Blond barihunk duo in Don Giovanni

Bastian Thomas Kohl

Bastian Thomas Kohl, who we introduced to readers back in September, will be performing Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni along with fellow barihunk John Chest at the Nantes-Angers Opera from March 4-May 8. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Kohl, began his musical career at the age of four and received his formal training at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig and in Vienna at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst.

His international career began at the age of nineteen as a member of the Opernchor Leipzig appearing frequently with Gewandhausorchester under the direction of Riccardo Chailly. Kohl, who has been a member of the ensemble at the Opernhaus Zürich since the 2014-15 season, will be performing Der König in Schiphorst's Die Gánsemagd, an Armored Man in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Narumov in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades.

John Chest

Upcoming performances for John Chest include the Marchese d'Obigny in Verdi's La traviata at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Albert in Massenet's Werther at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Valentin in Gounod's Faust at the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse with fellow barihunk Alex Esposito as Méphistophélès. He is a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The Angers-Nantes Opéra was created in January 2003 through the merger of the opera companies of Angers and of Nantes.  The company uses a variety of performance spaces in the two cities, and across the region, but the main spaces are the 728-seat Grand Théâtre in Angers, and the 784-seat Théâtre Graslin in Nantes.