Barihunks (and hunkentenor) in erotic Boys of Paradise

Promo photo for Boys of Paradise and barihunk Jack Holton (right)

The opera ensemble workshOPERA in partnership with Tête à Tête will present six performances of composer Vahan Salorian's Boys of Paradise from October 15-21. The contemporary retelling of the phoenix myth, you are invited to join the party for a neurotic, erotic, psychotic, operatic experience. The opera features barihunks Jack Holton and Sam Carl, along with hunkentenor Guy Elliott (@GuyPlus).

Based on personal experience, Boys of Paradise tells the story of a trio of friends - Twink, Cub and Fag Hag, who experience the dizzying heights of fictional club Paradaezia. As Twink is led astray through a maze of drink, drugs and darkrooms, the audience gets an insight into the chem-sex partying endemic that has evolved in London’s gay scene of the past years.

The work is interactive with the audience as the cast is dispersed among the crowd. Tickets are available online.

Sam Carl (left) and promo for Boys of Paradise

Barihunk Jack Holton grew up in Medway, Kent, and is currently in his fourth year of undergraduate study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2015, he originated the role of Vulture in Boys of Paradise, which he reprised in July at the Tête à Tête opera festival. At Guildhall, he is currently performing as Mômolo in Le donne curiose, and earlier this year played Marquis de la Force in a reduced version of Dialogues des Carmélites. Also an experienced choral singer, he was a choral scholar at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Chelmsford Cathedral before starting his formal training,

Sam Carl is the Artistic Director of Music of the Spheres Consort. He studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Glasgow University and is continuing his vocal studies in New York City. He recently performed the role of Schlendrian in The Coffee Opera, three immersive café performances of which combined music by Bach with music by contemporary composer James Oldham. He has sung the roles of Luca in Walton’s The Bear with Melos Sinfonia and Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea with John Butt. This summer, he is going to be performing the role of Ormondo in Rossini’s L’inganno Felice on a tour of Umbria with Raucous Rossini. At the Edinburgh Fringe he will be playing the role of Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

Barihunk John Moore in Breaking the Waves (with mature audience warning)

Barihunk John Moore and Kiera Duffy

Opera Philadelphia premiered Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's Breaking the Waves, which includes the barihunk duo of John Moore as the main protagonist Jan Nyman and Zachary James as Terry. Mazzoli is a graduate of Opera Philadelphia’s Composer in Residence program. The opera has a "for mature audiences" warning as both leads appear nude.

The opera is based on the Oscar-nominated 1996 film by Lars von Trier. The libretto tells the story of Bess McNeill (sung by Kiera Duffy), a religious young woman with a deep love for her husband Jan, a handsome oil rig worker. When Jan becomes paralyzed in an off-shore accident, her marital vows are put to the test as he encourages her to seek other lovers and return to his bedside to tell him of her sexual activities. He insists that the stories will feel like they are making love together and keep him alive. Bess’s increasing selflessness leads to a finale of divine grace, but at great cost.

There is one remaining performance on October 1st and tickets are available online. The cast also includes the rising tenor sensation David Portillo, Eve Gigliotti, Marcus DeLoach and Patricia Schuman.

Tobias Greenhalgh to appear in Ricky Ian Gordon's "27"

Tobias Greenhalgh

American barihunk Tobias Greenhalgh will appear in Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek's "27" with MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) on October 20 and 21. As a Gerdine Young Artist at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Greenhalgh created the roles of Leo Stein and Man Ray in the world premiere of the opera. 

"27" explores the relationship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, who hosted regular salon evenings at their Paris home at 27 Rue de Fleurus, with such guests as Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Henri Matisse and Ernest Hemingway. Commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, "27" received its world premiere in June 2014. 

The production was specially adapted by the composer for MasterVoices as a semi-staged production under the direction of James Robinson. Gordon expanded portions of the opera originally sung by a small male ensemble and re-scored them for the full MasterVoices chorus.The cast also features mezzo Stephanie Blythe as Gertrude Stein, Heidi Stober as Alice B. Toklas, Theo Lebow, Tobias Greenhalgh, and Daniel Brevik.

 Tobias Greenhalgh sings Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Let Beauty Awake"  

"27" explores the relationship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, who hosted regular salon evenings at their Paris home at 27 Rue de Fleurus, with such guests as Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Henri Matisse and Ernest Hemingway. Commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, 27 received its world premiere in June 2014. For the New York Premiere, Ricky Ian Gordon has specially added new sections for the MasterVoices chorus. 

