Benjamin Britten's Centenary Will Keep Barihunks Busy

Duncan Rock: Hugely popular with our readers

When we flip over the December 2012 Barihunks calendar in twelve days, we will enter the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth. It will prove to be a busy year, as along with Mozart, his operas have provided the most eye candy to our readers.

Britain's The Independent takes a look at the upcoming year and lists their Top 10 performances of 2013 (listed at the end of this post). We have our own list of performances that we're looking forward to since certain operas like Billy Budd and The Rape of Lucretia have provided us with some of our favorite posts.

On August 10th, the Glyndebourne Festival will present Billy Budd with three barihunks who have appeared on this site: Jacques Imbrailo as Billy Budd, Christian Van Horn as Lieutenant Ratcliffe and the mega-popular Duncan Rock as The Novice’s Friend. We should also mention that the sublimely gifted tenor Mark Padmore will be Captain Vere. Visit the Glyndebourne website for additional information.

Dae-Hee Shin als Tarquinius und Carolina Krogius als Lucretia in Eisenach

Although many schedules and much casting has not been announced yet, here are some of the notable performances that we're watching. The Rape of Lucretia will be performed in Eisenach, Florence, Oslo and Trieste. Jacques Imbrailo will take his Britten on the road as Tarquinius in Florence in May. Peter Grimes is scheduled in Berlin, Karlsruhe and Stockholm. Albert Herring will be performed in Milwaukee, Sydney, Toulouse and Victoria with barihunk Sam Dundas taking on the role of Sid in Sydney,  Barihunks Calendar cover model Craig Verm taking on the same role in Toulouse and Phillip Addis as Sid in Victoria. The Pacific Opera in Victoria is also having a mini-Britten festival that will also include his rarely performed opera Noye's Fludde and Let's Make an Opera/The Little Sweep. There will be plenty more of these being announced and we'll make sure to keep you apprised.

The Turn of the Screw may end up being the most performed of Britten's operas in 2013, with performances already announced for Bologna, Istanbul, Kassel, Cologne, Mannheim, New York City Opera, Saarbrucken, Tel Aviv and West Palm Beach. 

Sam Dundas

10 INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS from The Independent:
• Brazilian premiere of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', São Paolo (March 2013)
• 'Peter Grimes' performed on the beach during the Aldeburgh Festival (June 2013)
• Royal Opera House: 'Gloriana', new production by Richard Jones (June 2013)
• Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics give joint performance of the 'War Requiem' in Berlin conducted by Sir Simon Rattle (June 2013)
• Choir of London tours the Palestinian Territories (August 2013)
• Israeli premiere of 'Curlew River', Tel Aviv (September 2013)
• Focus on Britten at Tanglewood and Aspen Festivals, USA (August 2013)
• Opera North devotes entire season to Britten operas (from September 2013)
• Moscow Festival of Britten includes Russian premiere of 'Death in Venice' at Moscow Conservatoire and an exhibition at the Pushkin Museum (November 2013)
• 75,000 schoolchildren in the UK sing 'Friday Afternoons' simultaneously on Britten's centenary (22 November 2013)

ONLY 11 DAYS LEFT TO BUY YOUR 2013 BARIHUNKS CHARITY CALENDAR FEATURING DUNCAN ROCK AND 13 OTHER STUNNING MEN!: