Bevy of Barihunks in Boulder's Barber

Michael Travis Risner

The Boulder Opera in Colorado will be featuring three barihunks in the upcoming family performances of Rossini's The Barber of Seville. The opera will be sung in Italian, but narrated in English so that younger audience members can understand the story.

Andrew Potter, who has appeared on this site before, will be singing the comic role of Dr. Bartolo. Michael Travis Risner  and Garrett Smith, two singers who are new to the site will be rotating the title role.

Michael Travis Risner received his Masters in Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Colorado State University. He has been appearing on the stages of Colorado's Front Range for the past 20 years as a singer, actor, director, and stage combat instructor and choreographer (his resume even lists "fitness model").  He has performed the title role in Monostatos in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Dancaire in Bizet's Carmen, Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Eddie/Dr. Scott in Rocky Horror Live!, Lancelot in Camelot, Anatoly in Chess and the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Footloose (Chuck).

Andrew Potter (2 left) and Garrett Smith (2 right)

Garrett Smith was a student at the University of Colorado School of Music and works as Education Director at the Boulder Opera Company. He also moonlights as an emergency medicine scribe, medical school candidate, HIV prevention provider, researcher, Rolfer, and teacher t Music Together Boulder. His performance credits include Zoroastro/Narrator in Handel's Orlando; Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, as well as several musical theater roles.

There will be two performances on December 10, 12 and 13, as well as an early evening performance on December 11. Tickets and additional cast information are available online.

Time is running out to order your 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar, featuring 18 of the sexiest men in opera. ORDER TODAY by clicking below (you won't regret it!)

Cover of our 2016 Calendar

LoftOpera sets Rape of Lucretian in Brooklyn auto restoration shop

Kevin Wetzel (L) and Adrian Rosas (R) (Center photo by Paulina Jurzec, Right photo by Vanessa Rosas)

The always innovative LoftOpera is presenting Benjamin Britten's chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia at 501 Union, a former car restoration shop in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Of course, we love the opera as it features three baritones in lead roles and they've cast some major young talent in those roles, all of whom who have appeared our site, Adrian Rosas who will sing the Roman general Collatinus, Kyle Oliver who is taking on Junius. and Kevin Wetzel is singing the critical role of Tarquinius.

The rest of the cast includes Michael Kuhn as the Male Chorus, Katy Lindhart as the Female Chorus, Kristin Gornstein as Lucretia, Toby Newman as Bianca, Melanie Leinbach as Lucia and Alexis Kelley as a Supernumerary. Performances run from December 2-12 and tickets are available online.

Kevin Wetzel  earned his Master’s degree in 2006  and his graduate  performance  diploma in 2008  at  The Peabody Institute. After graduating from The Peabody Institute, he became a member of the Virginia Opera Association’s Spectrum Resident Artist program.  Most recently, he was a resident artist with the Arizona Opera Company. He has appeared with Chesapeake Chamber Opera, Opera  in the Heights,  Virginia Opera  Association,  Glimmerglass  Opera,  Baltimore Opera Company,  Central City Opera  and Peabody Opera. 

In February, he'll perform The Silver Age of Russian Poetry in Music with the Russian Chamber Art Society.

501 Union, the site of LoftOpera's The Rape of Lucretia

Texas native Kyle Oliver is an alumnus of the Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Training program, he appeared with the Pittsburgh Opera in numerous productions including singing Zurga in Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, Count Robinson in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto and Dandini in Rossini's La cenerentola. He was a winner of the Grand Prize at the Bel Canto Foundation Competition, the Jeanette Rohatyn “Great Promise” award with the Metropolitan Opera National Council, as well as a career grant from the Sullivan Foundation. He is featured on an album entitled “New Voices” a compilation of art songs by contemporary American composers produced by Glen Roven Records and The Brooklyn Art Song Society. He earned his Master’s degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, both in Opera Performance.

Adrian Rosas has performed with the Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Houston’s Opera in the Heights, and Michigan Opera Theatre. He made his Seattle Opera debut as the Sergeant in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and as part of Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program performed the roles of  Procolo in Viva la Mamma, Masetto and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni. He made his Carnegie Hall/Stern Auditorium debut as the Angel Gabriel in the premiere of Oh My Son, an opera by Spanish composer Marcos Galvany. Rosas is on Voice Faculty of the California State Summer School for the Arts. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Western Michigan University, and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School.                                                     

Romain Dayez and Jason Duika

There is only one month left to purchase your 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar, which you can order HERE. This year the proceeds will be used to fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (F.A.B.), which will fund baritone and bass cash prizes at song competitions, commission music for baritones and basses, and be used to fund other projects featuring low male voices. 

New York-based composer Clint Borzoni has already been commissioned to write two songs for string quartet and baritone, which will be performed by Marco Vassalli in January. Give the gift of music by supporting the Indiegogo campaign for this effort by clicking HERE. Even if you can't attend, there are exciting rewards, like Marco's CD of Italian songs or having a song dedicated to you by the composer.                                                 

John Chest alternating to very different roles

John Chest

American barihunk John Chest, who is a now a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, is singing two very different roles simultaneously in Dresden and Berlin through the end of the year. From December 6-21 he'll be in Dresden singing Nick Carraway opposite hunkentenor Peter Lodahl's Jay Gatsby in John Harbison's operatic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. On December 12 and 29, he'll be in Berlin singing Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte opposite Alexandra Hutton's Papageno.

It's hard to imagine two different roles that the wealthy stockbroker Nick Carraway and the awkward, comical birdcatcher Papageno, but he will sing them back-to-back on December 11 and 12. 

Next year he sings Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and the Marchese d'Obigny in Verdi's La traviata in Berlin, as well as the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Angers Nantes Opéra and Albert in Massenet's Werther at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

Romain Dayez, Jason Duika, Marco Vassalli and Malte Roesner (L-R)

There is only one month left to purchase your 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar, which you can order HERE. This year the proceeds will be used to fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (F.A.B.), which will fund baritone and bass cash prizes at song competitions, commission music for baritones and basses, and be used to fund other projects featuring low male voices. New York-based composer Clint Borzoni has already been commissioned to write two songs for string quartet and baritone, which will be performed by Marco Vassalli in January.

One month until Chrismas! Have you bought your Barihunks calendar?

Malte Roesner (top), Gianluca Margheri (bottom left) and Eric Stokloßa/David Adam Moore (bottom right)

The 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar is now available for purchase. Now in its fifth edition, the calendar features eighteen of the hottest singers in opera and musical theater hailing from nine different countries.

For each of the last four years, the charity calendar has donated all of the profits to young artists, young artist programs and projects featuring baritones. Some of the previous beneficiaries have included the Portland Resident Young Artist Program, Seagle Music Colony, the production of the West Coast Premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's Green Sneakers featuring Jesse Blumberg, and a concert featuring bass-barihunk Aaron Sørensen and hunkentenor Jonathan Blalock.

Trisatn Hambleton, Seth Carrico & Patrick Egersborg

This year the proceeds will be used to fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (F.A.B.), which will fund baritone and bass cash prizes at song competitions, commission music for baritones and basses, and be used to fund other projects featuring low male voices. New York-based composer Clint Borzoni has already been commissioned to write two songs for string quartet and baritone, which will be performed by Marco Vassalli in January.

The singers this year include Cyril Rovery and Romain Dayez from France; Malte Roesner, Eric Stokloßa and Marco Vassalli from Germany; Iurii Samoilov from the Ukraine; Tristan Hambleton from England; Duncan Rock from Australia; Patrick Egersborg from Norway; Jason Forbach, John Paul Huckle, David Adam Moore, Seth Mease Carico and Edward Miskie from the United States; Gianluca Margheri and Vittorio Prato from Italy; and, Iosu Yeregui from Spain. All of the singers are baritones or lower voices, except for Eric Stokloßa, who is the first tenor featured in the calendar (in a photo with baritone David Adam Moore from Peter Eötvös' Paradise reloaded.

Four of the singers were photographed this Summer in the Loire Valley in an official Barihunks photo shoot. 

The Barihunks calendar is available at LULU.com.