Tickets are available online at NYCityCenter.org, by calling CityTix® at 212-581-1212.

Upcoming engagements for Greenhalgh include Orff's Carmina Burana with the Noord Nederlands Orkest, Tom Joad in Ricky Ian Gordon's Grapes of Wrath with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus at the Franz Lehàr Festival at Bad Ischl, Ned Keene in Peter Grimes and Littore/Tribune in L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Theater an der Wien, Escamillo in Carmen, The Father in Hansel and Gretel at the Wiener Kammeroper, and Morales in Carmen with Palm Beach Opera.

Joseph Lattanzi in live stream of The Copper Queen

Joseph Lattanzi

The Arizona Opera will be live streaming today's sold out performance of composer Clint Borzoni's The Copper Queen, which won the company's Arizona Sparks competition for new works in a runaway. The piece was also featured on the front page of the Arizona Republic's arts section last weekend.

The opera's libretto, written by director John de los Santos and based on a true story, revolves around the ghost of a prostitute haunting a historic hotel in Bisbee, Arizona.

The performance will feature barihunk Joseph Lattanzi as Peter Ackerman, who is fresh of a heralded performance as Hawkins Fuller in Gregory Spears’ gay themed opera Fellow Travelers at Cincinnati Opera. This season at Arizona Opera, Lattanzi will also perform the Gamekeeper in Dvořák's Rusalka, Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Dandini in Rossini's La Cenerentola.

Clint Borzoni's "Stufen" with barihunk Marco Vassalli:

The opera also features Lacy Sauter as the prostitute Julia Lowell, Alyssa Martin as Addison Moore, barihunk turned hunkentenor Chris Carr as Teddy Billings, Loren Battieste as Sugar Dog and Zachary Owen as Mr Floyd and Daddy Lowell.  You can hear Alyssa Martin sing "Waiting for a Whisper" from the opera on Soundcloud, as well as Sarah Tucker sing "Still Pretty."

The live stream will begin at 3 PM PST/6 PM EST at the company's Facebook page. 

Barihunk sextet in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" touring Italy

Dario Shikhmiri, Rocco Cavalluzzi, Federico Benetti and Paolo Ingrasciotta (l-r)

Our heads almost exploded when we saw the cast list for Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Teatro Amilcare Ponchielli Cremona, as it features a record number of six barihunks and bass-barihunks in one production. Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears are undoubtedly smiling down on this production from heaven. The eye candy cast includes  Zachary Altman as Bottom, Nicholas Masters as Quince, Dario Shikhmiri as Starveling, Rocco Cavalluzzi as Snug, Federico Benetti as Theseus and Paolo Ingrasciotta as Demetrius.

Zachary Altman and Nicholas Masters

The final four on that list have not even appeared on Barihunks before. There are only two performances of the show, which runs on October 7 and 9. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Nicholas Masters sings Bottom's aria from A Midsummer Night's Dream:

The production is a co-production with the Teatro Sociale di Como/Aslico, Fondazione Teatro Grande di Brescia and  the Fondazione Teatro Fraschini di Pavia. Most of the cast will perform at the Teatro Municipale Valli di Reggio Emilia on November 18 and 20. There are also performances on November 4 and 6 in Brescia and in Pavia on October 28 and 30, but no cast lists are available or posted. The websites for Zachary Altman and Nicholas Masters show them performing in all of the productions.

Rafael Fingerlos tours with Nederlandse Reisoper

Rafael Fingerlos as Harlekin (photo by Marco Borggreve)

Austrian barihunk Rafael Fingerlos is touring as Harlekin with the Nederlandse Reisoper in their production of Richard Strauss’Ariadne auf Naxos. The production is directed by Laurence Dale with stunning costumes by Gary McCann and features Soojin Moon as Ariadne, Jennifer France as Zerbinetta, Martin Momrich as Bacchus and Karin Strobos as the Composer.

Performances are remaining on September 20 and 22 in Zwolle, 24th in Arnhem, 27th in Maastricht, 29th in Breda and October 1st in Den Haag, 6 and 8 in Amsterdam. Tickets are available online.

Trailer for Ariadne auf Naxos at the Nederlandse Reisoper:

Fingerlos will become a fest ensemble member at the Vienna State Opera beginning with their 2016/17 season. His first role will be Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia on November 12 opposite the Rosina of Isabel Leonard and Almaviva of Pavel Kolgatin. Performances run through December 20.

