Benjamin Britten's operas are the gift that keeps on giving for this site. One opera that we always keep an eye out for is "Rape of Lucretia," which is usually cast with at least one shirtless hunk in the cast.
Fortunately for Barihunks readers, the delightful and talented soprano Kiera Duffy has posted some pictures from the recent production of Toledo Opera's "Rape of Lucretia." The opera featured two of the hottest barihunks around, Lee Gregory and Philip Cutlip.
The Toledo Blade wrote of Cutlip:
"As the bad boy Etruscan prince, Tarquinius, Philip Cutlip is menacing and macho."
By the way Duffy is featured in the film The Audition, an amazing movie about the Metropolitan Opera auditions. The movie also featured barihunks Christopher Bolduc and Ryan McKinny.
[Doug Carpenter, Poetic License and Daniel Okulitch]
Four-time Emmy Award winning composer Glen Roven is a lucky man. The composer of "The Runaway Bunny" and a magnificent violin concerto just recorded a CD of poetry featuring two popular barihunks, Daniel Okulitch and Douglas Carpenter. Roven is spearheading a project called "Poetic License" just in time for National Poetry Month. The recording on GPR Records features 103 celebrities reading their favorite poems.
Douglas Carpenter chose Walt Whitman's "To What You Said" and Daniel Okulitch chose Hoagland's "Self Improvement." Some of the others on the disc include Jason Alexander, Christine Baranski, Zoe Caldwell, Tyne Daly, Lauren Flanigan, Patti LuPone, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kathleen Turner and Michael York. The CD will be available on iTunes and at Amazon on April 2.
[Mark Stone and Glen Roven]
Those wishing to see Glen Roven live and working with a barihunk are in luck. Barihunk Mark Stone will be performing an evening of Glen Roven songs at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, May 19.
We don't get much Wagner on this site, so here is Jochen Kupfer singing "Wie Todesahnung Dammerung deckt die Lande - O du, mein holder Abendstern" from Wagner's "Tannhäuser." If you have nominees for barihunks who sing Wagner, please send them to barihunks@gmail.com.
The fabulous New York Magazine ran an interview with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky complete with a mention and link to Barihunks. Unfortunately, we'll never know how he feels about our moniker for him - the Siberian Hunky - because having a planet named after oneself seems to trump a catchy nickname. Here is the article:
Conversation: Daffy Divas
Sassy soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and smoldering Siberian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky—opera’s best friends forever talk to Rebecca Milzoff.
It helps that they’re not romantically involved. Still, in the ego-inflated opera world, Radvanovsky and Hvorostovsky are remarkably simpatico, and, what’s more, refreshingly down-to-earth. Devotees of both will no doubt storm Carnegie Hall April 1, their final stop of a North American tour.
If you don't read mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato's blog "Yankee Diva," you're missing one of the most entertaining opera blogs around. The talented diva just wrapped up a run in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's "Le Nozze di Figaro" which we featured prominently on this site. The Yankee Diva was lucky to be surrounded by two of our favorite barihunks, Kyle Ketelsen and Mariusz Kwiecien.
She posted the photo featured above with the following caption:
Hamming it up with the incomparable Mariusz Kwiecien, who is sheer perfection as the Count, and is a divine colleague in every way.
Barihunk Zachary Gordin just finished a run as Enrico in the North Bay Opera's production of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." We figured that anyone who was there was probably undressing him as he sang, so we thought that we'd offer you a real life visual.
The bodybuilding singer is next slated to sing his first Germont in the West Bay Opera's production of La Traviata. The production runs from May 21-30.
We've previously posted some videos of barihunk Wes Mason talking about his upcoming role as the famous author Reinaldo Arenas in the world premiere of the opera "Before Night Falls." Here is the latest video in what has become a fascinating series in watching this young singer prepare for the role of a lifetime. The opera opens on May 29 and repeats on June 6. For more information check out the Ft. Worth Opera website at www.fwopera.org.