Marco Vassalli

Fans of Marco Vassalli can purchase his fundraising calendar, which will help fund his long-awaited US debut in San Francisco this January. Click HERE to purchase the calendar or HERE to learn more about the concert. You can also find additional benefits at his Indiegogo campaign, including his CD of Italian songs or the chance to have a newly commissioned song that he's performing named in your honor. 

Peter Kellner & Padraic Rowan advance in Dutch competition

Padraic Rowan and Peter Kellner

The final 16 singers at the 51st International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch have been announced and it includes two low voices, Peter Kellner and Padraic Rowan. The finalist were pared down from 46 singers participants from the preliminary rounds. Those taking part in the Competition will also be given the opportunity to take part in master classes and a summer school; they will also be put in contact with various opera studios, orchestras and impresarios. The final competition will be held from September 8-17, 2016.

During the 2015-16 season Slovakian bass-barihunk Peter Kellner is a member of Oper Graz, where he is singing Basilio in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In the 2014/2015 season, he performed several roles in at Oldenburgisches Staatstheater including Bartolo in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and the title role of Handel's Hercules. In 2013, he made his debuts with the Salzburg Festival, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Macao International Music Festival.

Twenty-five year old Irish barihunk Padraic Rowan graduated from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2013 with a Masters in Music Performance. He made his Wigmore Hall debut this November as a finalist in the Maureen Lehan Vocal Awards. Last June, he reached the semi-finals of the 34th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Amsterdam. This summer, Padraic participated in the Handel Residency at the Académie du Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in France, working with renowned French conductor and harpsichordist, Emmanuelle Haïm. You can hear audio of him HERE.

The International Vocal Competition ’s-Hertogenbosch (IVC) was founded in 1954 and is the sole classical vocal competition in the Netherlands that involves oratorio and art song as well as opera, with a focus on 20th century and contemporary music. It is a unique cultural institution with long-standing connections to the province of Noord-Brabant and to the city of ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Prize winners from the last 60 years include Thomas Hampson, Jevgeni Nesterenko, Robert Holl, Elly Ameling, Jules Bastin, Measha Brueggergosman, Cora Burggraaf, John Bröcheler, Viorica Cortez, Ileana Cotrubas, Howard Haskin, Petra Lang, Yvonne Minton, Nelly Miricioiu, Jard van Nes, Vladimir Pankratov, Margriet van Reisen, Lenneke Ruiten, Wolfgang Schöne, Henk Smit, Elzbieta Szmytka, Pretty Yende and Ruth Ziesak.

You can enjoy 18 of opera's hottest me in our new 2016 Barihunks calendar. You can order before the holiday rush HERE. Proceeds will fund a song prize for baritones/basses, as well as commissions for new music. 

Marco Vassalli and Malte Roesner in the Barihunks calendar

 You can also enjoy the Marco Vassalli calendar by clicking HERE. Proceeds from the sale will go to fund his US debut in January. 

Marco Vassalli from his fundraising calendar

Romain Dayez gets biblical and whimsical

Romain Dayez (photo © Pierre Bongert)

Barihunks calendar model Romain Dayez a few interesting performances coming up on his calendar. On November 28 and 29, he'll perform in Handel's Judas Maccabaues at the Collège Don Bosco in Brussels, Belgium with the vocal ensemble Cantus Firmus and the Brussels Chamber Orchestra.

Gerald Finley sings "Arm, arm ye brave" from Judas Maccabeaus:

From December 2-February 2, he plays the King in Graciane Finzi's new opera Peau D’âne, based on an incestuous fairy tale by 17^th century author Charles Perrault. Performances will be at the Espace Paris-Plaine, Carrè Belle-feuille in Boulogne-Billancourt and the Théâtre de la Lanterne in Rambouillet

In the opera, the king promises his dying wife only to remarry a woman as beautiful as herself. He decides that the only woman who can meet that standard is his daughter, Horrified, the daughter seek the advice of her fairy godmother, who tells her to create marital demands so extreme that they can't be met. She demands that she be given three dresses made of immaterial materials. The first is to be made of the “sky” and should be as light and airy as the clouds. The second is to be made of “moonbeams” and should reflect the same lyrical intensity as the moon at night. The third, and last, is to be made of “sunlight” and should be as blinding and warm as the sun above. The opera also involved a donkey that poops gold and a prince who saves the day.