Günther Groissböck to make his role debut as Wotan at Bayreuth

Günther Groissböck

Günther Groissböck, who debuted at Bayreuth in 2011 as Landgrave Hermann in Wagner's Tannhäuser and sang Fasolt in their 2013 Das Rheingold, is coming back for three major roles in coming seasons.

Perhaps the biggest announcement is his role debut as Wotan in their 2020 season. Groissböck says that he has been approached by other houses to sing the epic role. He's been learning the role on long car trips and feels he's reached the right age to sing the fatherly role. He'll be just shy of his 44th birthday in the Summer of 2020. 

Günther Groissböck sings Lohengrin:

 

In 2017, he'll be at Bayreuth to sing Veit Pogner in Barry Kosky’s Die Meistersinger, followed by Gurnemanz in Parsifal in 2018, where he will replace Georg Zeppenfeld.
On September 18th, he wraps up a runs as Heinrich  Vogler in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera. He then heads to the Bavarian State Opera for Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio in Calixto Bieito's production, which runs from October 1-6.  

We hear that Bayreuth has signed biceps baritone Günther Groissböck to sing Veit Pogner in Barry Kosky’s new Meistersinger next summer.
He will follow that with Gurnemanz in the 2018 Parsifal, building up to Wotan in the 2020 Ring.
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2016/08/bayreuth-books-a-longterm-wotan/#sthash.xCPQgfjj.dpuf

We hear that Bayreuth has signed biceps baritone Günther Groissböck to sing Veit Pogner in Barry Kosky’s new Meistersinger next summer.
He will follow that with Gurnemanz in the 2018 Parsifal, building up to Wotan in the 2020 Ring.
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2016/08/bayreuth-books-a-longterm-wotan/#sthash.BWoQVHIr.dpuf

We hear that Bayreuth has signed biceps baritone Günther Groissböck to sing Veit Pogner in Barry Kosky’s new Meistersinger next summer.
He will follow that with Gurnemanz in the 2018 Parsifal, building up to Wotan in the 2020 Ring.
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2016/08/bayreuth-books-a-longterm-wotan/#sthash.BWoQVHIr.dpuf

We hear that Bayreuth has signed biceps baritone Günther Groissböck to sing Veit Pogner in Barry Kosky’s new Meistersinger next summer.
He will follow that with Gurnemanz in the 2018 Parsifal, building up to Wotan in the 2020 Ring.
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2016/08/bayreuth-books-a-longterm-wotan/#sthash.BWoQVHIr.dpuf

Alessio Arduini returns to Royal Opera House; Così fan tutte will be broadcast

Alessio Arduini

Italian barihunk Alessio Arduini, who made his made his Royal Opera debut in 2013 as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème, will return to the company from September 22-October 20 as Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte. His castmates includes Corinne Winters as Fiordiligi, Angela Brower as Dorabella, Daniele Behle as Ferrando, Johannes Martin Kränzle as Don Alfonso and Sabina Puértolas as Despina.

German director Jan Philipp Gloger will make his Royal Opera debut with the new production using librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte’s alternative title for the opera: "The School for Lovers." Tickets are available online. 

 Alessio Arduini sings 'Hai già vinta la causa!' from Le nozze di Figaro:

The November 12th performance of Così fan tutte will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 at 6.30pm GMT.

After his run at the Royal Opera House, he heads to New York to perform Marcello in Puccini's La bohème.

Kyle Ketelsen's featured on cover of OPERA

American bass-barihunk Kyle Ketelsen is the cover boy on the October 2016 edition of OPERA magazine.

The article points out that Ketelsen has sung all four low-voiced roles in Mozart's Don Giovanni, but that Leporello has become his signature role. We've also called Ketelsen the "definitive Leporello" in previous posts. The magazine article quotes three famous Giovanni's on singing the title role next to Ketelsen's Leporello. Here's what they had to say:

Russel Braun said, "...there are so many ways in which he identifies with Leporello; his kind of patience, very useful onstage, gives strength to the character."

Rod Gilfy stated, "Kyle's Leporello was boyish, sprightly, troubled, playful; very modern...He's a rock-solid, handsome, athletic bass-baritone who sings beautifully; he could sing a myriad lyric bass and bass-baritone roles."