Jesse Blumberg, one of our favorite singers, will be performing a concert to benefit the Haiti relief effort. If you're in the New York area on Friday, March 26th make sure to stop by and hear a great singer in support of a wonderful cause.
Blumberg will be joined by soprano Deborah Selig and pianist Cameron Stowe at Calvary Church at 209 East 16th Street beginning at 8pm. The suggested donation is $25.
Ricky Ian Gordon's all-star cast of his opera "Grapes of Wrath" received plenty of press coverage. Fortunately for followers of this site, there were also plenty of pictures, because the cast included two of the hottest barihunks in the world today: Nathan Gunn and Matthew Worth.
The above photo is of Barihunks favorite Jesse Blumberg in the original production at the Minnesota Opera. Blumberg will return to the Minnesota Opera to perform in Ricky Ian Gordon's latest opera "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," which opens April 16, 2011.
Barihunk Keith Phares just wrapped up a run as the title character in Elmer Gantry at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee. Phares performed with his wife Patricia Risley, who played the role of the evengelist Sharon Falconer. Phares performed in the world premier at the Nashville Opera, which we also covered on Barihunks. Check out the link which includes a video.
[Vale Rideout and Keith Phares]
Reviews seems to indicate that the audience had a mixed reaction to the opera, but Naxos announced that they were recording the opera from the two performances. The opera mixes operatic style with traditional American gospel hymns. The recording project is being funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund, Robert Aldridge and Herschel Garfien, and contributions of members of the Florentine Opera Board of Directors. We're pleased to see that American opera is being preserved for posterity.
Phares now heads to the Lyric Opera of Kansas City where he will perform the title role in Don Giovanni from April 24-May 2.
Oops, not the Rossini Figaro. But if you're looking to see two of the hottest Figaro's in Mozart's classic opera, now is the time. Mariusz Kwiecien is at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Erwin Schrott is at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Both of these barihunks are known for injecting sexuality into a role that in the hands of some baritones can be a little wooden.
Those attending the opera in Chicago get the added bonus of Kyle Ketelsen as the Count.
As we recently mentioned, Randal Turner stopped by his hometown of Crawfordsville, Indiana to perform at the First Christian Church. Turner is on his way to Detroit to make his North American debut as Don Giovanni with the Michigan Opera Theater.
Despite the church visit, we doubt that this Don Giovanni will give up his lascivious ways. If you want to find out, performances run from April 10-18.
Today is the 325th birthday of the great baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach, so we thought that we'd celebrate with with some barihunks who have Bach on their calendars.
[JONATHAN HAYS]
Jonathan Hays was suggested to us by one of our readers and we believe he's a great addition to the site. He sings music from the 17th century up to the living composers of today. We highly recommend that you visit his website and watch the videos of him singing Jorge Martin's song cycle "The Glass Hammer." Readers in Los Angeles and New York may remember Hays for creating the role of Shadow Grendel in Eliot Goldenthal's "Grendel" at the Los Angeles Opera and Lincoln Center Festival.
Hays will be joining the Dickinson Collegium for a free concert of Bach on April 18th at the First Lutheran Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
[TYLER DUNCAN]
One of the hottest names in baroque music circles is Tyler Duncan, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the foremost interpreters of early music in the world. Duncan possessing both a stunningly beautiful voice and an exotic appeal. He'll be performing Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Consensus Vocalis and Concerto d’Amsterdam from March 25 through April 2. He then appears with the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival for a performance of the cantata "Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht" from April 16-18. Later this year, the Canadian singer will perform what promises to be a stunning Handel's Messiah in the San Francisco Bay Area with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Duncan will be joined by the amazing countertenor David Taylor and hunkentenor John McVeigh.
[THOMAS HAMPSON]
As an added treat, here is Thomas Hampson performing Bach's "Mein freund ist mein! Und ich bin sein" with boy soprano Alan Bergius and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Christopher Maltman talks like he sings. His voice is rich and deep, his articulation clear, and the lilt of his tone imparts a musicality to every phrase. Opera is clearly in his blood.