On January 17, he'll join accompanist Charles Mignot for a recital of music by Fauré, Franck, Chausson, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, Caplet, Boulanger and Poulenc. The performance will be at the Musée des Instruments de Musique and tickets will be available at the door.

You can enjoy Romain Dayez in the 2016 Barihunks calendar along with 17 more of opera's hottest men. You can order before the holiday rush HERE. Proceeds will fund a song prize for baritones/basses, as well as commissions for new music.

Romain Dayez and Jason Duika

You can also enjoy the Marco Vassalli calendar by clicking HERE. Proceeds from the sale will go to fund his US debut in January. 

 

Introducing Lithuanian Barihunk Romanas Kudriašovas

Romanas Kudriašovas (on the right with Bryn Terfel)

A reader in the UK has introduced us to Lithuanian barihunk Romanas Kudriašovas, who is a Young Artist at the London National Opera Studio. On November 28th, he'll be performing scenes from the Mozart/Da Ponte operas as part of the National Opera Studio residency at Opera North. The concert will be at the Howard Assembly Room at 7:30 PM.

On December 10th, he joins the great British soprano Susan Bullock for a candle-lit celebration of English song in St. Giles Cripplegate Church in London. The program will feature music from Vaughn Williams, Gurney, Quilter and Britten. Tickets are available online.

Romanas Kudriašovas and Giedrė Muralytė-Eriksonė perform Donaudy's "O del mio amato ben"

Romanas began his music studies at age seven playing the violin and piano. After initially studying choral conducting, he went on to study voice at the Music and Theater Academy in Lithuania  Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg and the Wales International Academy of Voice, where he received his Masters. 

He has performed music ranging from the Baroque to the 20th century repertoire, including: Elviro in Handel's Serse, Antenor in Rameau's Dardanus, Valens in Handel's Theodora, Mr. X  in Kalman's Zirkusprinzessin, Bill in Kurt Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Lockit  in Britten's The Beggar’s Opera and the Sacristan in Puccini's Tosca opposite Bryn Terfel’s Scarpia.

Kudriašovas is fluent in English, German, Lithuanian and Russian.

Support the arts with one of these calendars. Our 2016 Barihunks calendar will fund a new non-profit to support young artists, commission new music and provide a vocal competition prize for baritone/bass voices. The Marco Vassalli calendar will help fund his US debut in San Francisco performing two songs to German texts from composer Clint Borzoni.  

 Click HERE to order the 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar!

 Click HERE to enjoy 12 months of barihunk Marco Vassalli and support his US debut!

Zachary Luchetti feature is no laughing matter

Zachary Luchetti

When we featured barihunk Zachary Luchetti's very funny bio on the site back in August it pretty much went viral, quadrupling our traffic for the day. The Pennsylvania native has carved out a nice niche for himself singing mostly regionally, where he's dubbed himself the  "the king of the D-list opera singers."

All kidding aside, he actually has an impressive résumé, having earned a master’s degree in vocal performance from Duquesne University and some 70 roles under his belt.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette just featured him after runs in "Night of the Living Dead, The Opera" in Midland, PA and Iolante in Carnegie, PA. You can read the entire piece HERE, as well as our original post HERE (it's just as funny on second reading!).

IF YOU LIKE SEXY MEN, DON'T FORGET TO ORDER YOUR 

2016 BARIHUNKS CHARITY CALENDAR TODAY!!!

John Brancy takes Britain by storm

John Brancy (Photo on right: James Bellorini)

The British are finally getting the chance to enjoy American barihunk John Brancy, as he tours in Glyndebourne's production of Donizetti's Don Pasquale as Malatesta. They are at the tail end of the tour with final performances in Plymouth and Woking running through December 4th. During the tour he's taken time to appear on BBC3 in Norwich (at 1:43:00) and Classicfm for a demonstration of bel canto and legato. (Check them out, as they are quite entertaining).

