seems like an appropriate time to add him to the roster.

Andrews in a native of Australia and a graduate of Adelaide University and the Cardiff International Academy of Voice. He was part of the Young Artist Program at the State Opera of South Australia and the winner of the McDonalds Operatic Aria competition in 2005.

Grant Doyle is also scheduled to sing the role of Starbuck in Jake Heggie's new opera "Moby-Dick" at the State Opera of South Australia in Adelaide in September 2011. Moby-Dick recently created a sensation among audiences and critics when it premiered this summer in Dallas.

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Cesare Siepi (1923-2010)

Italian opera giant Cesare Siepi dies aged 87

ROME (AFP) — Cesare Siepi, one of the best known opera basses of the 20th century, died on Monday at the age of 87, Italian media reported on Tuesday.

Siepi, born in Milan in 1923, was "a favourite of the crowd at (Milan opera house) La Scala," according to Italian daily Il Giornale.

He died on Monday in the US city of Atlanta after having lived in the United States for decades.

Specialising in the 19th century Italian repertoire and in Mozart's operas, Siepi made his debut at the Rigoletto in Schio in 1941 and soon after fled Mussolini's Italy to Switzerland.

He performed 379 times at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, playing 18 roles including Figaro and Don Giovanni in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," as well as Gurnemanz in Richard Wagner's "Parsifal," according to classical music label Naxos, which published many of his records.

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Don Giovanni LIVE from Aix-en-Provence Today

The live broadcast of Don Giovanni from Aix-en-Provence begins at 3:30 EST/12:30 PST today. The cast includes barihunks Bo Skovhus as Don Giovanni and Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello. Here is the rest of the cast:

Masetto, David Bizic
Don Ottavio, Colin Balzer
Donna Anna, Marlis Petersen
Donna Elvira, Kristine Opolais
Zerlina, Kerstin Avemo
Commendatore, Anatoli Kotscherga

Orchestre Freiburger Barockorchester

Direction musicale, Louis Langrée

Gabriel Bermudez sings "Dieux protecteurs" from Gluck's "Iphigénie en Tauride"

The posts of Gabriel Bermudez and Troy Cook taking "full monty" showers in a production of Poulenc's "Les mamelles de Tirésias" has created quite a bit of extra traffic to Barihunks. It also has generated a lot of email asking for more. We have some additional photos that we'll post in the future of both singers. In the meantime, here is an amazing video of Gabriel Bermudez singing one of the most beautiful arias in the baritone repertoire (and showing some skin!).

...and one last teaser of the hottest backside in opera.

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Troy Cook's Revealing Debut

We can't think of a better way for a singer to debut on Barihunks than to reveal his total package. In the case of Troy Cook, we literally mean the total package. We always comment that Don Giovanni is the opera that just keeps cranking out the barihunks, but perhaps for those of you want to see ALL of your barihunks, Poulenc's Les mamelles de Tirésias might be the opera of choice. 

After we posted Gabriel Bermudez's full monty a reader alerted us to the fact that Troy Cook performed in the same production. He was also gracious enough to dig up this amazing photo. When Bermudez's photos were posted on our site, traffic increased 500% and rivaled the photos of Daniel Okulitch from The Fly in total hits. 

However, this site is dedicated to great singing, as well as pulchritudinous men. Clearly, Cook and Bermudez both fit the bill. 

American baritone Troy Cook is a former apprentice artist the Santa Fe Opera, student at the  Florida Grand Opera Studio and holds a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. He also studied voice with Bill Schuman.

We've included a couple of clips of Cook, including a performance of Marcello at the Florida Grand Opera’s La Boheme and a duet from Pagliacci with soprano Lotania Moore. Cook has also performed in a few Barihunks favorites, portraying Zurga in the Pearl Fishers and Mr. Flint in Billy Budd.






Cook is scheduled to perform Figaro in Kansas City and Zurga in Philadelphia in upcoming seasons. He is also scheduled to do a recording of Donizetti's music with Opera Rara in 2011. We look forward to seeing a lot more of this talented young singer in the future.

Interview with Austin Kness

Click HERE to read an interview from Opera Today with barihunk Austin Kness, who recently appeared in Faust with the San Francisco Opera.

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Kaufmann & Hvorostovsky Hamming It Up

We get an email a week asking us about the Hunkentenors site and why there aren't any new posts. The answer is that we don't have a clue, because we have nothing to do with the site. But to whet the appetites of all you tenor lovers while keeping true to our mission of celebrating baritones, here is the hottest tenor in the world, Jonas Kaufmann, singing with one of the most popular barihunks in the world, Dmitri Hvorostovsky.

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Markus Werba's "Barber"

Markus Werba - ROSSINI 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' - "Largo al factotum" from Askonas Holt on Vimeo.

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A new (and very hot) Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is the gift that keeps on giving, especially for readers of Barihunks. The latest addition to the ever-growing list of hunky Don's is Nicholas Garrett.

Garrett is performing the title role at Opera Holland Park in the new Stephen Barlow/Yannis Thevoris production in London. The production moved the action to late Victorian England with a supernatural twist, which most reviewers seemed to think worked.


Many readers may remember Nick Garrett as one of the founders of the multi-million selling group Amici. Garrett not only sang with the group, but did much of the composing and arranging. His venture as Don Giovanni is part of his plan to pursue more solo roles in opera.

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