We meet backstage at the Royal Opera House to discuss his latest role, the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen. It’s his first Janáček and a typically adventurous foray into the less well-know corners of the 20th century repertoire. There are plenty of challenges here that you won’t find in Mozart. ‘It’s tough musically’ he tells me ‘one of those pieces that seems to exist on the edge of falling apart, but when it does come together it is great. We are just about there now, which is timely as the dress rehearsal is tomorrow.’ [Continued HERE]
You can watch the animated trailer for opera HERE. The production runs from March 22 through April 1 and tickets can be purchased HERE.
In January 2009, Barihunks made our first wedding announcement when we posted photos from the ceremony between Teddy Tahu Rhodes and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. Of course, we've all come to know the New Zealand barihunk as "Teddy Bare" because of his surfer build and propensity to sing shirtless.
Last December, Jason Hardy created a sensation when he appeared on this site shirtless in pictures from New York City Opera's "Don Giovanni." One soprano emailed us a note that simply read, "WHO KNEW?"
Apparently it looks like soprano Carrie Kahl knew. So when Jason Hardy popped the question after the final curtain calls at Opera Birmingham's "Marriage of Figaro," Kahl quickly accepted his proposal. Hardy was performing Figaro and Kahl was portraying Barbarina.
The second and final performance is this Sunday at 2:30 PM and ticket information can be found HERE.
The San Diego Opera has been promoting their current production of Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet" by touting the real life married couple of Stephen Costello and Ailyn Perez. They are both young, attractive and extremely talented, but we think the big draw is barihunk David Adam Moore and his fellow crew of men in tights. There is still a matinee performance this Sunday. For more information visit the San Diego Opera's website.
[David Adam Moore and tenor Stephen Costello]
Moore is one of our favorite barihunks in the world today and he often appears on stage shirtless in pieces like Billy Budd, Angels in America and Soldier Stories. We received two emails bemoaning the fact that Moore doesn't remove his shirt in R&J, but that he's still the hottest man on the stage. So in order not to disappoint, here is one of Moore's sexier shots, which also happens to be the homepage of his recently redesigned website.
Barihunk Nmon Ford has hit the Billboard Music Classical Charts again with his new album "Songs of Delight." The Panamanian-American singer's vocal trio Vai DaCapo includes singers Joseph Guyton and Colin Eaton and they join forces to sing thirteen pop classics. The album is currently #18 on the charts ahead of Sarah Brightman and the London Philharmonic.
Ford's recording of William Bolcom's "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" was a triple Grammy Award-winning album. At Barihunks we know him for his steamy portrayals in Louis Gruenberg's "The Emperor Jones" and Benjamin Britten's "Billy Budd."
Barihunk Elliot Madore received a nice mention from the esteemed Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times, who wrote:
In selecting the baritone Elliot Madore, of Toronto, as a winner, they seemed to be awarding artistic courage as well as vocal gifts. Mr. Madore, 22, was the youngest finalist, and his voice, though robust, was not consistently solid. For his first selection he sang “Batter My Heart” from John Adams’s “Doctor Atomic,” the anguished scene in which J. Robert Oppenheimer vents his fears on the eve of the testing of the nuclear bomb by quoting John Donne’s sonnet. Mr. Madore gave his all to this wrenching music.
It took almost as much pluck to sing Figaro’s familiar “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s “Barbiere di Siviglia” in the program’s second half. Again, despite shaky vocal moments, it was hard to resist the panache in Mr. Madore’s performance.
Here's a shot of Philip Cutlip looking as hot as any Tarquinius in the world today. The Toledo Blade wrote, "As the bad boy Etruscan prince, Tarquinius, Philip Cutlip is menacing and macho."
We hope to see more of Cutlip in this role and we welcome him to the family of sexy barihunks who have taken on Tarquinius. In the meantime, you can see Cutlip perform Ariodate in the Houston Grand Opera production of Xerxes running from April 30 through May 2.