He'll be returning to North America after the run for a Christmas concert with his wife mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta They will join the Edmonton Symphony, the Greenwood Singers and the dancers from Shelley’s Dance Company for a program that includes Jingle Bells, Carol of the Bells, O Holy Night, Silver Bells, Sleigh Ride, music from The Santa Clause films and a Christmas carol sing-along.

On January 16, he'll join pianist Peter Dugan in Aiken, South Carolina to reprise their critically acclaimed program of WWI songs. The duo then heads to Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital hall on February 5, 2016 for a program entitled Fantasy, which includes music by Schumann, Sibelius, Grieg, Britten and Bridge. 

Enjoy 18 more barihunks in our new Charity Calendar, which is on sale now. 

Malte Roesner

 

Leonard Bernad joins Flanders Opera (and The Four Tenors)

Leonard Bernad

Last April, we introduced Romanian bass-barihunk Leonard Bernad in his scivvies performing Bohuslav Martinů's Mirandolina with the Bavarian Opera Studio. He's opening today in Rossini's Armida at the Opera Vlaanderen as Armida's evil uncle Idraote and the leader of Armida's spirits Astarotte. The opera is best known for requiring four quality tenors and for some stunning music for the soprano.

Bernad joined the young artist ensemble at the Flanders (Vlaanderen) Opera this season after two years with the Bavarian Opera Studio. Upcoming roles with the company include Pharnaces in Zemlinsky's Der Konig Kandaules, Colline in Puccini's La bohème, Lodovico in Verdi's Otello and Joe in Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. 

A complete performance of Armida from Venice in 1970:

Armida is one of the famous 'opere serie' that Rossini composed for Naples. The librettist took his inspiration from Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso, an Italian literary masterpiece from the 16th century that has served as inspiration for countless opera composers. It takes place against the backdrop of the first Crusade in which Godfrey of Bouillon liberated Jerusalem.

The ad for Verdi's Otello at the Flanders Opera

The opera tells the story of the extraordinarily beautiful sorceress and princess of Damascus, Armida, who wreaks erotic havoc in the camp of the Christian knights. At work here is a mature and unseen Rossini. He combines the martial air of the battle-ready knights with the incomparable bel canto songs by the mysterious Armida. An Armida who, at the end of the opera, in the midst of her vocal pyrotechnics, is consumed by her own daemonic sensuality. An opera in which heroism and languid sensuality alternate.

Performance of Armida run through December 4 and tickets are available online.

Enjoy 18 more barihunks in our new Charity Calendar, which is on sale now. 

Marco Vassalli & Malte Roesner

Malte Roesner to star in Mansfield Park (in his own translation)

Malte Roesner in For a Look or a Touch (left) and from the Barihunks photo shoot (right)

Jonathan Dove's 18-scene chamber opera Mansfield Park will open on December 5th at the Staatstheater Braunschweig with barihunk Malte Roesner as Edmund Bertram. Roesner also translated the libretto from English into German, which he also recently did with Jake Heggie's Holocaust themed opera For a Look or a Touch.

Mansfield Park is based on the 1814 novel by Jane Austen. It's the story of Fanny Price, a Cinderella-like heroine, who quietly negotiates her way through the moral perils of early nineteenth century high society, from landscape gardening and amateur theatricals to balls and arranged marriages, and wins the hand of the man she has loved all her life. Edmund Bertram is the lead character of the novel. He intends to be a clergyman is known for his kindness and generosity towards Fanny, distinguishing him from the rest of his family, who tend to exploit her good nature and mock her less privileged upbringing.

The opera had it's debut in 2011 at the Heritage Opera in the U.K. and it's American debut in February of this year at the Peabody Conservatory Chamber Opera. Milda Tubelytė will sing the role of Fanny. Performances in Braunschweig will run through March 2016 and tickets and additional cast information is available online. 

You can check out audio of Malte Roesner on his website by clicking HERE. He's also prominently featured in our new 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar. All of the proceeds are going to fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (FAB), which will promote new music for low voices, assist artists financially and fund a baritone prize at a competition to be named in January. Order your copy by clicking on the LULU button below.