Kyle Ketelsen talks about singing Leporello:

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Finally, Simon Keenlyside added, "Kyle's voice is one of the most beautiful bass-baritone sounds around; he wields the instrument with consummate legato and artistry to match. On stage he is everything a colleague could want...When I know I have Kyle alongside me as Leporello, I know I will be in safe hands. Any Giovanni with a great Leporello alongside him will be so much more than he could ever have been on his own."

Kyle Ketelsen can next be seen at the Opernhaus Zürich in Gounod's Faust, which runs from September 20-October 7. The all-star cast includes Charles Castronovo in the title role, Anita Hartig as Marguerite, Lilly Jørstad as Siebel and Kyle Ketelsen as Méphistophélès.

Benjamin Appl wins Gramophone Magazine's "Young Artist of the Year" award

Barihunk Benjamin Appl has won Gramophone Magazine's coveted "Young Artist of the Year" award. James Jolly of Gramophone wrote the following in his nomination for Appl's award:

For the past few years, British music-lovers have been aware of a major new singing talent in their midst, Benjamin Appl. Listeners to BBC Radio 3 have had a particularly privileged ring-side seat as this young German baritone was a New Generation Artist for the class of 2014-16; but he’s an increasingly visible figure on the concert scene, and once seen – tall, blond, handsome and with a commanding stage presence – he’s not easily forgotten. The last private pupil of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (there’s a YouTube clip of the two baritones, nearly a half century apart in age, working on Lieder together), Appl has been named an ECHO Rising Star and, earlier this year, he signed a contract with Sony Classical, the first fruits of which will appear early next year.

Benjamin Appl accepting his Grammophone award (Photo: Benjamin Ealovega)

Appl has appeared on a number of recordings, often alongside other singers – in the Mendelssohn song series with the pianist Malcolm Martineau for Champs Hill or in songs by Schumann alongside Ann Murray for Linn (‘With clear, incisive diction, he characterises vividly in the narrative “Ballade des Harfners” and catches both the Lear-like weariness of soul and the accusatory bitterness of “Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt”, wrote Richard Wigmore in March last year). But 2016 saw the appearance of his first two solo recordings.

Champs Hill’s May release, entitled ‘Stunden, Tage, Ewigkeiten’, linked Schumann’s song-cycle Dichterliebe with other songs to words by Heine. As Richard Fairman wrote, ‘Appl has a baritone voice with its own character and a natural appreciation of the essentials of singing Lieder’. Barely a month passed before his next disc, a Wigmore Hall Live recording – with Graham Johnson at the piano (Appl has worked with just about every major accompanist on the British scene) – of Lieder by Schubert. Hugo Shirley, who reviewed it, felt a marked advance even on that first disc: ‘His instinctive feel for these songs is immediately striking and manifests itself in the sort of artlessness that distinguishes the finest Lieder singers: a lack of tension, an easy relationship with the poetry, a confidence in the words and Schubert’s melodies to communicate with nothing but the gentlest helping interpretative hand.’

This young singer has huge potential and we look forward to following the exciting journey that lies ahead. As Richard Fairman concluded, in his May review: ‘Sample his debut solo disc and you will hear the current front-runner in the next generation of Lieder singers.’

Introducing Barihunk Evan Bravo; Joining Santa Barbara Young Artist Program

Evan Bravos

Barihunk Evan Bravos was recommended to us by one of our Southern California readers, who pointed out that the Greek-American singer will be performing in two upcoming free concerts.

Bravos recently joined the Mosher Studio Artists at Opera Santa Barbara along with soprano Elizabeth Kelsay, mezzo-soprano Molly Clementz, baritone Evan Bravos, and pianists/coaches Christopher Turbessi and Catherine Miller. The artists will be featured in two concerts, the first on October 10 at Shepard Hall at the Santa Maria Public Library and the second on October 12 at the Solvang Public Library. Both performances will begin at noon and are free to the public.

Bravos is a St. Charles, Illinois native, who was a 2015-2016 Emerging Artist at Virginia Opera, where he performed in A Trickster Trilogy, the company’s fall Education Tour. In the previous season, he was an Apprentice Artist at the Central City Opera, where he recieved an Apprentice Artist Award. He was also the recipient of an Encouragement Award in the 2014 Metropolitan National Council auditions.

During his time as a Mosher Studio Artist, Bravos will sing Dancairo and cover Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, sing Harashta in Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen and Rabonier in Puccini's La Rondine).You can listen to him at his website.

Other recent performances include Count Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Central City Opera, Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Martin in Bernstein's Candide at the Aspen Music Festival.