A fan of Peter Mattei has posted a 10 minute highlight video of Peter Mattei's "Billy Budd" from Frankfurt in 2007.
[Phillip Ens and Jacques Imbrailo]
For those wishing to see Billy Budd live, there is a much anticipated production opening at Glyndebourne on May 20 and running through June 27. It will star South African barihunk Jacques Imbrailo. The production will feature the operatic debut of director Michael Grandage. It also features the great tenor John Mark Ainsley as Captain Vere and barihunk Phillip Ens' darkly evil Claggart.
Barihunk Alexander Tsymbalyuk is a regular at the Hamburg State Opera, where he is currently performing in the "Barber of Seville" and "Marriage of Figaro." But the big news for those on the East Coast is that he's returning to the Met this Fall to perform Ferrando in Il Trovatore.
Randal Turner, who is heading back from Switzerland to make his North American stage debut as Don Giovanni with the Michigan Opera Theater, is going to stop by him hometown and perform a concert. If you're in Indiana, you can get more information HERE.
Our beloved Ft. Worth Opera is presenting the lean, sexy "Don Giovanni" of barihunk Michael Todd Simpson beginning May 22 and running through June 4. We'll certainly be posting more about their summer season, which includes some of the hottest barihunks around. In the meantime, here is Michael Todd Simpson talking about his upcoming role.
[Pictures of Robin Adams in Bern's "Eugene Onegin"]
A few people have recently brought English baritone Robin Adams to our attention. We can't ignore him anymore with his super-sexy performance of Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" in Bern, Switzerland. Adams spends a good deal of the opera barechested and barefoot and stalking Tatiana like a sexual predator.
Back in January 2009, we declared Mariusz Kwiecien and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the hottest Onegin's, but Adams may give them both a run for their money. He certainly brings the same raw sexuality to the role as Kwiecien. It's also nice to see directors injecting a little heat into Onegin rather than having it performed like a Jane Austen novel. This production is also decidedly heterosexual, unlike the Brokeback Onegin that played in Munich. As wonderful as that gimmick was, it was only going to work once.
The Swiss culture site www.Art-tv.ch has a great video highlight of the opera. See the video HERE.
Here are some additional images of Robin Adams for your enjoyment:
Over the last decade Gregory Dahl has forged a career primarily in the principle opera houses of Canada. With the Winter Olympics having recently wrapped up, it seems appropriate to highlight yet another Canadian barihunk.
Dahl is known for singing both the standard repertory and for his dedication to new operas. One of his first roles was in "Beatrice Chancy" by George Elliott Clarke and James Rolfe. He also created the role of Charlie in Calgary Opera's production of John Estacio's and John Murrell's "Filumena," performed George in the Canadian premiere of Jake Heggie's "Dead Man Walking" at the Calgary Opera, created the role of Robert Peary in Linda C. Smith's "Facing South" for Tapestry New Opera Works and he created The Alchemist in Murray Schafer's "The Palace of the Cinnabar Phoenix," which was broadcast on Canada's CBC Radio Two.
Despite all of his Canadian credentials, his entry onto Barihunks comes via the St. Louis Opera where we got this stunning photo of him performing Jokanaan in Richard Strauss' "Salome." We can certainly understand why Salome sang, "Ah! Ich habe deinen Mund geküsst, Jokanaan." (Ah! I've kissed your mouth Jokanaan!).
As an added treat, here is Dahl singing Scarpia's "Te Deum" from Puccini's Toscs:
There are a number of barihunks who as individuals are worth the price of admission. Simon Keenlyside, Mariusz Kwiecien and Erwin Schrott certainly come to mind as singers who look good, are great actors and are also amazing singers. There are lesser known barihunks like Kyle Ketelsen, Wes Mason, Kelly Markgraf and Randal Turner who we feel also deliver the complete package night in and night out. However, if there is one barihunk who probably already belongs in a class with Keenlyside, Kwiecien and Schrott it is Luca Pisaroni.