Malte Roesner and Marco Vassalli in the Barihunks Calendar

Barihunk duo in R-Rated Don Giovanni at Opera Ithaca

Garrett Obrycki in Opera Ithaca's promo for Don Giovanni

Opera Ithaca  will present the latest creation of innovative director R.B. Schlather when their Don Giovanni opens on December 5th. The opera comes with an R-rated warning for containing "nudity, sexual content and violence." The opera stars the barihunk duo of Garrett Obrycki in the title role and Zachary James as the Commendatore. James was also a co-founder of the company with Lynn Craver, which launched in 2014.

Schlather has become a regular feature on Barihunks for his sexy productions, which have included barihunk David McFerrin in Philip Glass' In the Penal Colony, Hadleigh Adams stripped down to his briefs in Handel's Orlando and frequent Barihunks calendar model David Adam Moore in Handel's Alcina. Schlather is a graduate of Ithaca College.

We learned that the opera will open with a rape and a murder and the rest of it is about sex. There will be full nudity and partial nudity from at least two characters (one being Don Giovanni).

Garrett Obrycki sings "Bella siccome un angelo" from Donizetti's Don Pasquale:  

Don Giovanni will star Philadelphia baritone Garrett Obrycki in the title role. Obrycki is a Minnesota native who receieved his Bachelor of Music in Voice from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While at Eastman, he performed Tarquinius in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Frank  Maurrant in Kurt Weill's Street Scene. After his undergraduate studies, Garrett sang as a Young Artist with the Ohio Light Opera, a chorister with Opera Philadelphia and as a member of the Philadelphia Singers. He's also a teaching artist with Opera Philadelphia. 

Zachary James as Bluebeard at Opera Ithaca

Zachary James previously performed the role of the Commendatore at Central City Opera. The towering bass-barihunk aptly created the role of Abraham Lincoln in the world premiere of Philip Glass’ opera The Perfect American at the Teatro Real in Madrid, a role he reprised for London’s English National Opera and Australia’s Opera Queensland. Upcoming performance for Zachary James include La Reina with the Prototype Festival in New York in January 2016, Liebeslieder Walzer with the New York City Ballet also in January 2016 and The Mikado with Anchorage Opera in April 2016.

Opera Ithaca’s production of Don Giovanni will play Ithaca’s Community School of Music and Arts Ballroom Saturday, December 5th and Sunday, December 6th at 8pm each evening. Tickets are available online.

Enjoy 18 more barihunks in our new Charity Calendar, which is on sale now. 

Barihunks Calendar Model Marco Vassalli to make US Debut

Marco Vassalli and Clint Borzoni

Italian-German barihunk Marco Vassalli is making his much anticipated U.S. debut with Musica Marin in a concert that includes the world premiere of two Clint Borzoni songs. The texts of these songs were selected by and written for the singer and are written for string quartet and baritone. Vassalli chose Hermann Hesse's Stufen and Hilde Domin's Margere Kost.

Borzoni and Vassalli have never met in person and worked on the songs together over Facebook video and Skype. San Francisco's Bay Area Reporter broke the news in a recent article, which you can read HERE.

Borzoni recently completed his fourth opera, When Adonis Calls, based on the poetry of Gavin Dillard. The opera was presented at Fort Worth Opera’s 2015 Frontiers Showcase. He is currently working on his fifth opera, The Copper Queen, with librettist John de los Santos for Arizona Opera’s program, Arizona Spark.

Marco Vassalli

The premiere is being funded with an Indiegogo campaign that launched today. Some of the perks include having one of the songs dedicated to you, a signed page from the compoer's notebook, copies of Vassalli's CD of Italian songs and access to numerous private events and concerts. Vassalli also posed for a provocative new calendar that is now available for sale HERE. All of those proceeds will also be used to fund the world premiere of the Borzoni songs. We encourage our readers to help out with one of the two campaigns.

Vassalli is currently performing in Leonard Bernstein's Candide at the Staatsoper Hannover. A German singer born of Italian roots, he grew up on Lake Constance and began his studies at the Hochschule fur Musik in Cologne, where he studied with the famed soprano Edda Moser.