Barihunk duo alternating Raimondo at Opera San José

Colin Ramsey (left) and Kian Freitas (right)

Bass-barihunk Colin Ramsey, who has been featured regularly on this site, will relinquish the final performance of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera San José to Kian Freitas, who is new to this site. Ramsey will perform the role on September 18 and 23, while Freitas will perform on closing night, September 25. The cast also includes Sylvia Lee as Lucia and Kirk Dougherty as Edgardo. Additional information and tickets are available online.

Other roles Freitas has performed include Ferrando in Il Trovatore with Opera Forza, Angelotti in Tosca at the Martha Cardona Opera Theater, Schaunard in La bohème, both Figaro and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Escamillo in Carmen at NY Opera Exchange, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, as well as Raimondo with the NY Opera Exchange. He created the role of Stefano in the world premiere of La Tempesta, an operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest presented in Italy.

He is also covering the role of the British Major in the West Coast premiere of Kevin Puts's Silent Night for Opera San José. On January 28th, he'll join the South Dakota Symphony as  Leporello in their semi-staged performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Freitas was a participant in the 2015-16 Venture Opera Young Artist Program.

Colin Ramsey will perform Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville with Opera San José beginning on November 12. He then sings Father Palmer in Silent Night with the company, which runs from February 11-26, 2017.

Ed Parks reprises Mercutio; Premieres as Steve Jobs

Ed Parks

Ed Parks, who sang a successful Mercutio in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Atlanta Opera last season, will reprise the role halfway across the globe later this month. He'll be joining tenor Jean- François Borras and soprano Nino Machaidze at the Opera de Monte Carlo at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman for three performances on September 29 and 30, and October 1. Tickets are available online.

Next season, he'll be singing a very different role, as he performs the title role in the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at The Santa Fe Opera from July 22 July to August 25, 2017. He'll be joined by Sasha Cooke as Laurene Powell Jobs, Wei Wu as Kôbun Chino Otogawa and Garrett Sorenson as Woz. The opera will be directed by Kevin Newbury with sets by Victoria Tzykun.

 Ed Parks sings Avant de quitter ces lieux from Faust 

The opera is composed by Mason Bates with a libretto by Mark Campbell. It examines the life of Apple founder Steve Jobs, an innovator who simplified communication with sleek devices, but who paradoxically learned that  complex human relationships require more than one button to work. The opera starts at a moment in Jobs’ life  when he must face his own mortality and circles back to the events and people in his past that shaped and  inspired him: his father Paul, Zen Buddhism, his relationship with a woman whose child he initially disowned,  his quick rise and fall as mogul, and – most importantly – his wife Laurene, who showed him the power of love  and connection.    

In between, Parks is singing Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen with Nashville Opera and Marcello in Puccini's La bohème at the Minnesota Opera.

Nathan Gunn to kick of New York Pops season

Nathan Gunn (Photo: Joshua Spencer)

The New York Pops will kick off its 34th season at Carnegie Hall on October 14th with Nathan Gunn in a celebration of music by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. He will join Broadway stars Colin Donnell and Laura Osnes in selections from My Fair Lady, Camelot, Brigadoon, Gigi, and Paint Your Wagon. Tickets are available online.

Nathan Gunn sings C'est Moi from Camelot:

On October 20th, he'll join the Jupiter Quartet along with his wife, accompanist Julie Gunn, for a concert at the Foellinger Great Hall in Urbana, Illinois. The program includes Mark Adamo's Aristotle (set to text by US Poet Laureate Billy Collins), Walt Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," Jennifer Higdon's "Dooryard Bloom," Joan Tower's "In Memory," as well as music by Roger Quilter, Samuel Barber and Douglas Moore. Tickets are available online.

From December 12-21, Gunn returns to the operatic stage to perform the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Theater an der Wien in Austria. His Masetto will be fellow barihunk Tareq Nazmi. Tickets and additional cast information is available online.

Introducing Québecois barihunk Dominique Côté

Dominique Côté

Québec barihunk Dominique Côté is new to the site. We were intrigued by him when we learned that in addition to singing he runs in triathlons to stay in shape. In June 2017, he'll particiapte in his first Ironman 70.3. The race consists of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run. Each distance of the swim, bike, and run segments is half the distance of that segment in an Ironman triathlon.

As a singer, he'll appear in two operas in Opera Lafayette's upcoming seasons. He'll perform Pizarro in composer Pierre Gaveaux's Léonore, ou l'amour conjugal on February 19 in Washington D.C. and February 23 at the Gerald Lynch Theater in New York. He'll be joined in the cast by fellow barihunk and Quebecois Thomas Lavoie, who we introduced to readers last summer. The opera is part of the company's Leonore Project, which will feature Beethoven's Fidelio next season, which is based on the same story. Côté will perform in that production, as well.

Côté has won several top prizes at vocal competitions, including the Concours International de chant de Canari, the operetta award at the Concours International de chant de Marmande, and the grand prize from the Voice Festival of McGill University.

Dominique Côté and Marianne Lambert sing Massenet's Marine:

He trained as an actor at L’école de théâtre de St-Hyacinthe and then as a singer with Lucette Tremblay in Montreal, and completed his training at the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal in 2010. Côté recently starred in the Georges Feydeau play Feu la mère de Madame at the Theatre Lac Brome, sang the role of Frédéric in Léo Delibes' Lakmé at l’Opéra de Montréal and Dr. Falke in Johann Strauss' La Chauve-Souris (Die Fledermaus) for le Grand Théâtre Genève.

As an actor, Côté has also appeared as Renaud on the Radio-Canada show Virginie, Eric Gaudry on Jean-Duceppe for Télé-Québec and as Étienne Bernard on Emma on the TVA network. Children will also recognize his voice from the many cartoon characters he has played including the Lion in Le Lion d’Oz. 

Barihunk Quartet in Schwarzenberg's Schubertiade

 Michael Nagy and Benjamin Appl (Top row, l-r),
Tarez Nazmi, Andrè Schuen (Bottom row l-r)

This year's Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, Austria features some of the leading barihunks in the world, including Michael Nagy, Benjamin Appl, Tareq Nazmi and Andrè Schuen.

On September 4th, Michael Nagy will join soprano Annette Dasch, mezzo Michael Schuster, tenor Paul Schweinester and pianist Gerold Huber for an evening of music by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. Nagy will perform Schubert songs and Brahms' Four Duets for Alto and Baritone, op. 28.

On September 5th, Benjamin Appl will join soprano Sophie Rennert and pianist Graham Johnson for lieder and duets by Robert and Clara Schumann. Included on the program is Robert Schumann's Liebesfrühling, op. 37 and Myrthen, op. 25.

Benjamin Appl sings Schubert's Im Abendrot:

On September 6th Tareq Nazmi and pianist Gerold Huber will perform an evening of music by Schubert, Jacques Ibert (Chansons de Don Quichotte) and Robert Schumann (Lieder nach Gedichten von Hans Christian Andersen). Among the Schubert pieces will be Erlkönig and Prometheus.

On September 9th, Andrè Schuen  and Gerold Huber will join forces for Schumann's Zwölf Gedichte, op. 35 and Sechs Gedichte von Nikolaus Lenau and Requiem.

Other singers at this year's festival include countertenor Andreas Scholl, tenor Piotr Beczala, tenor Mauro Peter, tenor Klaus Florian Vogt, soprano Soile Isokoski, mezzo Elisabeth Kulman, and mezzo Magdalena Kožená. Tickets and additional information is available online.

Gianluca Margheri to make role debut as Mozart's Figaro

Gianluca Margheri

Über-barihunk Gianluca Margheri will be making his role debut as the title character in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in St. Gallen. He opens on September 17, with additional performances on October 2, 5, 29 and November 1, 6, 8 and 25. Regular readers may recall that he created an internet sensation with his shirtless portrayal as Mozart's Don Giovanni, which we've covered extensively at Barihunks. You can listen to Margheri sing "Deh vieni alla finestra" here.

Director Nicole Claudia Weber has set the action in the mid-19th century with a society that still wears corsest, and where the erotic remains a means to an end. The opening night cast will include Nikolay Borchev as Count Almaviva, Cristina Pasaroiu as the Countess, Christina Landshamer as Susanna, Theresa Holzhauser as Cherubino and Kismara Pessatti as Marcellina. The alternate cast will feature Tomislav Lucic as Figaro. Tickets are available online. 

Hunkentenor Enea Scala (we couldn't resist!)

In between his October performances, Margheri will head to the Teatro Lirico from October 14-23 to perform Count Asdrubale in Rossini's La Pietra del Paragone. He'll be joined in the cast by hunkentenor Enea Scala as the cavalier Giocondo. You can hear Enea Scala singing Rossini here.