His recent video of Ercole that we featured is a tour de force and he may already be one of the ten best exponents of Mozart in the world today. Period. Here are three clips of this gifted young singer performing Mozart, so that you can judge for yourself. Few singers can bring these characters to life like Pisaroni and his vocal nuances are nothing short of phenomenal.
Apparently, opera houses are recognizing his gifts as a Mozartean, as his schedule includes a current run of Figaro in Amsterdam, Leporello at Glyndebourne this summer, Figaro in San Francisco this fall and then the Count in Houston early next year. If you can make it to any of these performances, we guarantee that you will be in for a real treat.
Luca Pisaroni sings Figaro's "Aprite un po' gli occhi"
Maite Beaumont as Dorabella and Luca Pisaroni as Guglielmo sing "Il cuore vi dono" from "Così fan tutte"
The new issue of Opera News has features on barihunks Simon Keenlyside and Paulo Szot, so we almost missed Jordan Shananan. Luckily, one of our readers reminded us about this young barihunk whose career is taking off in a big way. Fortunately, we also found this video of him taking a shower and singing (what else?) Don Giovanni.
Here is Brian Kallow's feature on Shananan from Opera News:
Jordan Shanahan has a natural gift: he instinctively knows how to let the music breathe, and he never pushes himself, musically or dramatically. Yet his warm lyric baritone always has a delicate edge that stays with you. Singing Yeletsky's aria at the 2008 Gerda Lissner competition, he was a model of musical precision, economy and refinement.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Shanahan was trained as a trombonist and began studying voice as a way of improving his breath control. "I don't need as much breath to sing," he says. "What you need is a more focused, sustained, but lesser pressure. It was learning how to roll the dial back a bit." He got work in the chorus of Hawaii Opera Theatre before his teacher, Robert McFarland, secured a scholarship for him at Temple University. "I jumped in head first," recalls Shanahan. "I got to do Silvio in Pagliacci, Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor. I decided this was a lot more fun than being in the pit as a trombone player." Eventually, he made his way to Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center. He's racked up a number of major competition wins, including the Lissner, the Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation and the George London Foundation. After he sang in the semifinals of the National Council Auditions, the Met offered him a spot as second cover for Nathan Gunn in Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy. "It was a great opportunity to come into the house with almost no pressure," says Shanahan. "I didn't have a single stage rehearsal. I got to see the process and work with people at the highest level, and it sort of humanized the business for me."
Though he misses the climate and openness of the people in Hawaii, he admits that "growing up there, nothing seemed real. I never got to see any of these people in person. I would listen to the Met on Saturday and watch PBS, but opera singers were like movie stars."
At thirty-two, Shanahan has a repertory that ranges from Posa in Don Carlo to Joe in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking to covering Gerald Finley in Doctor Atomic at the Met. In June 2008, Shanahan married soprano Audrey Luna. Chicago is their home base, but this month he's back at the Met, as Horatio in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet. "It's by far the biggest thing I have ever done," he says. "Stylistically, I don't know that my personality is a 100-percent fit with the French style. I think I'm much more Verdian than the even keel that the French asks for. Actually, people have never known what to make of my voice. In this age of specialists — 'I'm a Rossini singer,' 'I'm a Mozart singer' — people don't run the gamut as much as they used to. I think there's some value to being a generalist."
The opera Don Giovanni has been keeping us busy at Barihunks and productions seem to be getting increasingly provocative and entertaining. Productions from the Virginia Opera with a trio of barihunks, Opera Omaha with a duo of barihunks and New York City Opera with a stage full of hot singers of both genders, have led the way. We're already eagerly anticipating Randal Turner's searingly hot Don Giovanni in Detroit.
In September 2009 we showed you some pictures and video from a production at the Sferesterio Festival featuring Ildebrando d'Arcangelo and Andrea Concetti. Fortunately for us, some new pictures have emerged from this brilliant Pier Luigi Pizzi production.
Here's a video highlight from YouTube for your additional viewing pleasure.
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