Calendar model Patrick Egersborg as Zuniga in Norway

Patrick Egersborg in Carmen (left); Photo on right by Kjell-Ruben Strøm

Patrick Egersborg, who we've featured in this year's Barihunks Charity Calendar, was featured as Zuniga in Ringsaker Opera's production of Bizet's Carmen that opened last night in Brumunddal, Norway. The cast also includes Anna Otervik as Carmen, Hallvar Djupvik as Don José, Aleksander Nohr as Escamillo and Tanja Leine as Micaela.

There are seven more performance, which run through November 22. Tickets are available online.

Egersborg is featured in both March and November in our calendar, which you can order by clicking the LULU button below. This year's calendar will fund the creation of the Foundation for the Advancement of Baritones (F.A.B.), which will fund programs to benefit baritones and basses. FAB will commission new music, provide prize money for vocal competitions and financially support other endeavors promoting the baritone and bass voice. Composer Clint Borzoni is working on the first commission, which are two songs for baritone and string quartet based on poems by Hermann Hesse and Hilde Domin.

Tristan Hambleton, Seth Carico and Patric Egersborg

Barihunk trio in Palm Beach's free waterfront concert

Andrew Bogard, Jason Duika and Michael Chioldi

On December 12th, the Palm Beach Opera will present their annual Opera@The Waterfront at the Meyer Amphitheater. The free concert on the Intracoastal Waterway is a chance to hear arias and ensembles performed by a combination of international opera singers and the Palm Beach Opera Young Artists, orchestra and chorus.

One of this year's featured stars is barihunk Michael Chioldi, who will sing "Si può?..." from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, "Io morro ma lieto in core" from Verdi's Don Carlo,  "This nearly was mine" from South Pacific and the famous quartet from Verdi's Rigoletto. Next season, Chioldi will sing Count di Luna in Verdi's Il trovatore with fellow barihunk Brandon Coleman, who is singing Ferrando.

He'll be joined by Jason Duika, who is a Palm Beach Opera Young Artist and is featured in the 2016 Barihunks Charity Calendar. He'll be singing "Ò vin, dissipe la tristesse" from Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet and the Ice Cream Sextet from Kurt Weill's Street Scene. This season with Palm Beach Opera he'll perform Dancairo in Bizet's Carmen and Dr. Malatesta in the family performance of Don Pasquale.

Joining them will be bass-barihunk Andrew Bogart, who is celebrating a birthday today and who is also a Palm Beach Opera Young Artist this season. He will be sing "La calunnia" from Rossini's Barber of Seville, the trio "O suave il vento" from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and "Signorina in tanta fretta" from Donizetti's Don Pasquale.  This season with Palm Beach Opera, he will sing Lakai/Truffaldino in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and a family performance as the title character in Don Pasquale.

Enjoy Jason Duika and 17 more of the world's hottest opera singers in this year's Barihunk Charity Calendar. Order before the holiday rush!!!

Romain Dayez & Jason Duika 

ORDER HERE:

Bevy of barihunk in AVA's Don Giovanni

André Courville, Anthony Whitson-Martini and Jared Bybee

Not to be outdone by the barihunk sextet rotating in casts in Don Giovanni at the Hampstead Garden Opera in the U.K, we were notified that the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia is also showcasing a bevy of barihunks in their production of the same opera.

André Courville will be singing Leporello (and rotating it with Nathan Milholin), Anthony Whitson-Martini will be singing Masetto (and rotating it with Jorge Espino) and Jared Bybee will be singing the title role (and sharing it with Daniel  Noyola and Ethan Simpson). To top things off Anthony Schneider will be singing the Commendatore. November 7, 10 and 12 in Philadelphia, November 14 in Bethlehem (PA), November 17 & 19 in Haverford and November 21 in Doylestown.

Nathan Milholin, Ethan Simpson and Anthony Schneider

AVA first presented Don Giovanni in 1986-87 with additional performances in 2000, 2005 and 2011, which featured many alumni who went on to international careers, including Nicholas Masters, Burak Bilgili, Latonia Moore, Michael Fabiano, Bryan Hymel, Ellie Dehn, Taylor Stayton and Othalie Graham.

Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Enjoy 18 more barihunks in our new Charity Calendar, which is on sale now. 

ORDER HERE: